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violets & roses

—

IT WAS A breeze through the open doorway, chilling me to the bone, that made me wish I had never came here.

The here in question was actually at Burke and associates. But Teddy had called me to duty in the group chat, so I had to answer to him, even if it was at four o'clock in the morning. It was five o'clock now when I had finally scraped together a decent look — in other words, putting on my pair of aviator sunglasses and stuffing my hair into a bun and pulling a cap over it while shrugging on some rather casual clothes — and hightailed my way over here. Teddy seemed rather impatient, especially this time around, so I was sure not to keep him waiting.

It was dark in Burke & Associates, which made perfect sense considering what time of morning it was — oh yeah, it was literally five o'clock in the morning — but the emptiness of it all gave me an eerie feeling in the pit of my stomach. The reception area was vacant and gone was the hustle and bustle I had taken note of the last time I was here. It was literally a ghost town, although I could see two doors creaked just enough open so that light peeked through, splitting apart the darkness.

But I trudged on, making my way to where I remembered Teddy's office was. It was one of the rooms with light seeping from out of it, the other towards the end of the hall. I was curious as to who or what was in there, but I had learned my lesson with Theo about opening doors I had no business opening.

I knocked on his office door, my action quickly being met by a frantic Teddy Burke swinging the door open and placing a finger over his lip, the universal sign for telling someone that they needed to shut up. I would've said something to him, but I was taken aback by the gesture, not sure if he knew who he was talking to because I didn't let just anyone treat me like that. He most likely didn't intend on being rude, but he was definitely the kind of guy who would make that kind of misstep. After taking a quick peek outside, he quietly motioned for me to join him in his room, which I did.

Teddy quickly scurried to shut the door behind me, although he was careful not to slam it shut. Instead, he gently let it close before making his way to his desk. Following him with my gaze, I noticed that there were two bags from the local Chinese restaurant in the area, the aroma of egg rolls and orange chicken dangerously wafting to my nose and making my mouth water. I also noticed that there was a stack of papers sitting there next to them, tacked on the top with a sticky note that had my name written on it.

Like anyone who could sniff work to be done out from a mile away, even amongst the smell of heavenly Chinese food, I raised a curious eyebrow at Teddy when his eyes finally met mine. He didn't seem to take in the stock of my gesture, so I had to press on further.

"What are all those papers for?" I asked, raising my eyebrow again in hopes that he got my drift. "You know, the ones with my name on them."

Teddy blanked for a second, clearly preoccupied, before a grin lit his face and I was reminded of all his usual charisma. "Oh, those? Those papers are evidence for another case, one that could help us with the Gates' one. I want you to help me go through it. Together."

There was a weight on that last word that probably wasn't intentional, yet I could feel it in my heart for reasons I couldn't explain. I felt something strange but familiar flutter in the depths of my stomach. I didn't like it.

So to distract myself from thinking about it, I sighed and decided to tackle a more important question at hand. "Why did you call me to come here so early? I woke up about four of my neighbors trying to leave my place."

I saw something wash over Teddy's features, something that told me he wanted to lie to me about the reason why I was here, but it passed as he let out a low grumble under his breath. "My ex-wife still works here. And, I mean, I can tolerate her being around but I can't be the only person here with her because she's just bad news. She usually isn't here this early, but she decided today was special, I guess."

I was taken aback, and so was that feeling from earlier. Teddy had an ex-wife? But then I remembered our conversation on the boat, when he was interrupted by someone calling to apologize for what they did with someone named Violet. I hadn't thought much of it with George coming back, but when I did, I just wrote her off as an old girlfriend or associate but not a full-on wife.

"Would this ex-wife happen to be the Violet you were talking about yesterday," I asked cautiously.

Teddy nodded. "Let's sit," he said. "I'll tell you everything while we eat."

—

THE STORY OF Violet was a sad one, but equally as intriguing.

Violet Rady and Teddy Burke had went to the same university, meeting through a mutual friend in their pre-law class when he decided to pop the question. Not exactly the question, but rather if she wanted to go out with him. And from there it was smooth sailing. They dated for a year and a half, he proposed to her at his family graduation dinner, they had their wedding on the S.S. Justice six months later because they were busy trying to sort out their career lives at his father's firm, honeymoon in Puerto Rico, and they even had talks of children and buying a house coming up.

But that plan was thwarted when she actually had one of her own a year and a half later. And it was really of her own, because — Teddy insisted too proudly of this — they had been using all sorts of preventative measures until they were sure that they were financially read for a child. So she had been cheating on him, from months ago because the pregnancy was in a more mature phase when he had finally noticed it.

This had turned Teddy villainous and cold. He had kicked her out of their high rise apartment, forcing her to either live on the streets or either find someone willing to take pity on her. Violet had found a place for her and the baby to stay, alright, that place being the baby's father's house who just happened to be the same friend that brought them together.

Because she wasn't willing to give up the child and wanted to raise it with or without him, he decided that it was time for the divorce papers. They settled it outside of court with a mediator and that was that. The papers were signed and she was out of his house for good. Except while Teddy was cruel, he wasn't cruel enough — it just wasn't in his nature to be — and even today, years later, she still works at Burke & Associates.

I listened to this whole story intently, trying not to slurp on my noodles too loudly, taking in every single detail. It definitely explained why he didn't seem to be bothered by the possible repercussions on the Gates children that would stem from arresting their parents. It was a nuanced portrait of the Teddy Burke I was getting to know better and better as the time passed. When he finished, I placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently in a circular motion.

"It's okay, Teddy," I said.

He sighed. "Yeah, it's okay, but it's not good enough. I want her out of here. But I can't just fire her because she hasn't done anything wrong — work-related. Believe me, Theo and I tried every way possible, looking for loopholes in every legal angle, but she's practically invincible."

I felt his pain. My worst ex was a lot more avoidable and our breakup wasn't that horrible, but every now and then, he'd come back into my life, and it'd be up to me to deal with it. Laney was a big help, like it seemed Theo was for Teddy, but it was better to just avoid him in general and let my friends handle it because I knew they could better than I was able to.

"That's love," he said simply a few seconds later. "Just like you seem to love those kids. Love takes a little trial and error, Marilyn."

"Yeah, but I didn't think there'd be an actual trial," I said, thinking about how I would have to help Teddy bring this to trial. "And I only love Jack, by the way. While the rest of them don't deserve to go through any of that, I don't love them."

Teddy chuckled. "Well then. I guess that settles that. Sorry for assuming you liked kids."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to the water fountain. All of this orange chicken is making me thirsty."

Of course, when I had left the room, I wasn't expecting to see who was probably the most beautiful woman I'd ever met standing in the hallway. She was tall, with long brown hair down to her back, tan skin and very prominent cheekbones, wearing a blue knee-length dress with matching high heels. She was simply just staring at a framed photo on the wall, which somehow made her seem all the more beautiful and complex. But then I realized something about her, that the color of her dress was violet.

I'd tried to stifle the gasp that came out, but it was too late. She, Violet, had heard me. She turned to face me, her movements smooth and graceful as she looked me up and down with her honeyed-brown eyes. I had never felt so subconscious in my life before, but this moment had really done it for me. Teddy never mentioned the fact that she was so striking.

"Hello," she said in a soft voice that I realized was laced with some kind of accent. "Are you one of Theo's girls? He doesn't get here until seven."

"I'm actually quite concerned by how everyone assumes I'm a prostitute the first time they meet me," I said, trying to divert from her finding out that the reason why I'm here is because of the other brother. That would've just been uncomfortable for everyone involved. I was way too familiar with divorce for my own good.

Violet chuckled and I couldn't help but notice how even her laugh sounded beautiful. I was instantly flooded with envy, but I couldn't help it, she was just too perfect. I wasn't sure as to why I suddenly felt compelled to measure up to her, but the urge was there and I didn't think it was going away anytime soon.

"Well, you're a beautiful girl who's here way earlier than she's supposed to be," Violet said, "and unless Edward is dabbling in that kind of business — which I never would assume he was — you easily fit the bill of being one of Theodore's escorts."

While she did call me beautiful, I still wasn't sure how I should take her statement. She was Teddy's ex-wife for crying out loud, Teddy was my friend, and he reasonably seemed to be scared to death of her. I would be breaking some kind of unspoken code between us if I were to befriend her.

"There's another water fountain that way," I heard a voice say behind me. Turning around, I found Teddy there with a stern look on his face, although it was not on me. It was on Violet, he was giving her a look that could kill had she not taken away all of his pride years before when she cheated on him. Now he just looked resentful instead of powerful and Violet met his look with a roll of her eyes.

"It doesn't have to be like this," Violet said, "this girl just stumbled out of someone's office — I'm assuming it was yours — and we were having a short little conversation. There's nothing to be worried about."

"Marilyn, stay away from her," he said with a low growl, "and don't ever tell her your name."

"You literally just said her name out loud," Violet said, throwing her hands up in disbelief. "Look, it was all just a misunderstanding but if you really plan to hold that grudge for the rest of your life, then so be it. I just had some flowers in my office and I think they belonged to either you or Theo. I already checked with the others."

Teddy frowned. "Maybe they belong to your new husband, Violet. How's Adam doing by the way?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask him yourself?" Violet dipped back into her office for a quick second before coming out with a small bouquet of roses in her arms. "These are those flowers, Edward, you can have them because I don't like roses."

Because I was obviously the middleman in this situation, both figuratively and literally, Violet walked the hall just enough to hand them to me instead of Teddy before departing into her office for good.

I looked to Teddy, unsure of what he wanted me to do with them, but he just sighed and stomped back towards his office. "You can go home, Marilyn. I'll finish up here."

So I guess I was keeping the flowers.