A Strong Woman is Whatever She Wants To Be

"I'll be there tomorrow. You try keeping calm, okay? Everything will be all right," Karen assured Angie. Carol looked at Karen questioningly, and she briefed her on what Angie had told her.

"Angie has given me a perfect excuse to leave this place. I will go to her then head back to New York."

"Okay. Just remember to visit often and don't be so soft on that man of yours," Carol said, and Karen laughed.

~

Val was in her office. She had a court hearing the following day, and she was anxious about the case.

The clients had both failed to agree on a settlement, and as hard as the court option was, it was the only one left.

Her secretary Faithline knocked on her door, excused herself, and said there was someone on the line trying to get to her.

"Put them through," Val said, breathing out heavily.

"Okay, miss," Faithline said, then closed the door behind her. Minutes later, Val's phone rang.

"Hello. This is Robert."

"Oh. Okay. How are you?" Val asked.

"Good. My client changed his mind. He would like an out-of-the-court settlement. Do you think it's possible to schedule a meeting and finalize this?" Robert asked.

"I have to talk to my client first. Let me get to her, then I will call you back," Val said, then disconnected the call.

She called her client, who picked up and said she would get to Val's office in thirty or less.

"Sounds like a plan. You can come over with your client," Val called Robert and informed him.

She then walked to her secretary and told her that she had an appointment in thirty minutes and that she should schedule all meetings after that.

Val went back to her office and found a missed call from Angie.

She called back, expecting Angie to be shouting joyfully, but she was crying instead.

"Calm down. Tell me, what's up? Why are you crying?" she asked in concern.

"Evans…" Angie started, but her voice was drowned by her loud sobs.

"What did Evans do? Did you tell him what you wanted to? How did he react? Is he calling for a breakup?" Val asked many questions in a row, "Okay. What happened? Am getting so anxious. Is he okay?"

"No. He isn't. I don't know what happened to him," Angie said. Val was getting more confused.

She was about to ask her to clearly state what the problem was when Faithline knocked on the door to tell her that her visitors were ready and that she had prepared the boardroom for the meeting.

"Thank you," she mouthed. She removed the hold button on her call with Angie.

"Come to City Hospital," Angie said, cutting a long story short.

'I will be there as soon as I can,' Val promised and disconnected the call. She went to the board room.

There were many chairs around a very big table, and Robert and his client, Alex, were sited side by side.

She sat on the chairs opposite them and her client, Josephina, sat beside her.

"We're willing to settle for an out-of-court settlement," Robert said.

"I guess that's why you called in the first place," Val answered composedly.

"True that," Robert answered.

"What are we looking at?" Val and Josephina asked in unison.

Val gave her a death stare that warned her not to talk again.

"I will be catering for 30% of her monthly expenses. She will have the house and custody of the kids," Robert read his client's statement.

"Mmmh. 30% no. 40%. The others are okay," Val said. She thought 30% was way too little from someone like Alex.

He was filthy rich, and he had become a philanderer who thought money could buy women, and it did buy him some.

He had a string of mistresses all over Atlanta, and more often than not, he didn't show up at home.

His work was always the excuse, and at first, Josephine didn't suspect anything because she did see the fruits of his hard work.

But one night, he went home with lipstick smeared all over his white shirt. His tie was hanging loose, and he had a strange perfume scent all over him.

"What's with all that perfume scent?" Josephina had asked, moving closer to him to smell the scent.

"Oh, I think I got it from being so close to Lucia. We had a project we are to submit tomorrow morning, so we had to squeeze in extra time for it," he mumbled.

For some stupid reason, Josephina didn't think much of the excuse. But all that would change when one night, on their anniversary, when they were joining their bodies in the union, Alex moaned the name of one of his mistresses.

That's the straw that broke the camel's neck.

When Alex and Josephina got married, Josephina was on her way to the top of her career.

She gave it all up when she became pregnant with their kid Ian, who was now a grown-up and in University.

With Ian moving to University, she didn't feel afraid to do whatever she wanted to anymore.

She thought of herself for once since she had gotten married, and she vowed to put all her needs first.