On her way into the office, Kate stopped by the cafe for an extra tall latte. As she waited for her order, she peered into the travel agent next door, allowing her head to fill with the thought of getting herself away to somewhere wonderful. She imagined it would be to a beautiful European city. One with gorgeous Italian men that would whistle as she walked by, trying to get her attention. A place with quaint little off the map restaurants and cafes, where you can sit down and eat an entire pizza by yourself and no one would judge you. A city with beautiful structures so old, they were already considered so, in centuries gone by. She knew where this was going.
The idea of having their honeymoon in Rome had been Kate's. She had wanted to visit Italy and experience her father's rich Italian culture first-hand, for the longest time. While it wasn't exactly the tropical getaway Ryan had in mind, she had promised him they could travel further south to the Amalfi coast and enjoy a hot European summer, by the beach. Something she no longer had to worry about.
It had been a few weeks since Nina sent the signed documents off to the bank and Kate was expecting a call from them at any minute. She still didn't have the courage to say it out loud but she desperately wanted to leave everything behind her, even if it was just for a few short weeks. She had a business to run, clients to see and a responsibility to pay her employees, surely she couldn't just up and leave, or could she? Kate thought about asking her father to step in while she was away. It was he who stood down to allow Kate to take his place, so he was more than across the business. Between Tony and Nina, no one would even notice Kate was gone. Kate decided that before she said anything to her father, she needed to figure out what she was doing first. Then and only then would she bother him about stepping back into his role as senior partner.
The phone suddenly rang, startling Kate out of the mishmash of thoughts in her mind. It was the bank, she finally had the confirmation she needed. It had taken Kate over a month to regain access to her own accounts, now having Ryan's authority removed. While she was happy to share her hard-earned money with him when they were still getting married, she couldn't imagine allowing him access to a single cent after what he did to her. It had been over a week since he last tried getting in touch and Kate was proud to say she never answered even a single one of his calls. He was out of her life, at least for now.
Kate had been living a rather frugal life these past few weeks and couldn't wait to get her hands on the few little luxuries she had gotten so used to. She was dying for a deep tissue massage, the built-up tension in her body was becoming unbearable. However, she couldn't stand being stuck at her parent's house for even a minute longer than absolutely necessary, so today, finding a new place to live would have to take priority. Kate had put this on the back burner, realising she wasn't going to be able to afford anything remotely suitable until she could access her money. Now that that was sorted, she had managed to find a few places that she actually liked. She would have to wait a few weeks, as none were immediately available, but as long as she had a place secured, she would have an end date to the hell that was living at home. She had her fingers crossed one of them would be hers.
Kate's mother was now fully aware of the truth and as expected, she threw it all in Kate's face. Of course, it was all Kate's fault, she wasn't willing to wait on Ryan as a good housewife should. Apparently, the reason Ryan cheated on Kate with her own sister was that she didn't make herself more available to him. You know, to fulfil his "needs". It was only natural that he go running to the closest woman that would and of course, Elise was available, she had nothing else to do with her time. Never mind that it was likely Elise who threw herself at Ryan. According to Dianne, what Kate should have done is step down from her role as senior partner, give up her law firm and years of hard work to plant herself at home ready to be his slave, sorry wife, the second he proposed. Insert Kate's overly exaggerated eye-rolling. She walked out on her mother in the middle of their conversation, for fear she would say something she would come to regret. Kate had always tried to keep the peace between them, even if only for her father's sake.
Aside from now loving and having loved the same man, Elise and Kate only had one thing in common: a deep-seated hatred for their mother's unending scrutiny. Elise would have to deal with it eventually and this was the first time that Kate would not be there to back her up.