Ninety-Two Days Before the Ice

Three Thousand an Hour

"Rhys, I've hired an attorney and filed a petition to reopen the division of our marital assets."

Lexi's voice over the phone was cold and clipped.

"Send me your current address. The court needs somewhere to serve you."

So she actually sued. He wasn't surprised.

"Give me a minute," Rhys said calmly. "I'll be hiring a lawyer too. From now on, if you have anything to say, say it to him."

He hung up.

He had neither the time nor the patience for games. But if Lexi wanted a legal war, he would give her one, and he would make sure she regretted ever starting it.

The next afternoon, he walked into Sydvale's top divorce firm and asked for Joshua Hearn. As luck would have it, Joshua had an opening.

The receptionist glanced over Rhys's plain clothes and gave a polite warning. "Mr. Darby, you're aware of Mr. Hearn's billing rate?"

"Three thousand an hour." Rhys replied flatly and nodded. "I'm aware."

She clicked her tongue, very quietly. He hardly looked like a man made of money. She made a call, spoke briefly, all with her eyes glued to him, and rose from her desk. "Please follow me."

She led him down a hushed hallway and pushed open an office door.

Joshua Hearn looked to be in his mid-forties, in a perfectly tailored suit and thin-framed glasses, with a gaze so sharp he seemed able to spot a lie before it was finished. He gestured at the chair across from his desk.

"Mr. Darby. Have a seat."

"Would you like coffee?" the receptionist asked from the door.

"No, thank you." Rhys smiled faintly. "I doubt I'll be here long."

Once she left, Joshua folded his hands. "You seem to be in a hurry, so, let's get to it."

"That works." Rhys nodded. "I divorced my wife. Right after, I bought a lottery ticket and won. Now, she's suing me for hiding marital assets and wants the settlement reopened."

"If the divorce and the purchase both have clear timestamps, this is barely a case," Joshua adjusted his glasses. "Frankly, you hardly need a lawyer. Submit the evidence and it's a guaranteed win."

"I know. At first I planned to leave it there," Rhys's smile faded. "But since she insists on coming after me, I've changed my mind."

"Oh?" Joshua's interest sharpened and his gaze narrowed. "What do you want?"

"Before we got married, my wife was sleeping with another man and got pregnant. The child isn't mine. Here's the paternity test." He slid a folder across the desk. "When I signed the divorce papers, I voluntarily gave up nearly everything. But if she wants the court to reopen the settlement..."

Joshua slowly lowered the report. "You want your share back."

"Every cent I'm legally entitled to. Plus damages for the deception, the affair, and eight years of raising another man's child."

Joshua considered it. "I should warn you, my fees are steep. There's a real chance whatever you recover won't even cover my bill."

"That won't be a problem." Rhys chuckled. "The lottery prize was fairly substantial."

"How substantial?"

"Five hundred million." Rhys didn’t hesitate.

Joshua had just lifted his coffee before he heard that. His eyes widened and before he could even process it…

"Pfft!"

Coffee sprayed across the desk.

For several seconds, the famous divorce attorney could only stare. Fairly substantial? He charged rates that made executives wince, and even if he worked until the day he died he would never see that kind of money.

Rhys calmly handed him a tissue. "I hear you're the best divorce litigator in Sydvale. All I want is to make her entire family pay."

He let out a dry, bitter laugh. "I married into that family as a live-in son-in-law. I handed over my entire salary and lived on a hundred dollars a month. I swallowed everything for the sake of a son who isn't mine. Even the kindest man has a breaking point."

Joshua nodded slowly. "I understand, Mr. Darby, and I respect it. I'll take the case."

But Rhys had conditions.

"First, drag it out as long as the law allows, but no longer than three months. Second, bleed them for every penny. Third, make sure the judge knows I intend to donate whatever we recover. I don't want anyone thinking I'm doing this to shake them down."

Joshua found the request bizarre. A longer case meant more billable hours. Why not?

But Rhys knew exactly why the number mattered. Three months. If this dragged past ninety days, there would be no court left to finish it, no judge, no city. He wanted the Stowes to feel every week of the wait, the fear of what was coming, and then the pain of watching everything vanish.

Joshua began issuing instructions. He had his team start circulating the story of Lexi's affair on the city's busiest online forum, and assigned a junior associate to keep Rhys updated.

Her name was Nancy Jean.

She was tall, easily five-foot-seven, with sharp features and black-framed glasses that only added to her cool, professional air. More than a few heads turned as she walked Rhys through the lobby.

At the entrance she handed him her card. "Mr. Darby, I'll be assisting Mr. Hearn on your case. If you ever want an update, contact me directly."

He simply grunted without a reply and saved her number.

Nancy hesitated for half a second. "And it doesn't have to be about the lawsuit."

Rhys looked up slowly, his eyes cold and already interpreting meaning into her words.

She seemed to realize how that sounded. "I mean... anything legal! If you have any other legal questions, you can ask me about those too."

The explanation only made the first sentence sound more suggestive. Nancy pushed up her glasses, her cheeks burning red.

Rhys couldn't tell whether she had misspoken, or whether she had said exactly what she meant.

He walked out into the afternoon sun and remembered the count down in his mind. Eighty-eight days. Lexi was suing him, the Stowes were circling his house, and a woman in black-framed glasses had just made his pulse skip.

Somewhere above the clear blue sky, the sun was already beginning to change.

…but nobody else could see it yet.