Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
I’m fairly certain that would scare him into backing off.
And isn’t that what I want?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tyler
The next morning, I’m standing in my bathroom, looping the navy silk tie I’m wearing with a gray pinstriped suit when I decide fuck the waiting.
Fuck waiting on Dierk to find out more.
Fuck my father.
Fuck the will and the contract that came with it.
And fuck my father’s head games.
And most definitely, fuck Becker.
I need all of this out from between me and Bella, and the company that I worked my whole life to run.
Withers deserves a visit and that’s what he gets.
Forty-five minutes later, I walk into his office and right past his receptionist. Adrenaline is like fine wine in my blood, or maybe more a stout whiskey, lighting me up. I stride down the hallway and lucky me, his door is open. I step inside and he’s behind his desk. He pushes to his feet, spry for an old man, with gray hair and a lined face.
“What can I help you with, Mr. Hawk?”
I shut the door and cross to stand in front of him, towering over his aging frame and rounded shoulders. “How well do you know the Allen family?”
He blinks three times fast. It’s like an SOS for help that isn’t coming. “What business is that of yours?”
“You’ll be the person to release documents to the press if I don’t meet the requirements of the will, correct?”
“Your point?”
There’s a genuine baffled quality about him. “Did you look at the documents before you agreed to meet that requirement?”
“I was instructed not to. He said it wouldn’t be necessary. You’d do as he ordered.”
I smirk. “He always had an overinflated opinion of himself. Read the documents. They’re all about the Allen family. I know you have a connection to them. So, either you’re bluffing, and you can go ahead and sign me up for everything I have coming to me, or we can both dig our graves because you’re going to put us in them.”
“I can’t change the terms of your father’s will.”
“Can’t you?”
His lips press into a thin line. “I think it’s time you leave.”
My stare burns into him. “I’ll expect to hear from you. Otherwise, I’ll go to the Allen family and discuss our precarious situation, which rests in your hands.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“It’s me telling you my plan of action.”
“All this does for you is offer you the freedom to challenge the will,” he snaps.
I’m thinking of his connection to the Allen family when I say, “It’ll be interesting to pull back the veil and take a close look at your business practices. I’m sure the court will find it enlightening.”
I turn and walk away and he doesn’t stop me.
Fifteen minutes later, when I walk into the office, I don’t go to Bella. I go to my office, where stacks of boxes await. I can’t rule out something going on with Withers, the Allen family, and the will, which I don’t yet understand. I need to know everything there is to know about the case my father used to threaten me and attempt to force an arranged marriage.
Chapter Thirty
Bella
I haven’t been nervous about going to work since the first week I joined Hawk Legal. After that, I simply felt a lingering urgency to prove myself to Tyler. The ride up the elevator has my heart racing. It’s insane. What is wrong with me? I know Tyler. I know him so well, more than probably anyone except maybe Dash, and I’m not even sure that’s true. I’ve spent a lot of time with this man, and I’m comfortable with him. I have always looked forward to my game-planning sessions with him.
The elevator dings, and I puff out a breath, straighten my spine and step into the corridor. At the same moment, someone steps out of the next elevator and it’s just a reflex. I look left and my heart stops as I find Tyler standing there. We rotate to face each other, and he steps closer. “Good to see you back in the office.”
“I almost stayed home but I have a meeting this morning, and I owe Morgan an interview for the assistant job. We’re having lunch.”
“Then I can only assume your plan to handle me and us is to run from me.”
Not until I suffer through him and his fiancée. “Not yet.”
His jaw sharpens. “In other words, if you could have avoided me, you would have?”
“I told you—”
“You need time,” he supplies.
“Yes.”
“You know what I need?” he asks, his voice low, rough.
“A wife,” I say. “I’m quite clear on that point.”
“You, Bella. I need you. I’m not doing this with anyone else, so if that means I spend the next six months convincing you of that, I will.”
“You can’t—”
“You mean you won’t. Go to work, Bella, before I drag you to my office and change your mind.” To my shock, with that warning, he rotates away from me. He starts walking away and not with his normal arrogant saunter, either. It’s a long-legged stride that radiates anger.