Chapter 17

Leo

The one Monday I decided to take my time and showed up for work a little late, I ran into Jon who was walking Susan Costanzo from his office and into the hall. I’d worked with the woman many times, and there was no love lost between us. I’d also been in the courtroom the day she’d had her rant and was carried out kicking and screaming for contempt. She had become a laughingstock overnight, and someone had even made a meme about it.

She stepped out and gave me a withering glance. “I do hope your professionalism will improve by the time we have our meeting. I know you men like to be casual about things, but we’re gearing up to hammer your balls to the floor.”

“Is there a problem, Susan?” I looked her right in the eyes and wished I’d have told Kya how much I hated her attorney. She was a man-hating hard-ass with no soul.

She narrowed her eyes and turned up her nose. “Other than you strolling in late. I had hoped to come down and meet with you both, but I suppose you forgot I sent a text and wanted to see you about our upcoming client meeting.”

“No, I never got the memo. You could be a little bit more professional and maybe call me sometime. You know those texts can be undependable. At least you’ll know when a call goes through.” I had gotten her stupid text, but it had slipped my mind to put it in my phone calendar. I would never apologize or admit any wrongdoing. I’d been on too many cases for that. “What meeting is that again? The one you’re just now arranging? So, I’m a little late to work while you’re late to the game.”

Jon covered his mouth and tried to keep from laughing.

Susan’s eyes widened, and somehow, her nose got even higher. If I kept it up, would I have her smelling her own ass? “I do hope you make better use of my client’s time.”

I wanted to tell her so badly that I’d put her client’s time to very good use and how many orgasms I’d delivered, but I couldn’t rat me or Kya out.

I gave a little wave. “Have a good day, Susan. I’ll see you then.”

She stormed away, and Jon turned to me, dropping his hand so I could see the full effect of his grin. “What’s gotten into you? Rough weekend? I mean, I get it. I hate the case too. I hate the client, I hate Susan, but we have to do our jobs.”

“You looked like you had it under control. Besides, how many Mondays do I get to sleep in?” And not to mention, I needed the extra sleep. I needed it to refuel from all the energy I’d pumped into Kya. It had been so hot. I was torn between wanting to tell Jon about it but glad I had to keep it all to myself. She was a hot little secret to keep.

“Susan didn’t mention anything about a conflict of interest with you knowing her client, so I guess Kya Campbell must not have said anything to her. Do you think Kya’s figured it out yet? Maybe she doesn’t realize it’s you representing?”

“Oh, yeah, she knows.” I turned and walked to my end of the hall, and he followed as we rounded the corner and passed Tabby’s desk.

“Good morning, boys.” Tabby looked up and gave us a smile.

“Good morning to you as well, Tabby.” I didn’t even stop to ogle the woman or take a peek at what she wore, but it didn’t stop Jon.

“Looking beautiful as usual, Tabs,” he called out behind me. I turned to see that he had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face.

Once we were in my office, Jon took a chair as I went around my desk to sit. “Has she been in touch with you?”

“Who? Tabby?” I had a feeling he didn’t mean my secretary, but I thought playing dumb would be best for the moment.

“No, not Tabby. Kya.” He gave me a look that told me I had to be cautious how I answered him. He was my best friend and old roomie, but he clearly, judging from his hard expression, didn’t approve. “Shit, she did.”

“What? Give me time to answer you.” My voice got a little high and defensive, and from the look on his face, I knew he knew.

Jon shook his head and waved it off. “No, don’t bother. You took way too long answering me, and I don’t want to hear it come out of your mouth. At least then, when anyone asks, I can be honest that you never told me.”

I sat there a moment trying to decide what to say. “I think its way worse on our side than we know.”

He let out a long breath. “Yeah? Don’t tell me how you know that. Just tell me, what’s our course of action?”

There was only one course of action I could think of when it came to this case. “We need to get this guy to take a plea deal. If they make an offer, he needs to just take it.”

Jon raked his hand through his hair. “Wow. That bad? I never thought I’d hear those words come out of your mouth.” I had to agree. I hadn’t expected it, either, but my hands were tied.

“Yeah, well, my father is a fool for making us stay on this case.” I sighed and picked up my phone. “The only thing to do now is call Whit and explain. It’s the best course of action.”

“Fuck. He’s not going to be happy.”

“Like I am? Are you? I tell you, man. I hate this guy, so I really don’t care what he likes and doesn’t.” Ever since I’d been with Kya, all I could think about was how shitty he’d been treating her and stealing her hard-earned money. If I could get him to take a deal and go away, that would be worth it.

Jon eased back in his seat as I dialed the number. “And the long morning gets longer.”

I chuckled as the phone began to ring, and I put it on speaker for Jon to hear too.

“Good morning, Pace. Please tell me you’re busy nailing Kya Campbell to a cross.” I couldn’t help thinking he had it half right. I was nailing her all right but not to any cross.

“I need you to be prepared for a meeting. As soon as I get the time pinned down, I’ll let you know. We’ll be meeting with the other side. Kya and the band will be present as well as their lawyer, so I want it to be respectful.”

“Yes, I’m aware. You like to play nice in the sandbox. I’ll try and remember not to piss in the sand.”

“There’s one other thing. It seems the other side is building a pretty strong case. If there is anything you haven’t mentioned, say, paying yourself an extra salary or anything of that nature, then I’d suggest you come clean now.” I looked up in time to see Jon’s expression. He looked like a fish gasping for water.

“I had a few tricks. What does it matter?” As always, Whit sounded indifferent.

“If they bring them up before you do, I’ll be blindsided in that meeting, and it won’t go well. Did you pay a salary to someone who didn’t exist?”

Jon’s eyes widened. “Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I may have kept paying a person or two, but they weren’t fake people. I had some debts, and it was easier to just stick them on the payroll and pay them a salary with the others. Once the debts were paid, I took them off. We paid lots of people, crew, roadies, lights, sound. It all comes from somewhere, and people come and go. I didn’t think they’d noticed.”

“Well, apparently, they did,” said Jon, who looked like he was about to go through the phone to punch the man in the face.

It was time to drop the bomb, and I knew it wasn’t going to sit well because Whit was already in a defensive mood. “Here’s what I suggest. You need to go to that meeting, and when they offer you a settlement, you take the deal.”

“You want me to bargain? Why should I have to pay? I worked twice as hard as they did.”

“Stop being so entitled. You had a deal, and as far as I can tell, you broke your contract right off the rip. So, yes, trust me, take the deal. You’re not going to win in a courtroom, not if they go in dragging up people’s names who you paid who didn’t even work for the band.”

“You can’t possibly think you’re in the right, or you’re an even bigger narcissist than I thought,” said Jon.

I continued, not giving Whit the chance to speak what I was certain would be nonsense. “God knows who you owed and who could get dragged into this. But I have a feeling the only person you paid was yourself, and if that comes out, and you don’t take a deal, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Whit growled. “I’m not taking any fucking deal. And if you assholes want to be paid, you better fix this. Come up with something. I don’t care what, but I am not about to bargain with those bitches or pay them a dime! I worked my ass off for them, and they owed me.”

Jon cleared his throat and spoke up. “Mr. White, you do realize you could do prison time? This is a serious crime, and while we want to help, there’s only so much we can do with what we’re given. If there is anything else, I suggest you tell us now. If we’re blindsided and can’t come up with a reasonable explanation to your defense, then the judge is going to put you away. And that’s the reason we’re talking about a plea. You’re less likely to serve any time and could probably just pay a fine.”

“We’re on your side,” I added. I was losing my mind wanting to strangle the man. He had to be the absolute worst piece of shit on the planet.

“It sure as fuck doesn’t feel like it,” said Whit. “You want me to give them my money.”

“No, we want you to give back some of what you stole. Tell me, Whit, did you do anything else?”

“I did a lot of shit. If I think of anything else, I’ll call you, but I’m not going down for this, and I’m not making any deal. And furthermore, I’m only going to pay you if you do your job.” There was a click, and suddenly there was a silence in the room as Jon and I stared across the desk at one another. Whit had ended the call.

“What the fuck just happened?” Jon took the words right from my mouth.

“There’s no helping people like him. He’s mental.”

“Fuck, now I know why you wanted off this case. And you’re fucking her, aren’t you?”

I wasn’t going to dignify that last part with a response, and he should have known better than to ask. “I caught wind of it, but I had a feeling it was true. When that little nugget is displayed in our meeting, he’s going to have to either take a deal, which we know they’ll offer, or this goes to court, and we’ll lose to Susan fucking Costanzo, the courtroom head case.”

Jon took a deep breath, looking like he wished he’d never agreed to be pulled into this mess. “Should we try to counter?”

“Well, like always, we should see what they offer him, and then we’ll decide. If it’s fair, he should take it without insult, but we’ll decide. I don’t want to push back too hard, or we’re going to all land on our asses.”