Chapter One
1285 Words
Cassidy beamed at the cake in the display screen, it was perfect.
"This one", she pointed at the small cake covered in blue and white frosting and smiled at the sales girl.
"Alright ma'am", The sales girl answered as she opened the sliding doors of the display to retrieve the cake.
"Do you want to have anything written on it?", The sales girl asked her.
Cassidy pondered on her question for a minute. Should she?
Sure! She had already planned this far. Why not take it all the way?, she answered herself. Cassidy smiled at this thought and told the sales girl what she wanted written on the cake. The sales girl nodded and left hurriedly with the cake to have Cassidy's words written on it.
Cassidy left the bake shop fifteen minutes later with a satisfied smile on her face, cake box in hand. She walked to where she had parked her car and sliding the key into the car, she opened it. She slid into the car, carefully putting the cake in the passenger seat next to the flowers.
She looked at the flowers and smiled, they were indeed very lovely. She turned the ignition and began the drive home.
The Sterling Estate was a luxurious estate meant only for the one percent. It was located in a prestigious, well secured area of Nashville. It contained only a few buildings because only a few could afford to live here and Cassidy was one of that few. In fact, you could say she was at the very top of that list.
Aside from her husband, Dave Lionel, being the heir to the second biggest company in Nashville, Cassidy herself came from money with her family being the owners of the Pay-TON group, the largest company in Nashville!
Therefore it was no surprise that when she rolled up to the entrance of the estate, the security guard, recognizing her, immediately stood up alert and hurriedly let her through.
Cassidy smiled at the security guard and nodded at him before driving into the estate. She passed a row of houses and drove to the last building on the block, it was considerably bigger than the others. She drove through a smaller gate that automatically opened for her after she swiped her key card and parked.
Cassidy stepped down from the car and went around to pick up the cake box, flowers and the little bag that contained the gift she had bought. She juggled the things in her arms and had a considerable hard time swiping the key card at the door but she managed it. She walked into the house and flipped on the light switch, the living room instantly brightened up.
The house was quiet so Cassidy instantly guessed the help and the cook had finished their duties for the day and had let themselves out.
She dropped the things she held carefully on the center table in the living room and smiled. Everything was perfect for her plans. For a few minutes Cassidy stood, contemplating whether to carry out her plans in the living room or carry the things up to the room. She decided to do her surprise in the living room as soon as Dave walked in, that way she wouldn't lose her nerves.
Deciding on that, Cassidy smiled once more excited. She had it all planned out. She would first give him the cake which she had had 'Happy Birthday' written on, for his birthday then the flowers to celebrate their anniversary and then the gift she had bought for him.
It was perfect all she had to do now was sit and wait for Dave to return from the office. She arranged the things she had bought carefully on the center table and sat on a couch to wait. Every minute that passed by, Cassidy's nerves became more and more jittery.
Even though she had excitedly planned this surprise she couldn't help but be extremely nervous. In truth, she didn't know how her husband, Dave would respond to this surprise.
Dave and Cassidy's marriage was not one born out of love between them both, it was an arranged marriage.
Being the only daughter out of six sons, Cassidy's mother had been anxious to see her beloved daughter happily married to a man worthy of her.
Her marriage had been arranged so fast between both their families that they had not gotten enough time to know each other better and before either of them properly understood what was happening, they were standing in front of the altar saying their vows.
That was exactly one year ago now, today was their one year wedding anniversary and coincidentally it was also Dave's birthday. In the past year, being married to Dave had not been easy.
He never bothered to hide the fact that he didn't think much of her or their marriage. While Cassidy, who had been dragged into this marriage as much as Dave was, had been willing to try to make it work, Dave was indifferent and cold towards her and had been for the past year.
They still did their marital duty in the bedroom from time to time because Dave's status as the first son and heir to Lionel Ltd. demanded an heir from them but that was it.
Cassidy had not given up on trying to make their marriage work however and this thoughtfully planned out surprise was another one of he attempts. She only hoped it was enough to break through the wall Dave had put up around her.
Cassidy looked at the time on the wall clock and frowned.
Why wasn't Dave back yet?, she wondered.
She shook her head. Maybe he was just caught up with work.
He'll be home soon, she told herself as she waited on the couch.
As she waited, she didn't realize when she lulled off and fell into the soothing embrace of sleep.
The sound of the keypad beeping, made Cassidy open her eyes. She looked around a bit disorganized wondering where she was before she remembered she had fallen asleep on the couch. The sound of the door clicking open brought her to alert and she jerked up at the door.
That must be Dave, she thought to herself.
He hadn't slept at home. Why hadn't he slept at home? Where had he slept?
Forget that! What about her surprise? How was she to carry it out now?
So many questions ran through Cassidy's mind as she got up and walked towards the door to welcome Dave, deciding to forge ahead with her plans anyway, the questions would come later. However all her words got stuck in her throat when she saw the look on Dave's face as he walked past her into the living room without sparing her a glance. Cassidy swallowed, he looked furious.
She forced herself to follow him into the living room where Dave stood, staring at the things on the center table, contempt in his eyes. Just as she was working up the courage to ask him what the problem was, Dave suddenly turned around, a brown envelope outstretched in his hands.
"Sign this and leave", he said coldly.
Cassidy blinked at him confused.
"I... I don't understand", she finally managed to say.
Dave only thrust the envelope at her. Cassidy took the envelope and stared at it, her heart beating faster now, certain there was trouble.
"What is it?", she mustered up her courage to ask but Dave didn't answer her, he just stared coldly at her.
Cassidy slowly opened the envelope with trembling fingers. Her brain went numb as she read the heading of the files within,
“DIVORCE SETTLEMENT”
- Writer
