Chapter 5

 

Lauren Hampton, ex-wife of Adam Hampton III, scanned the newspaper as she enjoyed her morning coffee. She grimaced as she read the headline in the business section about the Preston acquisition. That SOB must be dancing in the halls, she thought. I hope it was worth the high price that the Hampton family had to pay to get it.

Preston Industries had been the catalyst in the nasty divorce she and Adam went through four years prior. Without her knowledge Adam sold her antique jewelry and mortgaged their summer home to raise capital for his father’s unsuccessful bid to take over Preston. That was the final straw in what was a growing list of grievances. When the dust settled, Lauren walked away from the eight year marriage with a settlement package that allowed her to travel extensively and maintain a fashionable residence.

The marriage was tumultuous from the start. He worked too much and she played too much. They were seldom on the same page. The exception being their time together in the bedroom. What they lacked in compatibility they made up for with their sexual appetites. The marriage was childless, although Lauren had conceived in their fifth year. She miscarried after three months when she was thrown from a horse during a jumping demonstration at the club. Adam was unforgiving, especially when he found out that the baby was a boy.

Things went decidedly downhill from there. What Adam didn’t know and she wasn’t about to tell him, was that the child was not from his seed, but was that of a stable hand. Several times, in a fit of anger, she was tempted to throw it in his smug face, but realized that such an admission, while it would be personally satisfying, would damage her future prospects for a large divorce settlement. Even after the settlement she remained silent since nothing would have been gained by telling him.

Time, however, hadn’t mellowed Lauren . She eyed the phone as she weighed the pros and cons of calling Adam to congratulate him. The pros won.

“What do you want, Lauren?”

“It’s wonderful speaking with you too, Adam. I just called to congratulate you. I hope your father’s sanity, our marriage and the loss of most of your closest friends wasn’t too high a price to pay for your victory.”

“I see that you’re still blaming your misfortune on everything and everyone else. When are you going to start accepting responsibility for your own life, and let bygones be bygones. Is that too much to ask?”

“Oh, getting rid of you was no misfortune for me. Actually, it was the best thing that could have ever happened. I just have to look around me to see how much better off I am,” an obvious reference to the luxurious life she was enjoying thanks to his generous divorce settlement.

“I’m going to hang up now, Lauren. It’s been so nice speaking with you again. Go back to your miserable existence.”

As Adam was hanging up, he could hear Lauren launching her parting salvo. “My life will always be wonderful as long as you’re not in it.”

She heard the click at the other end and smiled at the realization that she could still press his buttons. Memories of heated arguments flooded into her head, arguments that often went on for hours and which usually culminated in passionate lovemaking. She would always remember the great sex they had together, but then there were always the bad times. Sadly the bad times took a greater toll.

During Adam Hampton II’s campaign to acquire Preston Industries he convinced his son to sell antique jewelry that Lauren kept for safekeeping in the family vault. He also persuaded his son take out a mortgage on their summer house at the shore, a mortgage he would obtain by forging Lauren’s signature on the real estate documents. They raised three hundred thousand dollars for the jewelry and seven hundred thousand for the mortgage. One million dollars bought a large block of Preston stock, but unfortunately the Hamptons still fell short of the votes required when Preston’s Vice- President of Finance, Kane Masterson, produced enough proxies, at the last minute, to outvote them. It was a bitter defeat for the Hamptons.

Months later, when Lauren discovered her husband’s betrayal, she threatened legal action and public exposure unless he agreed to an immediate uncontested divorce and a generous support settlement. Within three months she was a free woman.

Lauren had been deeply depressed over the miscarriage and the resulting loss of her husband’s affection. His fraudulent activities just added to the burden. She was tired physically and worn down emotionally. That all changed once she won her freedom. With money, she bought back her youth and beauty. She frequented the best clinics and spas in California and Arizona. Three months and a hundred thousand dollars later Lauren re-emerged into Old Brooking’s social scene looking at least ten years younger than her thirty eight years.