Chapter 18

Kya

My lawyer’s office was an even bigger mess when I arrived for our morning meeting. She had called me in to discuss the amount of evidence piling up, and I was certain, from the looks of things, she knew a lot about piles.

As her daughter, Darci, sent me back, I walked in, took a chair, and stared at the mounting stacks of boxes and paperwork. I was sure Susan had a system, a method to her madness, but it just looked like she’d dumped out boxes everywhere.

I was startled as she popped her head up from behind a stack that was three boxes high. “Jesus!” I held my heart, which seemed to do a backflip in my chest.

“Sorry about that. I got lost in a book.” She smiled as she got to her feet. “Good morning. Sorry for the mess.” She walked to her desk and tried to straighten the stack of papers, but when they were too much, she put them over on one of the boxes. I hoped there wasn’t anything important there, like my case files. I was suddenly a bit nervous about her having the case. She seemed to have too much going on in her private life to be professional. I liked order.

“It’s fine,” I said, waving my hand, “Moving can be a pain.” I tried to be sympathetic, knowing she was going through an adjustment in her life, but I hoped this wasn’t a sign of how unprepared she would be.

“You have no idea. It’s been just awful. My ex is a complete dick and didn’t leave me any time to get out. I had to rush, and rushing is no good. Most of this stuff came from home. I’m a bit of a packrat. Love my books, and well, I need to keep records.” She gave a little giggle, and suddenly, she winced and held her arm.

I noticed she looked a little pale, and her skin had a glossy, clammy sheen. “Are you okay?”

“I think I just got up a little fast. It happens.” She took a tissue and wiped her brow and her upper lip, and soon, she was fanning herself. I wondered if she’d had a hot flash. “Let’s get down to business,” she said, straightening out her collar. “I talked with the other side, and they’ve agreed to meet. That Leo Pace is a hard hitter, but he’s also an immature man-whore. I’m hoping his professionalism suffers, and we can take him down. The daddy’s boy is usually a golden child in the courtroom. All the judges love him, especially the lady judges, but I’m unimpressed. He’s always an asshole to me.”

How could anyone hate Leonard? “He gets around, does he?” I found it interesting she seemed to know so much about Leonard and wondered if she could offer any more clues as to who he was on the job. It was no wonder that the ladies all loved him, but I wondered if there was any validation to the whole man-whore accusation. I mean, I had thought that was probably the case, but to hear it firsthand? I was curious.

She rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with Leonard. “He’s got a reputation.”

“I would think his reputation in the courtroom would be the one we need to worry most about, right?” It seemed she had some kind of personal vendetta, and I wondered if it was because he’d turned her down or hadn’t shown interest in her.

She shrugged, her face turning even paler. “True, but he was so rude to me.” She held her arm and then wiped her brow again. “Excuse me. I think I’m having gas pains. This job is so stressful. I’m probably getting an ulcer.” She opened up her desk and scrambled for a roll of antacids, which she finally pulled out and placed on her desk. She fought with the wrapper but eventually popped one into her mouth.

I was beginning to worry she was coming down with something, and I hoped it wasn’t something even more serious. “Do you need me to get your daughter?”

She rubbed her shoulder. “No, I’m fine. As I was saying, I think we’re going to be able to settle this thing out of court, and I wanted your take on that. I’d like to offer him a settlement in exchange for an admission of all wrongdoing, and then hopefully, we can wrap this thing up early.”

I didn’t mind a settlement as long as it was clear Whit had cheated us, but I also wanted a healthy settlement. “Do you think he’ll take it?”

She eased back in her chair. “If we make him think he’s getting a deal and keeping him from going to prison. If we save him from some embarrassment, the trouble of going to court, the time it will take. You see, you’re most likely not going to see every dime he took anyway, but if we can recover a good portion, something he can most likely afford, you have a better chance of seeing it.”

That sounded good, but I wanted to cover all bases and be done with him for good. “And what about the contract we’re in? Can we prove he went against it and get back all our past rights?”

Susan closed her eyes, and her face scrunched up. “Yeah, I think we can. Excuse me. Water.” She rose and before she took two steps, she fell headfirst into a stack of boxes, and as they crashed to the ground, she landed on the floor and rolled to her side.

I jumped to my feet. “Susan!” I reached for the phone and dialed 911. I called out to her daughter. “Darci, help!”

I walked around the desk, and the operator answered. “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?” As Darci burst into the room, I answered, “I need an ambulance to 405 North Plaza. I believe my lawyer is having a heart attack.”

“Mama!” Darci leaned over her mother, who was not responding.

“They’re on their way,” I told her as tears filled her eyes. “It’s going to be okay, sweetie.” I couldn’t believe it had all happened so fast, but now, selfishly, I had no idea what it meant for the case.

Darci and I stayed with her until five minutes later when the EMT came and took her. Darci went with her in the ambulance after locking up the office, and I got in my car, shaken by the whole experience.

I put my head on the steering wheel and cried for a good five minutes, the stress of everything, the lawsuit, Leo, and Susan lying on the floor while her daughter cried over her. I didn’t want to ever put Addison in that position.

After wiping my eyes and checking my mascara, I got out on the road headed home and dialed Sadie. I had to explain what was going on.

She answered the phone with a chipper attitude. “How’s my bestie today? Did you get to talk to Susan?” She hadn’t been able to join me because Stones was supposed to be in town for a visit.

I took a deep cleansing breath. “Yeah, that’s why I’m calling.”

“Have you been crying? Don’t tell me Whit pulled one of his stunts. Is everything okay?”

I checked my rearview to make a lane change. “No, it’s not Whit. Susan had a heart attack. Right there in our meeting. Right in front of me.”

“Holy shit! Is she okay? Are you?”

“She’s been taken to the ER in critical. Darci went with her. Seeing that poor girl, it scared me to death. It’s got me a little shaken, but I’m fine.” I was getting better now that I was able to talk to Sadie, thankful for a friend I could count on.

Sadie breathed into the phone, and I could imagine it had all come as a shock to her as well. “I can’t imagine,” she said. “But I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t want to sound insensitive to Susan’s fate, but what the fuck does this mean for us, for the case?”

“I don’t know. She was just telling me she met with Leo about arranging a meeting, and she says she thinks we’re good. She also wants to figure out an offer we can make Whit. She is hoping he’ll take a settlement. He would plead guilty, let us out of our contract, past and present since he breached it, and then he’d pay a portion back to us.”

“A portion?”

“We’re never going to get it all, Sadie. If this goes to court and we win, we may never see any of it. I agree with Susan on that. I think it’s a good idea.”

“If she pulls through, it will be wonderful. Until then, it’s just an idea.” Sadie had a point, and no telling how long we’d have to wait now for something to be done. Our only choice was to get a different lawyer or see who she might want to step into her shoes on the case.

“We’d have all of our rights back that way too. Like he never existed,” said Sadie. “That would be good for us having full creative freedom. We could finally do more social media. He’s really hit us in that market because he didn’t know shit about it and didn’t want to.”

Whit had done a lot of things to damage shit for us, and now it was time to hopefully move on and heal. “So, do you agree?”

“Hell, yeah. Now, we sit back and wait, I guess. Hopefully, it won’t be too long, especially since we’ve already paid her.”

“If she can’t go forward, do you think we get a refund?” I felt horrible even thinking it since I’d been the one to watch her fall out, but we’d already lost enough money in this deal.

“Fuck, I don’t know, Kya.” I could hear Stones in the background, strumming his guitar.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to bother you while Stones was over.” They didn’t have a lot of time together, and I wondered if I’d interrupted them in bed.

Sadie gave a half-hearted laugh. “Considering the circumstances, you better be glad you called. I would have been so mad if you didn’t. But don’t worry, you’re not interrupting anything. He’s on the phone with Blitz talking about the next stop.”

“How’s the tour?” I wondered if they had a big crowd. Sales had been down all around with the recent shootings. People were afraid to be in crowds, but luckily, it would improve.

Sadie lowered her voice. “He said he’s ready to be home for good.”

I wondered exactly where his home would be? There with her, or with his daddy. “That bad, huh?”

“You know how it is, burnout. He’s begging me for a home-cooked meal. I guess I’m going to have to put on some clothes so I can fry him some bacon.”

I shared in her laughter, though I was still feeling a bit out of sorts. “That would be wise. Darci is supposed to call me and let me know how her mother is.”

“Call me back. I want to know how she is too.”

“Will do, and be careful frying up that bacon. I don’t need you in the hospital too.” I ended the call and pulled into my driveway.

I walked into the house, and as I saw Addison’s stuffed animals scattering the floor, I couldn’t stop myself from crying. It was times like this that I needed Addison to know her father. If something happened to me, she’d be without a parent. I knew Sadie would take her in, but I also knew that wouldn’t be fair, not when her father could be in the picture.