"Quite a message there from one of your star boys, Kellock," Knox said with a smile evident in his tone.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about!"

"Moving on," Knox started with a cough. "In lane five, this man scarcely needs any introduction but we're paid to give one anyway! The reigning champ and indeed something to worry about, he is Antoine Coleman of Canada! He won his first World Championship two years ago and no doubt he hopes to add another to his set. He's had a ton of experience and although it took him a while to win a medal, he was consistently knocking on the door for years."

"He's the safe pick here because he's proven he's a pressure performer, Knox. One of the best to run the 100 meters, in fact, and amazingly enough, at the age of thirty-three he's stayed at a level that has him as a true contender to lift the gold."

"Indeed he has."

Antoine Coleman waved to the crowd, leaping into the air to show he was ready to go. Ready for business. Because that's what this was, business as usual.

Antoine let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Business as usual," he whispered.

≫ ──────── Two Months Earlier ──────── ≪

"No way..." Antoine's mother cried, "How could she do this to you?"

Antoine rubbed his temple, doing his best to steel himself. "What percentage will she receive?" He asked, knowing the answer and dreading it, yet needing to hear it spoken.

His lawyer, who sat at the table with them, looked at him with understanding. "Fifty percent, Antoine."

Antoine slammed his hand on the table, causing it to groan underneath the weight of his powerful fist. "Fifty percent of my net worth, of my own blood, sweat, and tears! All because I found out she was cheating on me."

"This is why I recommended a prenup," his lawyer said gently, "one can never tell how such relations may end."

Antoine made sure to not react emotionally, and see the logic in the man's words. The truth was he had been blinded by the feeling many called loved, unaware of the dangers of such a feeling. His pursuit of caging this feeling for eternity had backfired, and the cost to pay was great. He'd only recently achieved the stardom he had chased his whole life and so his 'fortune' was new money.

New money earned from endorsements and bonuses for winning the World Championship and being crowned the fastest man in the world. However, he wasn't exactly the most marketable athlete of all time. He lacked the suave or cockiness, falling somewhere in between which bordered on boring.

Still, he had been happy with achieving his goal, even if it meant conforming to the expensive lifestyle his wife sought. Now, with the unforgiving alimony looming overhead, he was bound to find difficulty maintaining his hefty monthly payments. 

"Dear, you can sell that house you bought me and I'll move back into the old one, there's no need for an aging woman like me to have a house so big to myself anyway," his mother offered.

"Nonsense!" Antoine replied as soon as she'd finished. "You deserve the luxury, mother. Besides, there's no need for such drastic measures."

His lawyer eyed him curiously. "You have a plan?"

"When have I made my most money?"

His lawyer paused, taken aback by the question but then adjusted his glasses before responding. "Well, that'd be when you won the gold medal, of course. You received substantial pay from endorsements, incentives, and bonuses."

"Then I'll do it again," Antoine stated, as if it was already signed in blood. "I did it before and now, I no longer have the distraction I called a wife," he continued, saying the words more to reassure himself than the others in the room. "It will be done. She'll regret the divorce more than I will - the damn gold-digger."

His mother clapped with a growing smile. "That's the spirit! Using misfortune as motivation, that's the Antoine I know."

He met his mother's eyes. "It's the way you raised me, mother."