T w e l v e-4

Walker sighs but doesn't disagree. "What do you get out of this? You'd really do all of this so they don't run an 8-year old sex tape on E-news?" He smirks. My nostrils flare and I contemplate telling him to forget the entire thing. I don't want to give this bastard a cent. Let alone nine million of my hard earned fucking cash. "Not quite." I say. Without taking my eyes off him, I slide forward the brown envelope containing Charlie's petition for divorce. From the corner of my eye, I see her shift on her chair, twisting slightly and knotting her hands together. Walker looks confused as he lifts the envelope and takes out the contents. His eyes narrow on me, dark fury turning them from a grey blue to a navy blue. Slowly he turns his head to Charlie. "Sixteen and a half million really all you're worth, baby?" He asks. "I think you could have gotten me more. You went down on them right?" I move forward again, but Gideon is faster and clamps his hand on my arm, halting me. "Just sign them Matthew. Please." She pleads. She looks sad again. Her whole body appears to be made of glass, as though it could shatter if it's grazed even slightly. Yet still I want to go to her, hold her. I hate that she's here. What the fuck was I thinking doing this with her here? I wanted to save her from this. Not wave in front of her face how much of a loser bastard her husband was. When she speaks again her voice is soft and gentle. "Our marriage is over. Has been over for a long time. Let's not make it any harder. This saves your company, that's what you want right? That's what you've been trying to do for months." "But it costs me you?" he almost shouts. "No," she shakes her head. "I was already gone, Matt. I was gone long before this." His body seems to deflate at her words. As he continues to gaze at her, his eyes slowly begin to soften. He stares at her a long time, long after she looks away from him. Finally, he lets out a deep sigh before leaning forward to lift my sterling silver pen, twisting the tip out with a slow precise movement. He signs the NDA first, looking over the three-page document carefully, nodding his head only once before putting his somewhat artistic scrawl on the last page, above which he prints his full name. Matthew Ellis Walker. Next he flips to the back of the thicker sheaf of divorce papers, glancing at Charlie as he does. "I assume these are the same ones? You haven't made any changes to them in the last few days? I still walk away with the house in Malibu, the cars and everything in my name?" He asks her in the softest tone I've heard him use since he walked in the door. She nods. "Exactly the same. Everything you came with is yours. Everything I came with is mine. But I'm happy to return the 10% ownership I have in Upic too," she says quietly. He smiles at her sadly and nods before marking his name below her already present signature. Lastly, he slides forward the investment agreement. He takes longer over this than the others. Glancing over every page very carefully, nodding approvingly every now and then. When he seems satisfied he returns to the front page and looks at me, and then Gideon. "Everything looks in order," He nods. Then, without taking his eyes off me, he lifts the agreement and tears it in half. Then tears it again dumping the scraps back on the table. Charlie gasps quietly. "But here's the thing. I don't need your money or your charity or your fucking names. This is my company and I'll run it my way. Like Charlie said, I built it. In a shared dorm room at Princeton when I was eighteen years old. It's mine. If it dies, it dies with me. At least I didn't grovel at the feet of two men who thought they could buy, threaten, scare me, or out do me." "Matt please, don't be insane. Take the investment. You need it. You could go to prison. The company needs it. You'll lose everything without it." Charlie says almost desperately. He stands then and looks down at her. "Their money? No, I don't need it. There was only one thing I needed Charlie. Only one thing I had that I have ever been terrified of losing," he says. "And it sounds like I lost that a long time ago. Or you know, I think maybe I never actually had it to begin with." He leaves the statement hanging in the air as he turns and strides from the room. All three of us gaze after him before I turn to Charlie. She's staring after him with the sort of look that makes me feel jealousy and rage and sympathy all at once. "Well, that is NOT the way I expected that to go," Gideon says quietly after a long silence. "I need to go talk to him, reason with him." She stands and starts for the door. "Charlie, no. Stop." I stand and move in front of her. "I don't want you alone with him. He's angry and hurt and I don't trust him. Let me try and talk to him," I nod reassuringly. "Okay..." she mutters looking dazed. I give Gideon a look before going after the stupid prideful bastard. He's standing at the end of the hall watching the elevator counter as I approach. "Walker," I say, and he turns around. "You're making a mistake. A huge one." "That so?" He smiles. "Well, if I wanted your business advice or input I'd have signed those papers." "Don't let pride come before your fall. We can work together. Charlie doesn't want to see you lose everything." His eyes turn cold then. "And you'd know all about what my wife wants wouldn't you Grey?" he says darkly.