For the past two weeks my nights have been spent making Brooke squirm beneath me. My days have been spent with Pike and handling his mess. The dumbass went against my advice. There’s a clause in the prenuptial about affairs and children. If he did impregnate his mistress, he stands to lose everything. I’ve even got my brother and Maxwell poring over the paperwork to find any kind of loophole in their spare time. I don’t trust anyone else with a case this huge.

So far it doesn’t look good. Carol says she’ll drop filing for divorce if he signs away his rights to the child and agrees never to see the other woman again. The whole thing is a clusterfuck.

I’m a shitty person on occasion, but there’s absolutely nothing redeeming about some of these clients. It’s bad enough to make you want to strangle them.

My advice to him is to tell Carol what she wants to hear and find something or someone to occupy her attention. If they were actually in love with each other my advice would be different, maybe counseling. Carol doesn’t love him. She refused to give him an heir. It’s all a power play, and now kids are involved. I’m not sure what she thought would happen when she refused to sleep with her husband. He was bound to go elsewhere. I don’t know why he’d jeopardize his empire by coming inside his mistresses. I’m sitting down with them and her lawyer today.

I’d rather not deal with Carol at all after her pathetic attempt to get me to what? Run away with her?

Fuck my life.

They arrive before Carol’s lawyer.

“Please have a seat. If you’d like a drink, my assistant can get you something.” The new assistant has only been with me for two days. Hopefully, this one lasts longer than a week.

Pike holds his hand up and makes a no thanks face.

“Is your attorney on the way?”

“No. I changed my mind. I want his little slut to give me the baby when it’s born. If she does that, I won’t pursue the divorce.”

I roll my eyes with a loud sigh. “I don’t handle family law. If you’d like me to refer you to someone—”

“No. No.” Carol cuts me off while Pike sits with his tail between his legs. “You’ll represent us.”

“If I refuse?”

“You don’t want to make an enemy out of me. You should know this.” She glances out toward the lobby. “That a new assistant? You seem to go through those fast. Probably a few that have a good reason for leaving.”

This fucking bitch.

I hold up a finger—since her husband doesn’t seem to have a set of balls attached to his body—and grin. “Don’t threaten me. It won’t end well for you.”

She sneers and pushes back her chair. “I’ll leave you two to discuss details.”

Pike rolls his eyes once she’s gone. “I’ll take a whiskey.”

I call Melody on the intercom and have her bring one in.

He flashes her his snake charmer’s smile. “I know how it sounds but hear me out. We just need to pacify her. Have a courier deliver the proposal to Misty. I’ll get Misty to sign it. By the time the baby is here I’ll have found a way to be rid of Carol.”

“What? There’s no way Misty will go for that. You’re talking about a child.” Jesus, I’ve done some shitty things, but this will take the cake.

“No, she doesn’t know.” He shakes his head. “I’ll get her to do it, trust me. It’ll all be fine.”

“You might lose her, just mentioning this. It’s crazy.”

“I’ll take the risk.”

I just want him out of my goddamn office. “I’ll draw up the paperwork. It’s going to be very fucking expensive.”

“I’m good for it.” He raises his glass to me then knocks back his drink.

Once he leaves I collapse in my chair and rub my temples. Carol’s perfume gave me a headache. The only good part of my days is spending evenings with Brooke.

I can’t wait to get between her thighs again and hide from the world.

I’m tempted to text her but if I want to pacify my clients I’d better get busy drafting the proposal.

This bullshit is a perfect reminder of why I steer clear of relationships. When feelings are involved, people get hurt. And it’s even worse for the innocent parties.

I’m not a man that feels much, but how people can treat children as leverage just floors me sometimes. I have zero hope in humanity.

* * *

I finish drafting the proposal and have it delivered to Pike. The final draft will be more in-depth and formal, but I hope he’s pleased with what I wrote up for him. It’s basically a bunch of legal bullshit that sounds fancy and means absolutely nothing. Usually, I would have an associate draft the thing and I’d just review it, but I can’t have them writing up shit like this. There’s one other problem too. If Carol decides to have one of her attorneys go over it then we may be in trouble.

I don’t take comfort in hurting someone on purpose or trying to separate a mother from her child. Even if Pike has good intentions, I’m afraid this will backfire in his face. I’ll be stuck cleaning up the mess.

I’m going to bill him for every goddamn second I even think about this, and the therapy that might come after.

By the end of the day it’s late and for the first time in my life, I’m too tired for sex. I should text Brooke and tell her tonight is off, but I still want to see her. She’s the one bright spot in my life.

When I get to the room she’s already there, sitting at the counter eating fruit. After a week together, I was able to get her to at least have room service dinner with me. We both have to eat so why not do it together?

Even though she tries to avoid personal conversations, I get a few things out of her. I know she loves audiobooks and has a cat named Casper who hates when she comes to the hotel. It means she isn’t home taking care of him. She’s like his human slave. I’ve received a few pictures of her curled up on the couch with him.

I’ve always been more of a dog guy but don’t have time to care for one. They need too much attention, like children. Which is why I don’t have them, like a responsible human being.

When I approach Brooke at the dining table she pops a grape into my mouth.

I bend down and lick her finger. I thought I was too tired for sex, but now that I watch her eating fruit and looking all hot as fuck, my dick has other ideas.

“You look tense.”

I scrub the back of my neck. “Yeah. Long day.”

Her eyes narrow and the corners of her mouth curl up. “How about a massage?”

“Fucking perfect.”

She nods. “Okay.”

“One condition.”

“And that is?”

“You have to be naked.”

Yeah, she’s getting fucked and I’m getting a massage. Win win.