Chapter 379: The ugliest divorce.
Sienna chuckled, half in disbelief. "You have already planned this out?"
Soren nodded earnestly. "I want to build something that’s mine. Something that doesn’t depend in anyone else. It doesn’t matter if it starts small, I am confident that I can grow it as time goes on."
Sienna’s heart swelled with pride and worry. This kind had no plans to depend on her to keep him fed in future. He was not like Numia, who expected her to empty herself just to keep the woman full. He was a good brother. He had inherited the good qualities of the Rocland elders.
She reached out, brushing his hair back. "Then I will give you as much help as I can. Whether you stick to one shop or build a food empire, I will back you up. I won’t invest, and neither will Elias. It should be your business. Whether it sinks or rises, it is yours alone. I will help you choose good managers and assistants. But you have to promise me before you embark on this journey, that you will stay true to yourself. Money changes men, Soren. It breeds greed, which in turn makes people take dark paths. I don’t want to ever see your name in the news alongside accusations of cutting corners, embezzlement and other other crimes."
"Sis, I promise," he said firmly.
The greenhouse fell silent, save for the faint hum of the bees. Sienna was about to say more when the leaves of a tree rustled, and Elias dropped down.
His eyes were gleaming with unreadable intent.
Soren stood at attention, as if his superior had called his name. "Sis, brother-in-law, goodnight." He turned and rushed away, as if the bees were chasing after him.
Sienna sighed softly. "Do you have to scare my brother?"
Elias stepped forward, scooped her into his arms, and carried her from the greenhouse to their bedroom, without a word. Only when he set her down on the bed did he finally speak. "I want you," he whispered. "Can I?"
Considering the fact that he was already shrugging his clothes off, Sienna didn’t think her answer would make much of a difference. It would be a lie to say she was not tempted too, especially after looking at his pleasant muscular body.
"This is the downfall of every woman," she muttered, before her lips were claimed by his.
***
Sienna’s office smelled faintly of plums, and winter blossoms. A week had passed since her talk with Soren and she had already set everything up for his brother as he wished. Today was the last day in office before the winter holiday. She had hoped for a quiet close, but the Mercer family had other plans.
Four couples, all from the bankrupt noble family, sat around a table in her office. Their faces were tight with resentment, their lawyers armed with folders, their children lurking in the hallway like shadows because they were too many to fit in her office.
Sienna sighed inwardly. When she didn’t see any Mercer towards the end of the work week, she had assumed they would work through their problems sensibly. Apparently, they had been biding their time.
She raised her hand. "Let’s begin. One at time."
Mija gestured to the first couple: Reynard Mercer, a fox beast man with sharp cheekbones, and a perpetual sneer. He sat opposite his wife Honoria, a fox beast woman with tired eyes, tired hair and trembling hands. Her husband had made it clear in the divorce submission that she was to blame for all their problems. She had introduced the stripper to the matriarch of their family.
Couple two was Bastian Mercer, another fox beast man, broad-shouldered, proud and loud. Opposite was his wife Sidora, a fox beast woman whose cold blue eyes could freeze rivers. They had once been the empire’s most ideal couple thirty three years ago, but now, couldn’t even look at each other.
Couple three was Davis Mercer, another fox beast man. Opposite him was his was wife Angela, a raven beast woman with elegant posture. Their marriage had been fragile even before the bankruptcy, and now it was splintering.
The last couple was Dricella Mercer, a fox beast woman who looked ready to bite, claws tapping on the table. Opposite her was her husband Vic Scavo, wold beast man that equally had no patience.
Sienna kept her hand up. "Before we begin, I would like to say something. Mercers, I understand the confusing time you are all going through. Bankruptcy is a terrible thing. But your noble name remains. Money can be made again, and it is not everything in a marriage. Poverty is not the end of love as long as a couple is willing to work together."
Bastian scoffed. "Easy for you to say, Matriarch, you still have all your money. This is nothing, by the way. Do you know how many Mercers there are? Two hundred and forty. Out of all of us, only six couples have divorced since the collapse. That’s a miracle. Let’s just end this as quickly as we can. Some of us have business that have survived the axe and we must work hard to keep them alive."
Sienna nodded slowly. "Then let’s proceed. But I warn you, patience is a virtue. Signing divorce papers is easy, but make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Do not let bitterness consume you."
The hearing started and the first hour was chaos packed with screams and accusations. Reynard accused Honoria of hiding all of his and her jewelry away two days before the bankruptcy was declared, and now, she was refusing to say where it was. Honoria countered by claiming the matriarch of their family was not the only one sleeping with the male stripper that had brought ruin to the family. Reynard was doing the same thing. Everything she had hidden away was for the sake of her children.
Their lawyers shouted over each other, producing receipts, texts, and even photographs of Reynard and the stripper in compromising positions.
Bastian and Sidora were no better. Bastian slammed his fist on the desk, accusing Sidora of poisoning his wine. Sidora sneered, producing a vial of an herbal medicinal concoction.
"This is medicine, not poison. Now that we are getting divorced, I can boldly tell you that it is a libido lowering tonic." She looked at Sienna, laughing in a slightly hysterical manner. "Do you know why I had to do this? It was because he was also sleeping with that male stripper."
Everyone in the office gasped.
Sidora growled. "It is one thing for him to cheat on me, and another to do it with a man who sells his ass to everyone!"
Davis and Angela’s fight was quieter but more vicious. She accused him of gambling away her private assets, calling him every bad thing and using every curse word under the sun. Davis retorted by sharing pictures of Angela in compromising positions with her own cousin and the same male stripper every Mercer seemed to be sleeping with.
Dricella seemed to take that revelation as a cue to slap her husband Vic. "You were sleeping with that whore too, weren’t you? The night you two went to a sauna off the estate. What did you do?"
Vic struck her back, loudly accusing her of domestic violence and how he was not going to take it anymore. His sharp teeth sunk onto her ear, nearly ripping a piece of it off.
Sienna’s guards had to send away all the underage children in the halls while others intervened in the fight.
By the second hour, the office was a battlefield. Documents flew across the table, voices rose to shrieks and accusations piled higher than the winter snow. Dricella made calls between the arguments, sharing the news of the ’whore with the lose ass’ with all the Mercers.
Mija whispered to Sienna, "You are going to be seeing a whole lot more of Mercers seeking to divorce if this male stripper slept his way through the family!"
Sienna felt her patience thinning. She leaned forward, slamming a gavel on the table. "Enough! This is not a marketplace brawl. All I need are reasons for the divorce which can be accepted by this office, a court of law and your families. I think we have enough so let’s sign the papers."
But the Mercers were relentless.
"You are so dumb that all your kids are dumb too. This is why I fathered a child outside." Vic Scavo screamed to Dricella.
Dricella fainted, her lawyer fanned her desperately while screaming for medics.
Sienna massaged her temples, sighing tiredly. "This has got to be the ugliest divorce we have ever seen," She said to Mija.
Angela pointed to Davis, and sneered. "He likes it when I piss in his mouth. Do you know that, Lady Sienna? You cannot grant custody of my two children to a pervert."
Sienna frowned. "Why would I know that?"
Angela could have cared less. All she cared about was that Davis was red in the face and very embarrassed.