Diana didn't really know how to feel as she was sitting across from her soon to be ex-husband and his divorce attorney. She was a big cocktail of emotions. First, it was ridiculously early in the morning, so she was tired, but that was beside the point. Hurt, resentful, scared, anxious were the other things she felt. She didn't know what to expect when she first walked into the meeting, but she knew she'd have to hammer out all of the details so they'd be free by the time the six months were up.

Their lawyers battled back and forth, arguing over assets. Why did Diana deserve the Malibu beach house? Should Beck keep their $12 million dollar Bel Air mansion? Was Diana entitled to spousal support? Who was getting the expensive wedding china? Was Beck going to make Diana sign an NDA? That was the only thing she vehemently refused. If she wanted to talk about hermarriage, she would. She wasn't because it was tragic and embarrassing, but Beck wasn't going to silence her.

Diana hadn't said much because there was nothing left to say on her part. She was honest when she said she was tired and done.

"I'll make this quick because my flight to Chicago leaves in a few hours." Diana said. "He can have it all."

Hillary, Diana's attorney, nearly spit out her coffee at her client's admission. "Excuse me? I don't think my client is in the right frame of mind to be making such rash decisions."

"I don't want any of it." Diana said simply. "All I want is for attorney fees to be paid for."

Beck's attorney, Sawyer, nodded enthusiastically at the compromise. "We can definitely have that arranged, Missus Oliver."

Beck was taken aback by Diana's admission. She really wanted nothing from him?

He tried to read her facial expressions, but he couldn't. She was wearing a pair of huge Celine sunglasses that took up most of her face.

They hadn't talked since their huge argument last month, much less been in the same room. He wasn't anticipating it to be this awkward.

"Diana?" Beck spoke for the first time in a while. "Do you want to put this on pause for a second?"

"Why?" Diana countered. "Put this on pause for what?"

"Because..." Beck's voice trailed off. Where was Diana's fight? Her spunk? "Why aren't you fighting me?"

"I'm sorry that your ego is bruised, Beck." Diana quipped. "But I meant what I said when I told you I was done. I'm done. I want out. I need to get out. I want nothing, you can even get your last name back."

"Seems fair enough." Sawyer slid a stack of papers and a pen towards Diana. "So if you just sign and initial these-"

"Diana will receive fifteen million in the settlement." Beck announced, cutting off his lawyer.

"Excuse me?"

"Fifteen million." Beck repeated. "Five for each year of marriage."

Diana shook her head. "I don't want-"

"Take it. Think of it as a parting gift. I'll put it in a trust in your name if you don't take it. Donate it to Berkeley, have them put it towards a lab named after you. Buy a million pairs of those fancy shoes you like. Buy an island, whatever. No strings attached, I promise."

"Beck, that's a lot of money." Sawyer warned.

Beck shrugged. Between his job, trust fund, real estate properties and smart investments over the years, fifteen million was a blip on his radar. "It's fine, Sawyer. Make it happen."

"If you insist."

Diana took off her sunglasses so she could look Beck in the eye. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Beck looked in between the two lawyers. "Can you two give us a minute? I want to talk to Diana privately."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Hillary said.

"It's fine, Hillary." Diana assured. "I'll be okay."

Hillary threw her hands up in defeat. "We'll be just outside if you need me."

Once the conference room in the office was cleared, Beck sighed heavily. "It's the end of an era, huh?"

"An era? Interesting choice of words."

Beck shrugged. "Six years of Beck and Diana. It wasn't all bad, right?"

Diana pondered the thought. Their first 4 years were amazing. Dating Beck was fun and exciting. He taught her a lot, showed her new places, spoiled her rotten. And that first year of marriage was pretty much the same. But when it got bad, it was really bad.

"Yeah. I think we had more good times than we realize."

"So what are your plans now?" Beck asked.

"It's back to Chicago."

"Permanently?"

"For the foreseeable future." Diana wanted out of Los Angeles. She needed a change of pace. "It'll probably become a permanent thing, I don't want to stay out here."

"Well, you can now move anywhere you want."

"Thank you, for the settlement. It was very generous of you."

"It's the least I could do."

"Throwing money at a situation to ease your guilt is very...stereotypical rich boy."

"You're very astute." Beck chuckled. "I can't help how I was raised."

"Touché."

"I love you, you know." Beck stated. "No matter how this turned out, I want you to know that."

"You're just not in love with me." Diana replied, her voice flat.

"I'm sorry, Di."

Diana didn't reply to that. Instead, she just slipped her sunglasses back onto her face in fear of Beck seeing her cry. She wasn't willing to give him any more vulnerability than she already had.

"Let's get them back in here so we can sign all the necessary documents and get things going."

Taking that as indication that their conversation was over, Beck just nodded. "Deal."

Jade had been out of the hospital for two weeks and she was bored out of her mind. Between her parents, Tyler, and her friends, she was stuck in her mother's house on strict bed rest.

She knew her recovery was going to take a while, considering she had a major surgery and nearly died, but that didn't mean she wasn't itching to actually do something. There were only so many cheesy soap operas and talk shows she could watch before she wanted to gouge her eyes out.

"Are you hungry?"

Jade looked up from her television and saw Karen standing in her doorway. The older woman had been asking the question every thirty minutes. Jade was getting tired of it. "Sure, I could use something to eat."

"Okay, what would you like?"

Jade shrugged. "I haven't had chicken noodle soup in ages. That sounds good."

"Perfect! I'll go to the store and get the ingredients."

"Mom, you can get a can from the grocery store."

"You deserve homemade soup, with fresh ingredients. When have I ever opted for that cheap canned nonsense?"

"Never."

"Exactly. It's no trouble at all, I'll be back within an hour."

"Okay."

With Karen gone, Jade was back to being bored. Tyler was working, Ryder was back in New York, Cat was out with Robbie, and Tori was in Miami. That only left André.

Jade rolled over and grabbed her phone. She dialed André's number and put him on speaker.

"Hey Jade, what's up?"

"I'm soooo bored!" Jade whined. "Like I literally think I might die of boredom."

"I'll make sure to sing a song at your funeral then." André teased.

"Ha ha, very funny. Can you come over and keep me company? I need to see a face besides my mother's."

"I can't."

Jade frowned. "Why not?"

"I have a meeting to get to, but I'll try to swing by in a few hours."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"If I don't see you today, you owe me dinner. And I'll order the most expensive things on the menu just out of spite."

"Well then I'll definitely come by to see you."

"Yay, thank you. Have a good meeting."

"Thanks, I'll see you later."

"How was your flight?"

"It was very long, mom." Diana tucked her feet under her lap as she burrowed deeper into the couch she was sitting on. She carefully placed her cell phone tighter between her shoulder and left ear, so her hands could be free.

"I'm really glad you're out here again." Patricia said cheerily.

"Me too."

"Are you sure you don't want to come home? Daddy and I have plenty of space."

Instead of staying in her childhood home, Diana opted to book a residency suite at the Ritz-Carlton. She wanted to be close to her family, but not that close.

"No mom, I'm fine."

"Okay." Patricia didn't sound so sure, but she'd have to take her daughter's word for it. "You know, the family is going to be celebrating Nicole's birthday tonight. She's even introducing us to her fiancé's family. Why don't you come?"

"I don't know. I'm really tired." Diana didn't want to leave the comfort of her suite. She just wanted to lounge in her comfy terry cloth bathrobe, drink everything in the minibar, and sleep.

"Come on, it's been a few weeks since I've seen you, and even longer for some of the other family." Patricia pleaded. "At least show your face."

Diana knew her mother wasn't going to take no for an answer, so she relented. "Where is the party going to be?"

"Your aunt, Rita's."

"Okay, I'll see you in a soon."

"Oh yay! I'll see you then."

Diana hung up and dropped her cell phone to the floor. She closed her eyes and groaned loudly. What did she just get herself into?

.

"Diana! You made it!"

Before Diana could fully walk into her aunt's home, she was pulled into a tight bear hug by her cousin, Nicole. The force of the hug nearly knocked her over.

"Oof! Damn, Nicki you really threw your weight behind this hug."

"I've missed you! I heard you came to town a few weeks ago, but I didn't get a chance to see you."

Diana untangled herself from her cousin and smiled. She had missed her cousin too. "I missed you too."

"How long are you going to be out here? Hopefully for longer than a few days."

Diana wasn't ready to tell her family that she was going to be back in Chicago full time, because then she'd have to admit the divorce. The thought of it overwhelmed her.

"I'll definitely be staying longer this time around." Diana promised.

"Good. And how are you feeling?"

"What do you mean?"

"From your car accident. When aunt Trish told us all about it, it sounded so scary. You're okay, right?"

"Oh!" The car accident seemed so long ago. "Yeah, I'm doing much better. I actually just finished physical therapy for my leg."

"Thank God. You must have a guardian angel looking out for you, D because it could've been worse."

"That's true." Diana thought back to her near death experience in that hospital after she went into shock and almost bled out when they failed to notice the sever abdominal trauma. She involuntarily shuddered at the memory.

Nicole noticed the far away look in Diana's eyes and decided to switch gears. "I want you to finally meet my fiancé! Come with me."

Nicole grabbed Diana's hand and dragged her through the crowd of family members until they settled into the kitchen. "Dave, are you in here?"

"Yeah babe."

Nicole spotted her fiancé leaning against the kitchen counter, eating. "Hey, I want you to meet someone. Di, meet my fiancé David. David, this is my cousin Diana."

David wiped his hands on a paper towel and extended one of them. Diana took it. "It's nice to meet you, Diana. Nicole talks about you often."

"All good things I hope."

"Yeah, you know, mostly stories about your wild teenage years."

Diana chuckled. "Guilty as charged. I was pretty crazy. But she was no better."

"I was just following my cool older cousin. You were the bad influence."

"I still managed to dust myself off, and put myself through college, so I wasn't that much of a bad influence." Nicole playfully nudged Diana's arm.

Nicole's eyes swept the kitchen. "Where'd your parents go, babe?"

"They were in the living room last time I saw them." David answered. "But Peyton is outside in the backyard. And Justin was actually able to get away from the office for the weekend and fly back home."

"Really? Oh that's exciting!"

Diana arched an eyebrow. "Who's Justin?"

"My brother." David replied.

"Oh, okay."

"He's probably already here. I talked to him an hour ago and he told me he was on his way."

"Talking about me, baby bro?"

Diana turned around and saw a guy standing behind her. He looked familiar but she couldn't really place him.

Suddenly it clicked in her head. "Bar guy!"

"Tequila girl."

Nicole was confused. "You two know each other?"

"I met him a few weeks ago. Justin right?" Justin nodded. "I went to the bar...Dave's. It's safe to assume you're the Dave?" Diana asked, turning back to her cousin's fiancé.

"Guilty."

"What are you doing here?" Justin asked. He greeted his brother and Nicole with hugs before turning his attention back to Diana. "Are you following me?"

"Diana is my cousin." Nicole said. "Our moms are sisters."

"Small world." Justin quipped, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Too small."

"Well it's nice to meet you again, Diana."

"Likewise."

"Nicole!" A loud, boisterous voice rang through the kitchen. Diana instantly recognized it as her aunt Rita's. "Time to cut the cake!"

"Ooh, yes! Let's go, guys."

.

"Diana, are you having fun dear?" Rita asked, pulling on Diana's arm to get her attention. Standing in a small circle with a few of her other cousins, Angel, Marissa, and Rose.

Diana was actually glad she came. Her mother was right, even though Diana would never admit it. She had been having a lot of fun catching up with her family, laughing at her uncles' lame jokes, eating fattening food, drinking, and reminiscing on crazy memories. With the way her day started, the party was a welcome distraction.

Diana smiled. "Yeah, you put together a one heck of a party, aunt Rita."

"Thank you. Why didn't you tell us that you were in town?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I needed to get away from Los Angeles."

"I bet. I know things must be pretty hard right now. How are you holding up?"

Assuming her aunt was talking about her car accident, Diana shrugged. "I'm doing good right now. Physical therapy is done, thank God. It was hard work."

"And how are things going with you and Beck?"

"Okay, I guess." It wasn't really a lie. Diana and Beck did leave things on a decent note, which was a miracle because Diana wanted to strangle him a few short weeks ago.

"That's good to hear."

They made polite small talk for a few minutes, catching up on each other's lives. They were interrupted by a loud squeal. It was Nicole making the noise, as she was horse playing in the middle of the living room.

"Aren't they the cutest?" Rita said.

"They are." Diana agreed. "Nicole looks really happy."

"She is." Rita chuckled. "You should've seen her the day after he proposed. She had an entire vision board mapped out and ready to go."

"I can't blame her. Wedding planning is the fun part. I know I drove my poor planner insane. It's a miracle she didn't quit on me."

"I know looking at them must be hard." Rita started, sighing heavily.

"What makes you say that?" Diana asked.

"It must difficult to see them all happy, with what you're going through. I know divorce isn't easy."

Diana's eyes got wide at that statement as her cousin Rose gasped loudly, catching the attention of those around. "You and Beck are getting a divorce?

"Oh my God, Diana!" Angel grabbed Diana's hand. "Why didn't you tell us? What happened? When did you guys separate? What are you going to do?"

"But he's so rich!"

Rose scowled at her sister. "Marissa, it's tacky to talk about someone else's money."

"Don't call me tacky! I'm not tacky!"

Diana looked around and noticed a few people trying their hardest to look busy while eavesdropping on the conversation. This was good gossip. Some of the family members didn't even pretend to not look. They were enjoying the sideshow.

She turned to her aunt. "Who told you?"

"What?"

"I only told two people about the divorce, and obviously one of them said something. Who told you."

Rita noticed the immediate shift in Diana's tone and posture. Her niece was as rigid and stiff as a board, and her voice dropped.

"Was it my mother?"

Rita opened her mouth to explain and then quickly closed it again, trying to figure out how she would explain it.

Diana walked off before Rita could even explain. She headed towards the dining room where her mother was. She spotted Patricia sitting at the table, over a deck of cards.

"Mom?" Diana's voiced cracked as she spoke, and she mentally cursed herself for it. "Mom, we need to talk."

"Oh sweetheart, you're just in time for a game of poker." Patricia said. "Wanna get dealt in?"

"No."

"You're missing out. The pot is pretty interesting."

"I need you to answer me, mom. Did you or did you not tell aunt Rita that I was getting a divorce?"

The table went silent at that. This was news to everyone else.

Patricia awkwardly cleared her throat. "Why don't we go somewhere else to talk about this." She reached up to touch Diana's arm, but her daughter instantly recoiled from her.

"Why? You've already told one person, and if one person knows, everyone else might as well know. Everyone does she because she thought it would be appropriate to casually throw it out in the middle of the living room.

"It just slipped out. I was talking about you, and next thing I know, I mentioned the divorce."

"Mom, you have the uncanny ability to divulge my personal business at the drop of a dime."

"That's not fair. Beck cornered me and I was scared for you, and-"

"I don't care about your excuses. I am so sick and tired of other people telling my story for me." Diana said. "That's what's not fair. I can't trust my own mother with personal information. That's not fair."

"Diana, don't-"

"How about from now on, I tell you absolutely nothing about me. Nothing at all. Goodbye."

"Diana, wait!"

Diana walked off and ignored the pleas of her mother. She walked through the sea of family members and quickly exited the house, going as fast as her legs would carry her.

The cold air hit her like a ton of bricks and she was sure the angry tears streaming down her face were going to freeze in place. She was practically shaking she was so upset.

"Hey, wait up!"

Diana stopped in her tracks as heard someone call out to her. Turning around and squinting in the dark, she was able to make out Justin's figure.

She kept walking. "Okay for real this time, are you stalking me?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why?" Diana asked.

"Because it's ten o clock at night, and storming out of a party, alone and upset, seems like a bad idea."

"I'm an adult. And I grew up in this neighborhood, my childhood house is a block away. I doubt old Missus Anderson has is out for me."

"You walk pretty fast." Justin said. "So can you please stop? Please?"

"You're gonna let a woman with one good leg out-walk you?" Diana challenged. "You wanna be out here? Keep up, Ivy League."

"Fine." Justin broke out into a light sprint until he caught up. "I ran track in high school, you know. I could keep up if I wanted to. I could do this all night, really."

"This has just been a really long day. I woke up this morning and I finalized my divorce."

"Really?"

"Now we just have to wait 5 months for it to be official, but yes. My plan for the rest of the day was to stay in bed, drink, and listen to sad Toni Braxton songs. But then my mother convinced me to come to this party, and imagine my surprise when I find out that my mother has told my aunt that I'm getting a divorce. My big mouth ass aunt who thrives on dysfunction, and is incredibly happy about this. She and my mother have been in competition since they were children, and her daughter is getting married while I'm getting a divorce. I'm sure she peed on herself, she was so excited. She just happens to accidentally let it slip in the middle of a party."

Justin didn't say anything. He just silently walked in step with Diana.

"It's embarrassing, you know? No one in my family gets divorced. Except my aunt Terri, but her husband was an abusive asshole. What's my excuse? My husband found a younger model?"

"I'm sorry." Justin offered.

"Me too."

"It was going to come out eventually right? At least it's out and the band aid has been ripped off."

"Wrong. I was going to tell when I wanted to. I needed time to process this and come to terms with it first. It wasn't my mother's place to tell anyone."

"That's fair enough. You should apologize though."

That stopped Diana dead in her tracks and Justin bumped into her. "Excuse me? Why on earth do I have to apologize?"

"Verbally accosting your mom in a public setting is never a good look."

"She's the one who should be apologizing. She betrayed my trust!"

"You could've handled it better."

Diana frowned. She knew he was right, and she's never intentionally disrespect her mother, but she was so mad, she didn't even care in that moment.

"I'll apologize to her in the morning. But I'm not going back into that house."

"Want to keep walking? I meant it when I said I could do this all night."

"I should get going. It's late, I'm exhausted, and my leg is starting to hurt."

"You want me to take you home?"

"No, I have a car."

"I'll walk you to your car."

"I'm fine. I don't need you hovering over me."

"Humor me. Let me walk you to your car."

"Fine."

"Has anyone told you you're really stubborn?"

Diana smirked. "All the time."

"Mama Karen makes a good bowl of chicken noodle soup." André mused as he sat down at Karen's kitchen table.

"You're on your third bowl."

"Yeah because it's that good."

Jade rolled her eyes. "She made the soup for me, you know."

"I'm your guest. And I've had a stressful day. I was hoping to get back in the studio, but I've been in meetings all day long."

"What's going on in the fabulous life of Mister Harris?"

"I'm thinking of dropping one of my acts from the label. She's too much."

Jade sat up, interested. She loved hearing stories about Hollywood drama. "Who? What's going on?"

"Tiana Lee. Very talented singer and songwriter, but she is not having a good run. A few months ago, her boyfriend dumped her and blasted a lot of her personal information on Twitter. She went on a rampage, trashed his house, and got arrested. Her last two singles flopped, she's being combative, there has been absolutely no good press, and the people are turning on her. Her biggest competition is Kelly Davis, who's Shawn Quincy's pet project. And just last night, she got into a drunken fight at a club."

"You used to look up to Shawn Quincy, now he's your biggest competition in the industry. How cool is that?"

André smirked. "Great. But I'm better than him!"

"Of course." Jade agreed. "You know what you need to do?"

"What?"

"First off, someone needs to delete all of her social media. That's one of the easiest ways to build hype, speculation and get attention. Once she got dumped and exposed by her ex, she should've kept her head down and her team should've released a statement, saying she was absolutely heartbroken and devastated. Blah blah, trust, blah invasion of privacy and all that good stuff. People eat that shit up."

"The girl needs serious image rehab." Jade continued. "She needs to disappear, maybe for like 8 weeks, minimum. No social media, no pap shots, nothing. You have to make the people miss her. When she re-emerges, she pens a heartfelt note to her fans and the press about how she needed a break, and the stress of Hollywood was getting to her. Then you vamp up her look. Sexier, more mature, edgier. Haircut, new clothes, the works. Make the people think she's gone through some serious changes, inside and out. While everyone is talking, book her on a major talk show so she can explain her side of the story and premiere her new single. Play up the heart break, play up the metamorphosis she's gone through. Think Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad. Or Rated R."

André sat back, stunned. "I love you. In the most platonic sense of the word, I love you."

"I love me too."

"You're a genius!"

Jade shrugged. "I got my degree communications, I know how to talk and maneuver my way through situations. And I picked up on celebrity and industry cues while I worked with Beck. People are a lot simpler than how they appear."

"Can you work with me?" André asked.

"What?"

"I can't do this by myself, I'll forget a step and screw up."

"André, you're the CEO of a huge record label, I'm sure you can manage."

"I don't deal in day to day operations. I need someone who has hands on Tiana at all times. You'll have access to company funds, and of course I'll pay you."

Jade's ears perked up at that. "Pay? How much are we talking?"

André shrugged. "Whatever you want, within reason of course."

Jade was currently unemployed and in need of a job. "I don't know if I'm ready to be out yet. I'd have to be cleared by my doctors, and of course my mom."

"Work from here. Skype us, call us, whatever. It's either you or we hire some random publicist, and I trust you. You're smart, you know the business, you don't take any bullshit, people listen to you. Don't make me beg, West."

Jade sighed heavily. "How about we have a Skype meeting tomorrow and I'll talk to the girl?"

André smiled. Within seconds he was on Jade, giving her a tight hug. "I owe you big time."

"Definitely."

André checked the time on his watch. "I gotta go, but I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Talk to you then."

André grabbed the jacket off the back of his chair, and waved goodbye. "Don't have anymore heart attacks in the mean time."

"It was cardiac arrest, asshole. Two different things."

"Eh, tomato, potato."

"Again, two different things." Jade pointed out.

"Bye, West."

"See ya, Dré."

Jade heard the door close and sighed. Despite the fact that she was trying to play it cool, she was happy because she had a job. And she'd be working with one of her best friends.

It was the first step towards getting her life back on track. And she was excited about it.