Chapter Thirteen
She already hated Nick’s lawyer, and she hadn’t even met him.
Besides working for the devil himself, the lawyer’s office was located in this ridiculously tall building in Century City. It was the day of her deposition, and she was in a mood.
“God, look at this carpet. It’s making me dizzy just walking on it,” she whispered to Brandon. He gave her a look that told her to calm down, but she ignored him.
The morning had started off on a bad note and she was worried it was just a sign of the way things were going to go during her deposition. First, her car wouldn’t start, so she’d called Dante to come and pick her up. But he’d forgotten to tell her about some big important meeting he had to go to before the deposition, so he couldn’t bring her. That left Brandon. He wasn’t any happier than she was. His deposition had been the day before, and he hated the fact that he had to come back with her.
Why Dante had agreed to have the depositions here instead of at his office, she didn’t really understand. Something about compromise and a show of good faith that would earn them brownie points with the judge, he’d said.
At the time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. But now that she was here, it was.
They were instructed by the receptionist to sit in the hallway across from the office’s main doors. At least she was nice enough. She’d offered them water, but Alexa had been too stubborn to drink from the enemy’s well.
Or something like that.
She looked at the clock on the wall. “I can’t believe Dante is cutting it this close. Isn’t their first witness supposed to appear at eleven? He’s only got about fifteen minutes. What could be more important than being here?”
Brandon shrugged. “Don’t worry. He’ll be here on time. It’s not his fault. They didn’t tell him until last night that his clients from El Salvador were getting flown back this morning.”
She turned away from watching the clock to look at her brother. “They’re leaving today? I thought they had a few more weeks. What about their kids?”
“Yeah, Dante thought it would take longer for the paperwork, but it went quicker than he expected. He didn’t tell you about the kids?”
Alexa searched her memory for any conversation having to do with the Reyes children. No, he hadn’t told her anything except for the fact that they were on a list for a group home. “Maybe. I can’t remember, though. So what happened with them again?”
“Dante convinced the parents of one of the son’s friends from school to foster them.”
“Really? How’d he do that?”
“He offered their son a summer internship at his law firm. Apparently, they’re a good family and Dante trusts that they’ll take care of the kids. In the meantime, he’s still going to work on getting the parents back into the country.”
Pride welled up inside her heart. She was happy that he’d found a home for the kids. Still, he must be torn up about the parents leaving.
She wondered why he hadn’t told her about it. A familiar worry tugged on her brain. Why was he still keeping things from her?
Alexa thought about asking Brandon for more information when she saw Dante come through the front doors.
He went to her and kissed her on her head and then shook hands with Brandon.
“I’m sorry it took so long. Have you seen their first witness yet?”
“No, unless that’s her coming in right now,” Brandon said.
She turned toward the door again and saw a pretty redhead walk up to the reception desk. The woman looked familiar.
“I know her.”
“Who is she?” Dante asked as he pulled papers from his briefcase.
“She was our server that night.”
“It says here that the restaurant’s manager is being deposed today,” he said. “I don’t like this.”
“I could go talk to her and ask. She seemed friendly at the restaurant. Maybe she knows something that could help us?”
“Alexa, she’s their witness and his employee. Somehow I don’t think she wants to help you at all. It’s better if you don’t talk to her. Okay?”
“Fine.”
But as Brandon and Dante moved into a corner to discuss something, Alexa watched the redhead walk into the ladies’ restroom. Making sure the guys weren’t paying attention to her, she mumbled something about being right back and then headed for the restroom, too.
She’d said fine. She hadn’t technically promised anything.
When she walked in, the woman was in front of the mirror checking her makeup. Alexa went to the sink next to her and turned on the faucet. “Oh, hey. Don’t I know you from Formosa?”
The redhead gave her a quick nod.
“I’m Alexa Montoya.”
“I know. I’m Carrie Anderson. I was your server that night.”
“That’s right. My lawyer thought you were the manager.”
“I am. I recently got a promotion.”
Alexa’s stomach sank. She didn’t like this at all, either.
“I really have to go. I’m next for the deposition.”
“Just one more question. You must know the restaurant pretty good. Is there any chance there’s a backup recording from the security camera from that night? You see, my lawyer found out that Formosa and my restaurant have the same security system, and it automatically downloads a backup to a hard drive. But Nick, er, I mean Mr. Angelo, says there was a glitch with the system that night and nothing recorded on the hard drive.”
Carrie’s eyes grew big. “I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about any cameras or hard drives.”
The crack in her voice confirmed what Alexa already knew in her gut. Nick was lying. But why would Carrie lie for him under oath? Had he threatened her job?
“Look, you don’t have be afraid of him. If you tell the truth about what you know, I can guarantee you a position at my restaurant. Please.”
Carrie shook her head and ran out of the restroom.
Dammit.
She could only hope that Dante could get the truth out of her during her deposition. Alexa walked out of the restroom just in time to see Carrie running into Nick’s arms. The two kissed, and Alexa’s world crumbled a little more.
Brandon walked up to her. “Hey, I saw you go into the restroom after that woman,” he said. “I know better than to assume you didn’t question her. Did you find out if there’s more video from that night?”
Alexa sighed as she watched Nick and Carrie walk down the hallway holding hands. “Yes, but no one is ever going to see it, because Nick is screwing his star witness.”
…
A few hours later, Dante and Alexa were sitting across from Nick and his attorney. He gave her credit for not letting the jerk stare her down. She ignored him as much as she could until the questioning began. She was already on the edge. And it didn’t help that he told her Carrie had stuck to her story about there not being any more footage on the security cameras.
He advised her to stick to the facts and to try to keep her anger under control.
But right away, Nick’s lawyer attacked by asking questions about their past relationship. She grew more defensive with every answer.
“Isn’t it true, Ms. Montoya, that you purposefully destroyed Mr. Angelo’s property because you still harbor romantic feelings for him and you were angry that he had started seeing another woman?”
“That’s ridiculous,” she spat.
“So, you don’t have any feelings for my client?”
“No, I don’t. Well, scratch that. The only feelings I have about Mr. Angelo are that I think he’s a disgusting pig who never worked hard for anything in his life.”
Dante tried not to smile and failed. But his smile went away as soon as he saw the other attorney smirk as if he had something up his sleeve. And then he showed his hand.
The attorney passed a sheet of paper to both Alex and Dante. “Here are printouts of texts between you and my client. If you didn’t have feelings for him, then why did you invite him over to your house right after he filed the lawsuit?”
Dante heard her gasp, and he turned to look at her. Her face was as pale as the paper in front of her.
“Answer the question, Ms. Montoya.”
“Alexa?” he asked. But she wouldn’t look at him.
She bowed her head and looked at the table. “I invited him over because I wanted to talk some sense into him. I couldn’t believe that he’d filed the lawsuit, and I wanted to convince him to drop it.”
“By sleeping with him?”
Her head flew up, and the color came back into her complexion. “I didn’t sleep with him.” This time she looked at Dante. “I didn’t.”
He nodded to show her he believed her. But why didn’t he know about this invitation of hers sooner?
“Maybe not. But didn’t you offer to sleep with him in exchange for him dropping the lawsuit?”
“That’s not true! I never even let him in my house, because he showed up drunk. He was the one who said that if I slept with him, he’d stop the lawsuit. That was all him. When I told him no, he kicked over a couple of my plants and then left in the same cab that brought him.”
Rage at Nick blazed through Dante. Through gritted teeth, he asked for a break until tomorrow. He needed to get his head on straight before it was his turn to grill Nick.
The opposing attorney agreed with another smirk. The asshole thought he’d won the lawsuit. Big, fat chance.
As they walked out, they were met by Brandon’s worried face.
“That was quick. How’d it go?”
“Actually, can you give us a few minutes? I need to talk to your sister privately.” He held Alexa’s elbow and guided her into a nearby conference room.
“What the hell, Alexa?” he asked as soon as he shut the door.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“I hate being blindsided like that. When did this happen?”
“Two days after he sent me the text. You know, the day after you were in my office and—”
He didn’t need reminding. “I remember. But I thought I told you not to text him back.”
She sat in a chair and held her head in her hands. “I know, but he kept texting me the rest of the night. I figured I’d just see him so he’d leave me alone. He insisted on coming to my house so we wouldn’t be seen talking without our lawyers.”
“How convenient.”
“But I was telling the truth in there. He showed up drunk and belligerent, so I didn’t let him come into the house.”
Fear gripped him like a vise. He shuddered to think of what could’ve happened to her if she had let him in.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
Her eyes were wet with shame. “Because I was embarrassed. And I felt a little guilty that maybe I had made everything worse. I just wanted to fix something on my own for once, and I really believed I could convince him not to sue.”
Dante sighed. “Nick was always going to sue, because it was going to give him publicity for his restaurant. The only way to fight him is in a courtroom.”
“But do you believe me that I didn’t sleep with him? That I wouldn’t have slept with him just to get him to drop the lawsuit?”
Her eyes searched his for the truth. He gave it to her. “Absolutely. Of course I believe you.”
Alexa nodded and offered him a weak smile. He squatted down so he could look at her directly. “Now, I have to go to another meeting. I’ll pick you up at seven, okay?”
She nodded again after he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. He hated to leave her looking like that, but he was already running late. Besides, he’d see her later that night. She’d finally agreed to go with him to his client’s dinner party.
As he punched the elevator button for the parking garage, he dismissed the feeling of dread bubbling up in his stomach. He had to fix this for Alexa. He just had to.
Dante hated the look of defeat he’d seen in her eyes. That wasn’t his Alexa.
One of the things he loved about her was the way she never backed down from a challenge.
Whoa. Did he just admit that he loved her?
He thought about the past few weeks and how much closer they’d become. They were spending as much time with each other out of the bedroom as they were inside it. Their sexual games had amped up, and it amazed him every night how far she was willing to let him take her. But even more than that, he looked forward to meeting her at the restaurant after closing time so they could just talk and drink.
They weren’t just hanging out anymore. They were dating.
And now he’d fallen in love with her.
Awesome timing, Perez.
Dante reached his car, more determined than ever to win the case. Because even though they hadn’t talked about a future together, somehow he knew this lawsuit could make Alexa doubt herself again. And doubt everything they had together.
He couldn’t let that happen.
The stakes had definitely been raised. And he was going to go all in.