Stroked by my Dad's Best FriendA Billionaire Secret Baby Romance

by Natasha Spencer

  “You two are legally separated. The papers are all signed. He can’t get you on anything. This isn’t infidelity. You know what this is? This is extorsion, plain and simple.” Blake shook his head. “We can’t let him get away with this.”

  “But he has some pretty strong leverage,” Sophia protested. “He can ruin my life. You know all about how my family can’t learn about this.” She was distressed and both brothers could see that. They sat down next to her and put their arms around her to soothe her.

  Their touch calmed her down a bit and her heart rate slowed. “We have to figure out what to do,” she pled.

  “I’m going to speak to our lawyer. I’m sure we can do something. He can’t push us around,” Blake told her in a firm voice.

  “Yeah, we have one of the best lawyers in the city. We will get this taken care of. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  “I’m worried that he will take vengeful action,” Sophia said softly. “If we go after him legally, he can still send them those pictures.”

  “He had no right to spy on you. So we can prevent him from ever sharing those photos,” Blake said with conviction. He almost made Sophia feel better.

  “Does he know that you’re pregnant?” Adam asked.

  Sophia shook her head. Then she paused. “He didn’t mention it. But since he’s having me followed, who knows what he knows. I think he would have mentioned it, right?”

  “He better not threaten the woman having my child,” Blake spoke fiercely.

  “Or mine,” Adam said passive-aggressively.

  “It could be mine just as well as yours,” Blake argued. Obviously his temper was getting hot.

  Adam’s did, too. He began to fight with Blake about who fathered the baby again.

  Sophia slammed her fist on the table. Then she began ranting in a long string of Spanish. While she seldom spoke Spanish except when dealing with the elders in her family and some of her cousins who still lived in Mexico, she let it out when she was drunk or lost control of her temper. Now both men stared, transfixed by the tomato red of her face as she cursed like a sailor in words they did not comprehend.

  Like a bomb, she had gone off. There was no more patience left inside of her. She had been through too much of late.

  “Sophia, honey, calm down,” Blake finally said, when he realized that her temper was only gathering steam. He sat beside her and put a protective hand on her back. “Please. I hate seeing you this upset.”

  “I’m sorry this happened to you. But we will deal with this creep. Don’t let him scare you. He has no right to push you around and this place is yours. We will take care of this, don’t even worry.”

  Blake immediately got on the phone with their long-time lawyer, who had worked even for their father when he had founded Franklin Enterprises. He answered promptly and cheered, “Hey! How’s my rockstar client?” in a crackly voice.

  “Hey, Dan. We have a legal question for you. And as always, this is protected by client-attorney confidentiality. We can’t have anyone knowing about this.”

  “Oh, boy, what trouble have you boys gotten into?” Dan groaned with a sense of humor.

  “Well, honestly, it’s about a girl.”

  He laughed. “Of course! I should have guessed it.”

  “And she’s right here. So watch your mouth, Dan.”

  “Oh!” Dan fell silent, waiting.

  Together, Adam and Blake finished each other’s sentences as they told Dan the bare bones of their story with Sophia and her most recent encounter with her ex. After a few moments of silence, he responded, “So this lady is officially divorced?”

  The brother turned to Sophia with raised eyebrows and handed her the phone. She spoke up awkwardly, “No, not quite fully divorced. But legally separated with a signed separation agreement. Yes they both had their own lawyers prepare the agreement.”

  “Sophia, do you mind sending the separation agreement with me? If you can fax it over I can look over it. Then I can figure out what we can do.”

  Sophia retrieved the papers and they faxed it from the fax machine in their home office upstairs in their penthouse. An hour later, he called back and they put him on speaker. “So it says here that you two signed a prenuptial agreement with an infidelity clause. You were entitled to half of everything with evidence that he cheated. And you had evidence, all those text messages. Yet it says here in the settlement that you only took one piece of property. Why didn’t you take him for half of everything, Sophia?”

  Sophia hesitated. The brothers were watching her expectantly. “Vengeance isn’t God’s way. I didn’t want anything of his except this penthouse. I didn’t want to break him or get money. I wanted to make my own money and live free of him in this property.”

  “Hmm. A selfless client. That’s interesting, Sophia, and I commend you but I don’t understand you. If it was me, I would have gone after him for everything he had and then some.”

  “OK, so what does this have to do with his threats?” Adam interjected to bring Dan back on track.

  “Well, nothing, really. But you two are legally separated and that penthouse is yours. So all he is doing is blackmailing you. It's really a criminal matter and very good grounds for a lawsuit.”

  “Look, he’s a lawyer and I am positive he would make this very difficult in court. That’s another reason I settled with him instead of going after his assets,” Sophia explained. “And…I want to keep this private. I really don’t want those photos splashing across the media. My family can’t know about…our situation.”

  “I see. Well, I’d say the best thing to do is to go to the police and then we can serve him with a ten million dollar lawsuit.” Dan cackled. “I sure want to get this guy. He sounds like a real creep.”

  “What could we do to get proof about the blackmailing?” Blake inquired. “Because he just spoke to Sophia in private.”

  “And no one overheard you two?”

  “Not enough to know what he was saying,” she admitted guiltily. She thought of the two women walking by and her wish for privacy. If only she had let someone hear so that she could have a witness. But it was such an embarrassing matter and she certainly didn’t want that all of the office! People had enough to say about her since she was new.

  “Then the best you can do is have another conversation with him and get him on tape. Or get something in writing, an email maybe. Otherwise, I can’t really help you.”

  After they thanked Dan and got off the phone with him, Sophia sighed. “I wish I had proof. But he’s not stupid. He knew not to give me any evidence.”

  “We can get proof,” Adam declared suddenly.

  “How?” she demanded. She was clueless about how to go about this. And the idea of a court case with Tony seemed like a nightmare, especially after she had visited a few of his victorious courtroom triumphs.

  “We will go to his office. All three of us. We will be recording and get him to repeat the threat. Then we will let him know that we will get him for blackmail.”

  “Maybe we can also get the photos somehow,” Blake suggested.

  Sophia laughed nervously. She hated the idea of a stand-off with Tony. He still had an intimidating effect on her, as much as she stood up to him. The idea of going there with her two new boyfriends also made it seem like a very foolish idea.

  But the more the brothers discussed it, the better the plan seemed. After all, they would be at his office, where he could not make a fool of himself or assault them. And maybe they could talk him out of his plan without having to go to the police or to court. Just the threat of a criminal complaint or a lawsuit might make him back down. He didn’t want trouble, he just wanted to bully Sophia. If they proved that he couldn’t bully her, then he would lose all leverage.

  Sophia began to realize that maybe him telling her family what she was doing was not the worst thing in the world. No, she didn’t want that to happen at all. She certainly didn’t want those photos out. But as of now, tony probably thought it was jus
t an empty threat and that it would be enough to force Sophia out of the penthouse. He didn’t plan to act on it. He might if she resisted, but he had probably not reached that stage of planning. Surely he would be decent enough to not show them the photos. If they found out the truth, well, this was who Sophia had become and she couldn’t let her family ruin the life that made her so happy now.

  She had already began to formulate her own plan as the brothers plotted how to bring Tony down.

  The next day, they met to onferin the lobby of Tony’s office building. It was a very cold day, quite close to Christmas, with icy wind sweeping down the sidewalks. Sophia looked stunning and exotic with heavily kohled eyes. The brothers both kissed her, doing it almost like spiteful a slap in Tony’s face, before the three commenced going inside.

  “Tony, you have visitors,” Allison, his secretary mumbled into the phone when they declared themselves. She knew who Sophia was immediately and refused to make eye contact with her. Sophia had seen some of her racy texts to Tony and knew that something had happened, though she had not bothered to factor that into the divorce. The real issue had been his escort mistress who had lived at the penthouse. Still, Sophia felt like laughing at this woman, who was not half as attractive as she was.

  “Who is it?” Tony snapped. “Allison, how many times do I have to tell you. You know I hate it when you don’t declare the client names.”

  “It's your ex-wife.” The secretary put emphasis on the ex part. Sophia shot her a sniveling smile.

  Tony walked to the reception area and was met with stares from the three lovers who were waiting there for me . “Please follow me,” he said finally, not looking at all pleased.

  The five of them walked silently to Ton's office. While they were walking, Blake discretely reached into his jacket pocket and turned on his audio recorder. Allison, stared after them as they entered his office, her mouth hanging open. Sophia was sure that she started listening at the door. At least Tony had a heavy door for privacy and confidential consultations.

  “So,” Tony practically growled, as he settled heavily into his seat. He had gained some weight, Sophia noticed. “I sense that you are here to negotiate. But I want to make it clear that I am not open to negotiations.”

  Really? Because in my world, everything is open to negotiation. I think there is a more delicate way to deal with this.”

  “No,” Tony shook his head. “It’s quite simple. Sophia vacates the penthouse, or I show our families the photos of what you three perverts like to do.”

  “So what do you hope to accomplish with this, Tony? What is this all about?” Blake went on. “I just don’t see what Sophia has done to you.”

  Tony surveyed her coolly and didn’t speak.

  “I think that this is all about spite and vengeance. It isn’t about the penthouse at all. You are just mad that I left you. Are you aware that I’m pregnant? Yes, I’m having a baby. It turns out that the fertility issue was never on my side.” Sophia felt the dig of her words and instantly regretted them. Perhaps that was too mean.

  Tony indeed looked moved. “You little slut,” he growled.

  “Don’t call her that,” Adam snapped.

  “You are both fucking her! You don’t think she’s a perfect lady, do you? Good ladies don’t do that.” He slammed his fists on the desk. “Well have fun giving a bastard child a life. Get out of that apartment, or these photos will be everywhere. I might just send them to the newspapers, too.”

  “Actually, you won’t.” Blake produced the recorder from his pocket. “First we are going to sue you and your law firm for blackmail. And if those photos get out into the newspapers, we will sue you for harrassment.”

  Tony’s lips curled back as his eyes latched onto the recorder. “Well, you sure think you’re clever.”

  “We can just avoid some trouble if you hand over the photos,” Adam said. “Let’s escape all of these lawsuits and just drop this whole business. Sophia is no longer your wife so it’s time to move on.”

  “Remember, vengeance is not God’s way,” Sophia said softly.

  He wheeled on her. “Really? Funny you should say that, since it seems that all of you have been doing is trying to get back at me.”

  “I have been trying to live my life without you and move on after you shattered my heart,” Sophia replied, trying her best to keep her voice even. Tears were welling in her eyes. For the first time ever, Tony was finally showing emotion. That was all she had ever wanted from him.

  He stared at her, then shook his head and snorted. “You are a piece of work. You mean to tell me that you are such a whore that you actually like these two nerds? You actually want to fuck these gringos, in my penthouse? You just told me that you’re pregnant not to get back at me?”

  “I’m just doing what I want to do. And that is my penthouse. I told you about the pregnancy because you let me feel horrible about my infertility but you were wrong. But I feel bad for bringing that up. All I want is to go about my life and you go about yours. Find someone new. I don’t care if you tell my family, but don’t show them the photos. I plan to tell them myself. Because, Tony, this is me. I found myself. And you have no place in my life. But I will tell you that I am not leaving that penthouse.”

  Of course, Tony would have none of it. He jumped off his seat and told the three in no uncertain terms that he wanted his condominium back by the end of the week, "or else".

  Adam, Blake and Sophia walked out of Tony's office, but Adam slipped back in to discretely remind Tony about exactly who he was dealing with and the resources the Franklin Corporation could bring to bear to deal with the problem. "Tony, we're trying to do this the easy way, but I guess it's up to you." With that cryptic warning, Adam, once again stepped out of Tony's office and the three quickly left the building.

  ****

  What putzes, Tony thought. He hardly gave his meeting with the Sophia and the Franklins another thought, and worked a full day at the office like usual. Tony left his office around 6 and took a cab home to his apartment. After making his way to his suite, Tony found his key, and opened the door, and flipped the light switch. Nothing happened. After flipping the switch up and down a few time, he walked down the hall and tried the kitchen light with the same result. Was the power off?

  Just then a light in the family room turned on. Tony thought the power had come back, but it was only a table lamp that was illuminated. It didn't make any sense. Tony never used that lamp.

  "What the fuck?" Tony said out loud. Then his heart skipped a couple beats when he saw that two very large men were sitting on his sofa, staring right at him. They were both dressed in identical black suits. More menacingly, they also each wore black balaclavas and had on black leather gloves.

  "Good evening, Mr. Garcia."

  Tony thought he was a tough guy, but the sight of these two gorillas in his family room scared the shit out of him. His first thought was to turn and run out of his condo into the hall, but then he saw that a third masked man had entered from the hall and was now blocking his exit.

  "Please come and sit down, Mr. Garcia," the gorilla on the left said emphatically.

  There was nothing Tony could do, so he sheepishly made his way and sat down on a chair that had been strategically placed for him opposite the couch.

  "Please listen to me carefully, Mr. Garcia, because I am only going to say this once."

  Chapter 13

  After leaving the meeting with Tony that morning Sophia went to work and spent most of the day staring at an article she was trying to write, but without much success. The day went by in a daze, and mercifully, before she knew it, it was 5:00 and time to leave for home.

  She met the Franklin boys after work for dinner, and the three spent the evening lounging in Sophia's suite. At precisely 10:00 p.m. a knock on the door interrupted their evening. Sophia was surprised and quite concerned about a caller that late in the evening, but neither Blake nor Adam seemed perturbed whatsoever. In fact, they each seemed to be
expecting it. The three went to the door and Sophia opened it. Without saying a word, a large man in a black Armani suit handed her a sealed envelope and then left.

  Sophia opened the envelope and saw that it contained photographs - their photographs.

  "What's this?" She asked.

  Adam explained that they had someone from the Franklin Corporation visit Tony and convinced him to give up his photos and to leave her alone. After a few concerned questions from Sophia, she was reassured that Tony wasn't hurt and that he voluntarily gave up the pictures, and that none of them would hear from Tony about it again.

  After popping a bottle of champagne and pouring a glass for each of them, Blake took the envelope and put it into a wastebasket, and then invited Sophia and Adam to join him on the balcony. Once everyone was outside, Blake pulled out a lighter, set the envelope on fire and dropped it in the wastebasket. Smoke curled into the air as the fire consumed the envelope and its shameful contents. The three lovers held each other and watched as their current troubles quite literally went up in smoke.

  When the last of the flames died out, they were each so elated they decided to take their party to the bedroom to celebrate.

  Chapter 14

  With great trepidation, Sophia picked up her phone. It took great determination and willpower for her to press on her mother’s contact name. Seeing the picture of her mother beside the number made her heart ache, since she knew she was about to lose this woman in her life forever. Her mother might as well be dead, for how their relationship would become after this phone call.

  This was the type of thing she needed to do in person, but she just could not bring herself to visit her family. She knew that their reaction would be fiery, extreme and negative, and she could not face it, especially in her hormonal pregnant state. The phone offered an uncertain and false layer of protection. Nevertheless, she wanted to hide behind that layer, however uncertain and false it was.