Gabe’s hands were sweaty as he walked into the executive-level conference room in the office of his new talent management agency. He’d yet to confront Aaron in person and he wasn’t looking forward to it. He kept telling himself not to jump over the table to deck that smarmy little prick. It would be just what he wanted and he would use it to add some onerous crap to the escape clause in his contract. His new management team and their lawyers were standing, getting ready for Aaron and his former talent agency to come in the door, when who should slide in the conference room door but the fiery redhead he hadn’t seen in years—Jen Taylor.

Staring at her with his mouth hanging open, he didn’t get a chance to talk to her because Aaron and his entourage stormed into the conference room, sucking all the air out of the room in the process. Jen pulled up a chair alongside the rest of his team and pulled out her notepad and pen. He hadn’t known she was working for the talent agency.

“I want everyone to know that Gabriel Stevens being here, presumably under your representation, is a complete and total breach of his agreement with my agency and we will be looking for full damages,” Aaron challenged.

He started to come out of his seat when one of the agency partners placed a firm hand on his arm.

“Mr. Stevens came to us after a serious breach of confidence that was orchestrated by your agency. In light of this breach, he was fully within his rights to break his contract with your agency and pursue damages in the amount of all the agency percentages that he has ever made for your company, plus interest. We feel that it is quite generous that he’s willing to leave it there financially and not pursue punitive damages.”

“That’s ridiculous! We haven’t breached any confidence. We provided the best path forward to ensure that his career wasn’t derailed and continued to thrive,” Aaron snarled.

“Derailed?” Gabe roared, unable to hold back any longer. He launched out of his seat and the partner grabbed onto his arm to keep him from vaulting over the table. “My daughter is not a derailment. She’s my daughter and because of you, I lost out on over six years of her life.”

“I only did what I needed to do to make you a star,” Aaron bit out.

“I didn’t ask to be a star. Not at the expense of my daughter and Alex.”

“Oh please—”

Aaron was cut off by one of his lawyers.

“While it seems like there is some disagreement over what has occurred in the past, there is still the case of Mr. Steven’s breaking his contract with our agency. Signing with you prior to terminating his agreement with us puts him in breach and we would require damages in the amount of any future earnings agreed upon under our current contract until it expires in another seven years.”

“Like hell,” Gabe snarled. “You’re not getting another cent from me.”

“Mr. Stevens—,” before Aaron’s lawyer could continue, Jen stood up and distributed folders to the five people on the other side of the table.

“In the folders in front of you, I have registered letters signed for by Aaron Mitchell. I have included copies of those letters as well as copies of the photos inside. I have also included the email correspondence between Ms. Alexandra Davies and Aaron Mitchell, where he repeatedly claims to be speaking for a fully informed Mr. Stevens, relaying his client’s desire to have no contact with Ms. Davies.

“I have a restraining order taken out on behalf of Mr. Gabriel Stevens under false pretenses, which is a criminal offense. If you pursue this, we will push this as far as it will go and there will be criminal charges. We will also let this entire city know the type of agents you have at your agency. Actually,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “I think that another stipulation for this dispute going away quietly will be that Mr. Mitchell should be immediately fired, and at least a portion of the damages due to Mr. Stevens should come from Aaron’s own pocket.” His balls crawled up inside at the venom dripping from her tongue. She was one scary chick. He sure was glad she was on his side.

“I heard you picked up a very nice waterfront property in the Pacific Palisades, Mr. Mitchell. I’m sure that would go a small way toward some of those expenses,” she said with a smirk.

* * *

Things wrapped up quickly after Jen dropped the bombshell in the meeting. Aaron was shown the door by his agency. Gabe enjoyed watching him nearly burst into tears as the lawyers informed him that they would not be representing him and it would be in his best interest to cooperate with their demands.

“Jen, I didn’t know you were working for this agency,” Gabe said, pulling her aside once the meeting was finished.

“I don’t, but my law firm wanted someone here to help with the negotiations and I made it known that I had essential information, so here I am,” she said, gathering up all her things.

“Listen Gabe, I don’t know one hundred percent what happened with you two in Scotland, but I want you to know that she’s been through a lot and does want to make it work with you.”

He was still raw over the custody paper discovery, and started to walk away.

“You need to hear this,” Jen said, putting a hand on his arm to stop his retreat. “She came to me when Emma was one and asked me to draw those up. Alex was deathly afraid of losing her. She’d already lost you. She thought you wanted nothing to do with her, but she thought that maybe one day you would want to see your daughter. She was in a dark place; heartbroken and terrified of the power that you had.”

“That’s crazy! I would never have tried to take Emma away from her,” he argued.

“I know that and she knows that. Now. But think of Alex before. As far as she knew, you wanted nothing to do with her. Cut off all communication, had her forcibly removed from your agency’s office, and filed for a restraining order against her. She thought she meant nothing to you and that you cheated on her less than a day after she left. And from that desperation came that custody agreement. She never intended for you to see them. I don’t even think she remembered she had them in her bag.”

“I never would have cheated on her. It always seems like something is getting in the way when it comes to us,” Gabe said.

“I know that, Gabe. But you two are finally in a place where this can work. She knows you never slept with Lesley. You know about Emma and you know how much she loves you. And how much you love Emma and Alex.”

“More than anything. And I sent her away in Scotland. We’ve done video chats with Emma every night, but she must hate me,” he lamented, his shoulders slumped.

“She doesn’t hate you, not at all. She’s scared to tell you how much she wants to be with you because she’s afraid she will be rejected again.”

“I would never. Those two are my heart. So, what do I do now?”

“You go get your girls!” Jen insisted, pushing him toward the elevator.

He said a few hasty goodbyes to the people on his new management team, and then he threw himself into the open elevator before jamming his finger into the Lobby button. He called the driver and told him to pull up around the front of the building. The phone cut out before he could call his assistant, so he practically bowled over the two people who were waiting for the doors to open in the lobby.

Jumping into the car that pulled up outside of the building, he was on his phone talking to his assistant, trying to make arrangements for the next flight out of LAX—he had two hours to get to the airport, but the car came to a sudden stop. He stared out the front window and it was absolute gridlock. Groaning, he glanced at the time and started doing calculations in his head. He had to get to them tonight; he felt it in his bones.