Chapter 16
Two Weeks Later
Devon
Amy was avoiding me. I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her since the confrontation at Madison Square Gardens. It was unusual since she’d normally pop up to my office to visit every couple of days, under the guise of having some form or another signed that could easily have been walked up by one of her assistants. The past couple of weeks, it had been assistants coming to see me with legal forms to sign.
I was both happy and annoyed by this.
The conversation at Madison Square Gardens needed to be finished. I had to know how she found out about the contract. But on the other hand, I was hoping by ignoring what she’d said, it would all blow over.
Perhaps she’d realized how insane what she’d done was? I could pray for small miracles, couldn’t I?
Tonight though, I’d decided to get to the bottom of things and was waiting for the source to appear: the lawyer who’d drawn up the contract, Walter McPearson. If Amy wouldn’t get the information from me, then he was the only other person.
Walter McPearson is here to see you now, Mr. Townstead, my secretary, Kelly, said over the phone speaker.
Pressing the TALK button on my phone, I replied, “Send him in.”
A moment later, the door was opened by my secretary – correction, assistant, I suppose I should be politically correct. She was a good assistant even though, I wasn’t going to lie, when I originally hired her a lot of the reason was because she looked good. Long scarlet hair, green eyes, and legs that seemed to go on forever. I’d had more than a few comments on my hot assistant from male business associates.
“Mr. Townstead. This is unexpected. What can I do for you?”
I motioned for him to take a seat as I reclined in my brown leather swivel chair, steepling my fingers below my chin. Once he was seated, I waited a moment. I wanted him to sweat a little bit. I paid my employees top dollar. But with that pay came certain expectations, such as discretion.
Once I felt he’d waited long enough for a response, his shifting with slight nervousness in his chair was as good enough an indicator for me as anything. “The reason I’ve called you here was because of the contract I had you write up between myself and Abigail Whitney.”
“Contract?” He attempted to appear as though he didn’t remember it. Bullshit. After the fuss he’d made over drawing it up, there was no way in hell he’d have forgotten so soon.
“The contract I had you draw up on the fly. You complained to me no end about how it was questionable ethically. Ring a bell yet?”
“Oh, of course.” He coughed into his hand but refused to meet my stare.
“Here’s the problem. It has come to my attention that other eyes have seen said contract. I have a copy of it here. The only copy.” I patted the papers on top of my desk. “Or at least that’s what I thought.”
“It is. Of course it is. You were very specific how you were to have the only copy.”
“And it’s been in my safe, locked away, since she’s signed it.”
“As it should be, sir.”
“Then I’m confused how another person could tell me about its existence. Would you know anything about that?” I eyed him carefully; every twitch, every shift in gaze, I watched and evaluated with scrutiny.
He opened his mouth. He was going to lie to me, I could see it in his eyes.
Holding up a finger, I stopped him before he could ruin his career with my company. Walter had been with me a long time - almost as long as Amy - and I was trying my best to give him the benefit of the doubt. “If you lie to me or try to cover anything up, your employment with this company will come to an end. So please tread lightly.”
Walter’s body became like stone, unmoving. And then all of a sudden, he deflated. “Fine. Yes. I do know who knows of the agreement and why they know.”
Gritting my teeth, I leaned forward, bracing my elbows on the desk and waited.
He adjusted his glasses, pushing them back up on the bridge of his nose. “When you asked me to draw up such a contract, I had no idea how to do that. You were asking me to draw up something that teetered on the edge of legality. I didn’t know where to start and asked someone else on the team to assist me. I know how close you are with Amy, and I didn’t think you’d be to upset if I sought out her assistance.”
“I asked you, specifically, to write it up for a reason.”
“Yes, I understand that. However, the timetable was quite unreasonable, sir. You were very adamant it needed to be done immediately.”
“You asked Amy to draw it up with you?”
“Yes. Again, I wouldn’t have asked anyone else, I assure you. And I haven’t spoken a word of it to anyone. I’ve kept that part of the bargain. Like every other legal matter I deal with for Townstead Enterprises, it’s completely client and attorney. I swear that to you.”
The pieces all began to fall into place now. The out-of-the-blue declaration of affection from Amy. The odd way she’d been acting around me. Her showing up at Madison Square Gardens. It all made sense now.
Fuck me. Closing my eyes, I pinched the bridge of my nose hoping to fend off an impending headache.
Opening my eyes, I looked back up at him. He looked fucking worried, and he should be. I was of the mind to fire his ass right then and there. But it wouldn’t do any good. What’s done was done and couldn’t be undone, so all I could do was move on and do some damage control – in other words, straighten things up with Amy.
“Were there copies made of the contract?”
“No, sir. No copies. You have the only one.”
“Are you certain of that? Did she have an opportunity to make a copy? Is that possible?”
“Anything is possible, but I doubt it. The work was done on my laptop and printed by myself from said laptop. The only one that has access to my personal files is me. She helped draw it up, but she only assisted.”
“I see.” Taking a deep breath in, I slowly released it. Looking down at my watch, I groaned inwardly. It was past six. Dinner would have been prepared and waiting for me, going cold. Or been eaten without me. Either way, Abby would be upset, or at the very least annoyed.
“Is there anything else, sir?”
Waving a hand at him, I sat back in my chair. “No. You can go.”
He nodded and stood. “I’m very sorry about all of this, Mr. Townstead. I hope this hasn’t caused a problem for you?”
I chuckled. “A little late for that.”
“Amy is a good, ethical lawyer. She’s as dedicated to you and this job as I am. The knowledge of the contract ends with us.”
“Yeah.” Nodding, I waved my hand towards the door. “Have a good night, Walter.”
Well, fuck. Now it all fell into place. At least it was contained with just the two of them. Now I just had to figure out how to handle the situation.
Abigail
The days had gone by faster than I expected, and we’d gotten ourselves into a routine. As much as I hated to admit it, I’d begun looking forward to seeing him at dinner. I wasn’t the greatest of cooks, but I tried, and he seemed to appreciate the effort; at least he never complained about the food. I took it to mean he thought the food was okay.
But there was a problem. Over the past few days, he’d begun to come home later and later. He’d missed dinnertime three days in a row, and as I finished checking on the roasted barbeque chicken I’d prepared, I feared that this would be another night he missed.
Pulling my mobile phone from my back pocket, I checked to see if there were any messages left. There hadn’t been. At least he’d had the courtesy to text me and tell me he wasn’t showing up in the past, I guess that counted for something.
“Are we eating soon, Mommy? I’m hungry,” Isabella announced coming into the kitchen.
“How was gymnastics class?” I asked ignoring the food question. She’d just arrived home. Devon’s driver was a dream, he would deliver her to the front foyer so as not to disturb me. I was seriously getting spoiled by this life. Even with a million dollars in my bank account at the end of the month, we wouldn’t be able to have a life like this again.
She shrugged. “Fine. I’m hungry.”
“How about you go upstairs and get cleaned up, including a shower, and when your done we’ll eat.”
“Is Devon home?”
“No honey, he’s not.”
Her smile faded, giving way to a frown. “Okay.”
“Maybe he’ll be home by the time you’re done,” I offered.
“Probably not. Doesn’t he like us anymore, Mommy?”
A frown creased my brow as I stared at my daughter, crouching down so I was to her level. “Why would you say that?”
She shrugged.
“No. You made a statement. You must have a reason.”
“He doesn’t spend as much time with us anymore.”
My confusion deepened.
“He said we were going to see another game. We haven’t seen another game. He didn’t swim with me either. He promised through.”
I started thinking back. Was she right? The first week we’d been living here, he came home early almost every day. He had been doing everything within his power to win the bet. I’d gone to several events with him, much like the first event: new clothing, make-up and hair, meeting new important people and so on and so forth. He was charming, but was he really trying?
“Mommy? Are you okay?”
I peered back up at my daughter. “Of course, sweetie. I’m perfectly fine.”
He hadn’t been trying. He’d placed himself in the friendzone and that’s where he seemed to want to stay. Had he met someone else? Or maybe he just got bored of the game and was just waiting for the month to go by. If that’s the case, why didn’t he just call it quits now and get us out of his house? After the night at Madison Square Gardens, things had changed. But why?
“Everything is fine, honey.” I forced a smile for her benefit. It was a good thing he wasn’t trying. Totally a good thing. Right? That’s what I wanted. I wanted to come here, make it through, and leave with a new life. And I certainly didn’t want Isabella to be hurt in the process. So, it was good…
I don’t want him anyhow. He’s still a player. That hasn’t changed, I told myself. But did I really believe it? Even though we’d come to find a routine, I was still attracted to him. In fact, the more time we spent together in a normal everyday situation, the more attracted to him I became.
Or was this just another angle for him? Instead of pursuing me, he was holding back so I’d come to him.
I didn’t know.
“Once you’re done getting a shower and putting on fresh clothes, come downstairs and dinner will be ready.” I gave my daughter a kiss on the forehead before dismissing her.