by Linda Verji
“This is a child’s life you’re playing with. Your child’s life. You should be ashamed of yourself,” Judge Murray slammed his gavel on the bench. “Judgment for the defendant.”
“Your Honor,” Chryssa stood up. “We’d also like a judgment on our petition to determine paternity and establish my client’s parental rights legally.”
“Granted,” the judge said. “Ms. Clayton, you, your son and Mr. Harper will submit DNA samples to the State lab on,” he looked towards the clerk who gave him a date.
Hanna looked on, her gaze unflinching but inside, it took all of her strength to maintain her glacial expression and not to topple the table between them over as she screamed bloody murder.
This did not happen to her. She never lost.
She was Hanna Simms!
“…on the twenty sixth. Ms. Williams you can start on the paternity suit once we have the results.”
“Thank you, Your Honor.” Chryssa said.
“Good!” The judge turned his gaze back to Hanna, “…and Ms. Clayton,”
“Your Honor,”
“Any more games and we’ll have a problem.”
“I’m sorry Your Honor,” her tone was apologetic enough but inside she was scheming. This wasn’t over by a long shot.
CHAPTER 11
“The partners want you to drop the case,” Bradshaw informed Chryssa the next day.
“Absolutely not,” she shook her head so violently that the mahogany table between them shook.
“It’s not a request. It’s an order.”
“And I said No!” There was no way she was letting this go now. Apart from the fact that she’d practically already won it, Kian and Tasha were her friends. She was not going to leave them hanging in the wind like that.
“You have no say in this.” Bradshaw was equally insistent as he stared at her, his fingers rapping a frustrated tune on his chin. “Chryssa you know very well why we can’t take this case.”
“You mean because you want to hire a blackmailer and a felon?” Chryssa asked sitting back in the seat. He’d just informed her that Hanna was the criminal defense lawyer who Tess Harrington was trying to woo.
“She’s not a felon,” Bradshaw said.
It didn’t escape Chryssa’s notice that he didn’t refute the blackmail charge. “At the very least she’s her father’s daughter. And that’s not a compliment.”
This was ridiculous. The partners knew about Hanna’s misdeeds and her past but were still capitulating to her strong-arm tactics. Just how bad did they need her?
“The Danier trial is coming up soon and they’re gonna need all the muscle they can get,” Bradshaw explained. “The firm needs Hanna.”
Kendall Danier had allegedly bashed her ex-boyfriend’s head in with a vase, instantly killing him. On any other day it would’ve just been another trial and they would’ve probably talked the DA into giving her a deal. But it was an election year, Kendall was a spoilt heiress who was coked out of her head most of the time and her ex was a beloved country-music star. The jury’s mind would be made up before the trial started. Only a skilled attorney could get Kendall out of this one.
Okay, maybe the firm did need Hanna.
“Bradshaw, come on. You have to let me keep this case. These are my friends,” Chryssa pleaded. “What would you do if it was Tess she’d done this to?”
It was wrong to bring his relationship with Tess into this, but Chryssa was a desperate woman and desperate measures were called for.
“This is not about Tess,” Bradshaw snapped. There was a long pause before his face softened. “Believe me, I hear you. But I also don’t make the decisions around here. I’ve got only one vote.”
“But you’ve got Tess’s ear,” Chryssa argued. “And if it ever came to a vote, together you, Tess and Canon can trump Shultz and Anderson.”
“Canon’s vote isn’t going to be that easy on this one,” Bradshaw said. “He’s lead counsel on Danier.”
Releasing the last bullet in her chamber, Chryssa asked Bradshaw, “Does the firm want Hanna more than it wants the Harper account?”
Instantly Bradshaw came alive as he sat up in his seat. “What do you mean the Harper account?”
“Oh! Did I forget to tell you?” Chryssa fought to keep her face passive instead of breaking out into the gloat lurking underneath as she added, “Kian Harper plans to move Harper Inc’s business to Harrington Shultz, if I can win this for him.”
“Are you serious?” Bradshaw’s voice was even, but Chryssa didn’t miss the interest in his blue eyes.
Pressing her advantage, Chryssa said, “Kendall may be an heiress, but she’s almost out of money. Kian would apply for bankruptcy if his fortune dropped to ten times what she has. He’s also extremely close to Raphael Cavos. Hasn’t Tess been trying to get an appointment with him for two years now?”
Knowing what their golden goose, Hanna, had been up to hadn’t swayed the partners. Why would it? They were all lawyers after all, used to seeing the lines of the law blurred into varying shades of grey all the time. Money, on the other hand, was a very different matter. And Kian had lots and lots of it.
“It’s tempting. It’s really tempting,” Bradshaw said. “The problem is this all depends on if we win.”
“This is me. We’ll win,” Chryssa said, all confident, but made a mental note to make sure her back was covered. She’d underestimated Hanna the last time. She wouldn’t do it again.
Bradshaw sat in contemplative silence for a minute before finally saying, “I’ll talk to them.”
***
“I’m just that kind of person, aren’t I?” Nadine Stone moaned on the other end of the line.
“No, Ma,” Eli said though he had no idea what she was talking about. He and Chryssa were just about to begin another session when she’d interrupted them. Chryssa herself was currently situated on his lap with her head buried in the crook of his neck while he spoke to his mother.
“I’m just the kind of person people don’t visit. Nailah’s too busy with that…that singer, Luke’s decided he wants to travel the world and now you.” She burst into fresh tears or at least that’s what he assumed was happening from the deep gulps of air she was taking.
Eli wasn’t overly concerned at the dramatics. His mother had a penchant for bursting into tears at anything. She burst into tears when the roast got burnt. She burst into tears when her favorite soap-star got canned. She burst into tears when Eli got his first B in high school. Nadine Stone was just as tear-burster.
He soothed, “Ma, it’s only been two weeks.”
“Don’t talk back to your mother, young man,” Nadine yelled, voice miraculously cured of any tears. Chryssa’s chuckle vibrated on his shoulder. In truth he didn’t mind her listening to the conversation, but just for good measure he smacked her ass in punishment. Her resultant ‘ow’ had his mother asking, “Eli do you have a woman there with you?”
“No M-” He was momentarily distracted when Chryssa’s nipped lightly on the side of his neck. She flicked her tongue on the skin to soothe the pain but only ended up inflaming him and his dick swelled under her.
“Are you sure?” There was a hopeful note in his mother’s voice now. “You know Margaret’s daughter just had another son. Maybe-”
“No, Ma. I’m all alone,” he cut her short before she could go into her usual spiel about grandkids. Nailah had already given her two, but Nadine would never be satisfied until all her children had filled the earth.
“Well then why don’t you visit me?” she complained. “It’s not like you have some woman keeping you away. You know I was watching the news and they were saying that more and more gangs are migrating to New York. What if somebody shoots you? What will happen to me? Are you trying to give your mother a heart attack? I don’t think I could survive if…”
Resisting the urge to remind her that she was also in New York and therefore in danger, Eli let her rattle on. Meanwhile he spent the time enjoying the feel of Chryssa in hi
s arms. He looked down at her face tucked in his shoulder but she wasn’t even looking at him. Her attention was on the skin she’d revealed when she’d unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt as she ran her fingers on his chest.
Today, she’d come in looking distracted. Though her tone was just as brusque as usual, there were less flashes of her smile. Even when he’d asked her if she’d gained weight over the weekend, she hadn’t risen to the bait as fast as she usually would. Instead of the usual muff in the head or even a threat to walk out, all he’d gotten was a muttered ‘fuck you’ before she’d climbed into his lap as if looking for comfort. Something was definitely bothering her.
He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he knew if he asked she would only say they weren’t about that. He settled for dipping his head and kissing the tip of her nose. She lifted her head, her eyes fixing on his. With his free hand, he tipped up her chin further then let their lips meet.
The kiss was soft. Eli tried to put all the words of comfort he wanted to say in that kiss. It wasn’t enough but it would have to do. She responded immediately, her hands winding around his neck as she deepened the kiss. Their tongues met in smooth mating, lips moving softly to each other as he got lost in the taste of her.
“Eli. Eli. Eli, are you listening to me?” His mother’s shrill voice pierced the thick fog that Chryssa already had him slipping into.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Yes Ma.”
“What did I say?” his mother questioned. Knowing that Nadine was gearing up for another session of ‘grill Eli’, he moved Chryssa off his lap and to the couch. He would need all his wits about him to deal with his mother. He wiped off her disappointed sulk with one last soft kiss before leaning back on the couch to listen to his mother.
Chryssa watched them speaking for a while before she stood up from the seat. Eli groaned in disappointment when she straightened out her skirt letting the fabric fall smoothly back over her thighs. Though he kept one ear to his mother and mouthed off all the right answers to her questions, his eyes followed Chryssa as she walked around the room.
Her bare feet made no sounds on the carpet as she moved, touching a vase here, hand skimming the edge of the Monalisa impression on the wall. She wasn’t even deliberately trying to be sexy, but Eli couldn’t help licking his lips as he watched her.
He knew what this was. Addiction.
Hardly a month into their lessons and he was already addicted to Chryssa Williams: addicted to the taste of her, addicted to her little smiles when she teased him and addicted to watching her sleep when he’d pleased her. Oddly enough the addiction didn’t irritate him as much as it should have. Eli had never been one to lie to himself. This ‘thing’ with Chryssa was what it was and he was willing to ride it out and see where it ended up. The only thing that irritated him was the ‘no contact outside classes’ rule. Why couldn’t they talk outside sex?
He wanted to know more about Chryssa. He wanted to know the secrets behind her prickly personality. He wanted to know where she hung out when she wasn’t with him. Hell, even just seeing her house would’ve given him some small sense of satisfaction. He was almost tempted to break that rule. Almost!
However, Eli knew which lines not to cross. If he even made one move to break their contract, he had no doubt that she would be out so fast his head wouldn’t have time to spin its first circle. So right now he was taking what he could get.
He took a mental picture of her standing there, head tilted slightly to the side, small teeth digging slightly into her lip as she looked at the painting. He memorized her now for the four days he wouldn’t get to see or talk to her.
“..and that’s why I think you should move back in with your father and I,” his mother finished.
“I’m not moving in with you, Ma,” Eli said firmly.
“Why?” Nadine whined making Eli go into another repeated explanation that he was too old to live with his parents and that –yes his house was big – but he was quite happy in it. Chryssa had moved to the wooden cabinet that held the TV. Atop the glistening wood were two tickets. Her eyebrows furrowed in curiosity as she picked them up to read. Her eyes widened with every word she read. She turned to him excitement in her eyes as she waved the tickets.
Eli gestured for her to bring them over. She sat next to him as he quickly scanned them. They were the tickets for Sunday to the Broadway show, Big Fish. A colleague at work had given them to him.
Chryssa gestured to the tickets then soundlessly asked, “Yours?”
Eli nodded then silently worded “Just a minute” to her before he got back to his mother, “Ma, I’m not moving in.”
“What about just for the month?”
“Nadine, are you harassing the boy again?” Eli sighed in relief when he heard his father’s voice in the background.
“What am I supposed to do when he doesn’t come to see me?” Nadine complained, “Keep out of this Harold.”
“Give me that phone.” There was some squabbling over their end of the conversation before Harold Stone’s gruff voice sounded, “Son, let me talk to her then we’ll call you back.”
“Thanks Pops.”
The moment he cut the phone call, Chryssa was on his lap and her eyes on the ticket, “I’ve been trying to get these for the last two weeks. How did you get them?”
“A friend.” He shrugged. Curiosity in his voice as he stroked her back he questioned, “I didn’t know you were a fan.”
“Why?” Her hackles immediately went up and she stiffened in his arms. Eyes narrowed, she asked, “You saying I’m too ghetto to appreciate a Broadway show?”
“That’s not what I said.” Eli chuckled glad to have at least a bit of the thorny Chryssa back. Stroking her back in soothing motions, he explained, “Not too many people enjoy Broadway shows. I’m just surprised you do.”
“Oh,” she said instantly calming down.
“There are two tickets. Do you want to come with me?” He held them up between his index and middle finger. If she took them it would be the first break in their contract. Eli wanted her to take them. He mentally begged her to just pull one out from his grasp.
She bit her lower lip looking at them longingly. For a moment Eli even thought she would take them but then she shook her head. “No thanks.”
He couldn’t help his soft sigh of disappointment that came with her answer.
CHAPTER 12
Why was life so complicated?
First she and Mickey were still at war. They’d never been angry at each other for so long and Chryssa was beginning to seriously contemplate apologizing. Then Tess had called her into her office and not so subtly threatened to sack her if she didn’t win the case against Hanna and bring Kian into the Harrington Shultz fold. Sure Chryssa knew that the case was as good as won, but having the senior partners breathing down her neck was making her antsy.
And then there was Eli!
Even Forrest Gump would’ve figured out the motive behind that not-so-innocent Broadway ticket offer. He was trying to take their relationship to the next level. He was trying to pull her into a world beyond sex; a world where relationships and feelings existed.
A world where Chryssa was banned!
And that wasn’t even the crux of her problem with him. Her problem was that she was tempted to give in to him. If she was a relationship kind of girl, Eli would’ve been the type of guy she’d be interested in. He was respectful, ambitious and didn’t seem intimidated by her despite the fact that their current ‘relationship’ was skewed in her favor.
When she was with him, all her problems seemed to melt away and some part of her knew that as long as she was with him everything would be just fine. The case, her problems with Mickey – they all disappeared when she was with him.
He made her laugh at his fumbling attempts to catch up with her and his self-depreciating humor when he messed up. She loved the cocky triumph in his eyes when she gave him a seal of approval for each lesson well learnt and his insistence on
‘practicing’ some more so he could learn.
She’d never spent a night with him, but even the few hours they spent together showed her another piece of him to like. It was easy to see that despite being so straitlaced, Eli was a good man. It was in the way he talked about Renée despite the fact that she’d screwed it. It was in the way he spoke to the wait-staff even when he was making ridiculous demands. It was in the way he patiently took his mother’s crap and never spoke back to her.
It was hard not to want more of him.
Those tickets had been so tempting. Her fingertips had itched to snatch one. It’d taken every brain cell screaming loudly to drown her heart’s desire and say No. They wouldn’t do this. They couldn’t do this.
Chryssa knew it was time to stop the lessons before she dug herself deeper into the grave she already had one foot it. But it was so hard. Every time she picked up the phone or opened her mouth to say the words, the little devil at her right shoulder would whisper that she should wait until after the next lesson.
You can handle one more day with him. One more day of him touching her like she was the finest of silk! One more week of his tasting her like she was the most delicious of cakes! One more month of his watching her like she was the most interesting show!
Yes! Just two more months and she’d walk away.
Chryssa pressed on the intercom, “Aaron, do you have the papers detailing how the Whitmore’s have decided to split their property?”
“Yes,” Aaron replied. “Do you want me to take it up to Bradshaw’s office?”
“No it’s okay. Just print them out and I’ll take them to him myself,” Chryssa said. “I need to talk to him anyway.”
Barely ten minutes later, Aaron walked into Chryssa office with the files she’d requested, but they were not the only gifts he was carrying. He set two bunches of flowers, one red and the other white, on Chryssa’s desk. “Someone got some flowers today.”
