Cheers To Comeuppance
Chapter 57(Pt 2)

Agatha Galloway stirred awake after what felt like a lifetime of sleep. She felt like her entire body was stiff. She realized she was confined to a chair when she tried to move. She struggled against the restraints but to no avail.

“So, it appears that you’re awake,” an all too familiar voice said to her.

“David?” she gasped in shock. Without answering her, Mr. Galloway ripped off the black sack over her head when she saw the home they had once shared before Sadie’s infamy; it cost them everything. “What is the meaning of this? Why am I tied up?”

“Did you honestly think you could avoid the inevitable, Aggie?”

“What are you—”

“Did you think you could hide from me and avoid signing the divorce papers?! Oh wait, let me correct myself. Since you already married someone else when we married, I only need an annulment. However, I still need your signature to ensure you get nothing out of it!”

“David, please don’t do this. We’ve been together for over twenty years. How can you throw away our love over something so trivial?”

“Trivial? Trivial!? You think that lying about your identity and the paternity of Sadie for those said twenty years is f*****g trivial!?” David Galloway bellowed in her face. His saliva sprayed onto her face, and she turned away in fear. David rarely raised his voice in their two decades of being together. “I doted on you, my wife, every day and worked hard to give you the moon and the stars. Anything you had ever desired. But how did you repay me!? With nothing but lies!”

“Yes, I admit it; I lied about who I was and about Sadie. But I truly did love you!”

“LIES! You spew nothing but lies from that filthy mouth of yours! Because that’s what you are! You’re filth!”

“David, how can you say that to me!?”

“I’m stating facts. You were already tainted when we met!”

“You weren’t a saint either! You cheated on your then fiancé to be with me! What’s the difference!?”

“The difference was that I wasn’t already married with a kid on the way!” he spat at her. Mrs. Galloway closed her eyes by sheer instinct, and the tears she had been holding back finally fell. “You’re vile, Agatha, and I want nothing to do with you anymore. You will sign the annulment, and you will leave my sight.”

“David, this is the only home I’ve ever known. You’re my only family. You and Sadie. Where am I supposed to go?! What am I supposed to do?!”

“I don’t care what happens to you as of this moment. From the moment I learned that you lied to me about everything, you were dead to me.”

“David, please …”

“SIGN THE DAMN PAPERS!” he thundered.

“I won’t! You can’t make me!”

“Want to bet on that?” Mr. Galloway gestured for his men to come over. They untied one of Mrs. Galloway’s hands and forced her to grip the pen.

“Stop! You can’t do this! David! Stop this!” she pleased; however, her pleas fell on deaf ears. Mr. Galloway held up a document with her signature already, and the men holding her arm and hand forged her signature onto the annulment papers. Even though the signatures were not an exact match, they were enough to file with the city court to officiate the annulment of their sham of a marriage. They also forced her to sign away any rights she had as the hostess of the Galloway family, which meant that anything and everything in the Galloway household had been rescinded back to its original ownership, solely David Galloway.

Mrs. Galloway shed tears of sorrow, seeing how ruthless her husband truly was. She knew his bottom line, but she always bet he would never replace the truth. Unfortunately for her, secrets never stay secrets forever, and it was all thanks to Leon. Leon repaid her a hundredfold because she had a hand in ruining his marriage with Sadie and defrauding him out of millions in assets. He didn’t just end her marriage to David and ensure she lost her wealth, image, and dignity as a member of the affluent circle of elites. She had been belittled into nothing.

“David, how could you force my hand like this?” she sobbed.

“You forced my hand first. Now get out!” he demanded. He snapped his fingers, which signaled for the men he hired to untie her completely and throw her out without anything of her belongings.

“At least let me pack up my things!”

“Nothing in this house is yours anymore. This document states that anything bought with my money is now mine. And the last I checked, everything in this house, including your so-called belongings, was purchased with my money!”

“What!?”

“And you signed away everything of yours and your bastard daughter’s as well. I’ve lost everything because of the two of you. So, to try and salvage what is left of my wealth, I will sell all of your designer clothes, handbags, and jewelry!”

“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!?”

“I can, and I will. Now get out of my sight, you wretched woman!” he shouted and slammed the door in her face.

As she fell to her knees and sobbed in sorrow, Annika and everyone else was at the penthouse celebrating the official engagement of her and Leon. Leon and his company released an official statement on their social media pages that Leon was engaged to Annika Silverton. The Silverton’s and their slew of family businesses also released official statements of Annika’s identity as the youngest Silverton child and sole heir to the Silverton fortune. Land and Mall also released an official statement regarding the change in Annika’s surname and that she will now be referred to as Dr. Silverton until her marriage to Leon becomes official, which she will then be referred to as Dr. Von Doren.

The internet was a buzz with all of the official statements. Most comments and direct messages were those of support and congratulations; however, a few commentaries cursed Annika and Leon. Most of the curses came from many of their respective fans and admirers. Still, a few of Jeffrey’s family members considered Annika their worst enemy now that the patriarch of the Hollands family fell from grace on national TV. Many felt Annika didn’t have to have Hunter drag Jack and Ruth through the mud with their private affairs. But unfortunately for them, Annika and her backers could care less how they felt because they were irrelevant to her.

“Okay, now that you two are officially engaged, when did you want to get married?” McKenna asked.

“Micky, we just announced the engagement. Let us enjoy it first,” Annika replied, laughing at her eager older sister.

“You think they’re rushing you now? Wait until you’re married. Not even an hour from the altar, they’re going to ask, ‘When are you two having a baby?’” Matthaeus grumbled, which earned a punch in the chest from Micky.

“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Leon responded, placing his hand on Annika’s still-flat stomach.

“Oh, right, you did it backward.” Annika frowned at her brother-in-law.

“Ignore him, baby bear,” Huxley said to her. “Delia was already pregnant when we got married. There’s nothing wrong with it as long as Leon takes responsibility.”

“Geez, Huxy, you’re saying it as if you don’t love Delia,” Micky jabbed.

“I love her very much; thank you, Micky. I’m just stating that, as men, we need to take responsibility for our actions, regardless of whether it ends in marriage. I loved Delia, which was I chose to marry her. I chose to take responsibility for our child because it took both of us to make her.”

“Too bad not all men think that way,” Annika mumbled, referring to Jeffrey.

“That’s why he’s not a man. He’s an insignificant waste of space, and I’m glad we’re rid of him.”

“Okay, enough of that. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty details about the wedding!” Micky squealed. Annika rolled her eyes once more but couldn’t stop smiling. This was how it should have been. Surrounded by her family and loved ones, celebrating her happiness. She looked at Leon but frowned when she saw he was paying close attention to his phone instead of the hearty atmosphere.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him. He looked up at her and then back at his phone. He was contemplating if he wanted to share what was just sent to him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hide it from her, so he handed her his phone so she could read it herself.

BREAKING NEWS!

It has been reported that former Defense Attorney, Jeffrey Hollands, was found dead inside his prison cell this afternoon. Hollands, whom everyone knows, was recently caught up in a highly publicized divorce hearing from his wife of seven years, Annika Silverton.

After many twists and turns in the case, Hollands was stripped of everything and even found to have unintentionally committed bigamy against the very mistress he cheated with. Not only that, but Hollands was also publicly outed as the byproduct of his father’s affair with a minor at the time. Although the statute of limitations has long passed, it didn’t stop the rippling effect of a bad public image for Hollands’ entire family.

According to the jailhouse guards, they were fetching Hollands, who had a visitor waiting for him, his younger half-brother, when they found Hollands dead in his cell. Hollands was reported to have hung himself using the sheets of his bed.

We had an interview with the current acting District Attorney Reagan. When asked his opinion of Hollands’ apparent sui*cide, and whether or not he believed it, he said this…

“I believe it to be true. One must understand that the pile of charges against Hollands on top of his divorce would be enough to make even the toughest criminals crack under pressure. We already had plenty of irrefutable evidence that he was involved in defrauding Leonardo Von Doren a year and a half ago with Sadie Galloway. On top of that, along with the evidence tampering, the court was adding felony bigamy charges against him. Though it would have been proven that he was unaware of the bigamy, it was still an additional blow to his pride. Jeffrey Hollands was the youngest District Attorney in Manhattan, and to fall from grace the way he did, and as far as he did, it’s no surprise that he chose to take his own life rather than face his crimes. He would have spent at least twenty years in prison if not more. Though I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, Jeffrey Hollands got what was coming to him if you ask me. He got his comeuppance.”

This information comes to us just minutes after Leonardo Von Doren announced his engagement to Hollands’ now ex-wife, Annika Silverton, who revealed she is pregnant with their first child.

Annika’s face had paled after reading the article and the quote from D.A. Reagan. She couldn’t believe it herself. After everything that had happened, the ending was so anticlimactic. Rather than face his crimes like a grown man and take his punishment, Jeffrey decided to go out on his terms and avoid all charges by taking his own life. She hadn’t expected this one bit. Even though Jeffrey had hurt her in the worst ways possible, she never wanted him to die. But, in the end, it wasn’t up to her. Jeffrey chose his path. He ended up at a crossroads and chose the easy way out.

“Annika, honey, are you okay?” Madalena asked as Annika and Leon became quiet.

“No …”

“What’s wrong, Baby Bear?” Beau queried, concerned seeing the sadness in his daughter’s eyes.

“Jeff …”

“What about him?” Hunter asked.

“He …” Annika paused and looked up at Leon for assistance.

“Jeff Hollands hung himself in lockup. He’s dead.”