Chapter 177
Jayson walked in from outside, dressed in a sleek black overcoat. His sharp features were as emotionless as ever. His gaze fell on Ariel without a trace of what anyone would expect from a man about to finalize a divorce.
Behind him were Matt and another man with a polished, commanding presence.
Matt gave the man beside him a pat. “Edward, I’ll leave the rest to you. Handle the divorce terms well with Jayson.
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The second Matt found out Jayson was going through with the divorce, he immediately called in his cousin, Edward Graham, who happened to be one of the top lawyers in the country.
In Matt’s mind, Ariel had clung to Jayson for years. Now that they were finally splitting, she’d definitely try to walk away with a fortune. So he figured he’d cut her off at the pass and bring in a lawyer to keep her from getting greedy.
After all, she got into this marriage with dirty tricks. There was no way she was walking out of it with a gold crown.
Edward turned to Ariel and gave her a polite nod. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Walker. I’m Edward Graham, Mr. Larkin’s lawyer.”
Ariel gave him a slight nod in return.
At her side, her lawyer, Vincent Glover, stood up in shock when he saw Edward. “Mr. Graham, it’s been a while.”
Edward gave him a brief smile in acknowledgment.
Eldoria’s legal circle wasn’t that big. Of course, they knew each other.
Noticing that Ariel was looking at him, Vincent leaned over to explain quietly, “Mr. Graham is my senior. He runs his own firm now and is one of the best in the country. He usually handles high–stakes financial cases. If he’s here today, we might be in for a long one.”
Ariel instantly understood what he meant.
When he said “a long one“, he really meant it wasn’t going to be easy.
All she wanted was the ring. But with Edward on the other side, even when Vincent was fighting for her, the odds still didn’t look great.
What she couldn’t wrap her head around was that she didn’t even ask for anything in the divorce agreement. So why did Jayson bring in a top–tier lawyer today?
Did he think there was some loophole in the divorce agreement? Was he afraid she’d pull something shady in the terms?
He was guarding himself against her.
Jayson sat across from Ariel. Edward opened his briefcase and pulled out a document.
Jayson slid it across the table to her and said coldly, “Take a look. If there’s anything else you want, we can add it in.”
Matt was stunned. He leaned over and whispered, “When did you even write up a divorce agreement? I thought we
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were going to hash it out on the spot.
Jayson said nothing.
Ariel opened the file. It was a completely new agreement.
Her brows furrowed–not from the harsh terms, but because Jayson was offering too much.
According to the agreement, he was giving her ten prime commercial properties in Eldoria, a billion–dollar divorce settlement, and their marital home in the city’s most expensive district worth over 500 million dollars.
All of it would be hers.
The whole thing added up to almost two billion dollars.
However, Ariel noticed one thing. The properties and the house would be transferred to her name right away. But the one billion dollars would be paid in installments over three years.
She didn’t quite understand why Jayson structured it like that.
She looked up at him. He simply met her gaze and asked, “Anything you’re not happy with?”
So she could still negotiate?
Matt noticed the terms too. He looked at Jayson in disbelief and whispered, “Seriously? You’re giving her all that after everything she did to force you into this marriage? What for?”
Why the hell had he gone through the trouble of bringing in Edward, then?
Whether Jayson was technically at fault or not, he could’ve left Ariel with nothing.
Once the divorce went through, how far could she really go? She was just a woman with a bachelor’s degree who spent three years as a housewife.
It wasn’t even guaranteed Chad would keep her around for long. Without real skills, she might not even last in a basic assistant job.
Eventually, she’d realize that she was nobody without Jayson.
Jayson showed no reaction to Matt’s words. His expression was calm and unreadable.
Ariel was still frowning. She couldn’t figure out what Jayson was trying to do. She hit Nancy, which angered him enough to go through with the divorce. Shouldn’t he be teaching her a lesson?
Instead, he was handing her a lifetime of financial freedom.
Was this his version of making amends?
Ariel’s expression didn’t change. She just asked one thing, “When does the house transfer happen?”
“Once the divorce is finalized.”
“Alright. Got it.” Ariel nodded.
Matt looked genuinely thrown.