This is the guy who threatened to reveal my sister’s secrets. She could have gone to jail, and Adrian Maguire didn’t care. It’s the guy who tried to keep Liam and Ashley apart, and the guy who got the police chief to resign last year. He’s taken money from a shady construction company who couldn’t deliver on their promises, and now my firm is supposed to bail him out?
Hell no.
Anger floods my veins as I type my reply to my managing partner. I want no part of this. I am biased, and I wouldn’t be able to deliver a solid defense.
I hate the guy.
My lips curl into a snarl as I type. I read my email over, tweaking the wording and softening my anger. My nose is only a few inches from my screen, and I don’t hear the floorboards creak behind me.
“Whatcha doin’?” Ashley’s voice is right beside my ear.
I slam the laptop closed. “Nothing.” My heart jumps, bouncing around my ribs as I look at her, wide-eyed.
She frowns, laughing. “Didn’t look like nothing? You were typing as if your life depended on it.”
I shake my head and wave my hand. “Just work stuff. I thought you were asleep.”
She rubs her eyes and nods. “I was. Sorry to impose on you like this, Liam should be here any minute.”
My heart is still thumping from anger and adrenaline, but I try to take a deep breath to calm it down. I smile at my sister. “I like having you around.”
I follow her out to the living room. She tells me something about the baby, or pregnancy, or Liam, but I don’t hear any of it.
All I can think about is that email.
What am I supposed to say to her? Liam hasn’t spoken to his brother in over a year! They’re basically estranged. Ashley has agreed with me that the Mayor is an unscrupulous, corrupt politician.
And now I’m supposed to turn around and tell her that my firm is defending him?
Ash smiles at me and yawns just as a car pulls up outside. “That must be Liam,” she smiles. I can see the love in her eyes, and my heart squeezes.
She’s already so stressed between the baby, running her own business, and being the main breadwinner in their new family. Liam has exams and a part-time job to deal with.
I can’t add to their stress. I can’t put this burden on them. I can tell that the news story is putting a strain on Ashley, and it’s probably worse for Liam.
So when I open the door for Liam and watch Ashley slip her shoes on, I make a decision. I won’t tell them—not right away. They’ll find out eventually, of course, so I’ll have to tell her sooner or later. But right now, Ashley has a lot on her plate.
I’ll go to work tomorrow, talk to my managing partner, and try to get taken off the case. I’ll cite a conflict of interest, or I’ll tell her that I’m not able to give the best defense, and I shouldn’t be part of the team.
Then, I’ll tell Ashley that my firm is defending her brother-in-law. At least then it won’t be me.
I give my sister a hug as the turmoil rages in my heart. I watch Liam put his arm around her as he leads her down the pathway toward their car. She waddles down, holding her stomach all the way to the car. He helps her every step of the way, making sure she’s in the car and settled before he goes to the driver’s side.
Tears sting at my eyes. They’re such a perfect couple and they’re so in love.
And me? All I’ve got are bad Tinder dates and a messy, unwanted case that just landed on my desk.
2
Adrian
“Fuck!” I slam the phone down and then slam it down again. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I groan, rubbing my temples with my fingers. “That was Councilor Harrison. Because of this riverfront development mess, he’s not backing me on the highway improvements. I’m losing the City, Cheryl!”
Cheryl, my assistant, takes a deep breath. “We’ll figure this out.”
“I never should have taken that campaign money. I could have won without it!”
“Probably, but you didn’t know that at the time. Adrian, we’ll figure this out.”
I sigh, looking up at the ceiling and groaning. “This is going to ruin me.”
“Maybe not.”
“Maybe not!” I look at my assistant and snort. “Political careers have been ruined with much less than this. I could go to jail!”
Cheryl takes a deep breath. Her eyebrows arch and she cracks her knuckles—that’s how I know she’s worried. She only cracks her knuckles when things are really, really bad.
I nod to her hands. “You’ll give yourself arthritis.”
“That’s a myth,” she replies absent-mindedly. “Look, I’ve set up a meeting with your lawyers. If we get in front of this, we can spin it. You can say that the two things are unrelated. They made a donation but it didn’t factor into them winning the tender for the riverfront development. They were the best company for the job.”
“They are connected, though, Cheryl. You were there when I made the deal with that fuckhead John Hansen. I never should have trusted that Mr. T wannabe! I’ll rip every ring off his stupid fat fingers and stuff them down his throat!” I smack my palm on my desk and groan.
“He’s in worse trouble than you are. Just calm down, Adrian. You’re meeting with the lawyers this afternoon, and we have a press conference tonight about it. Jerry is drafting a speech for you as we speak. We’ll figure this out.”
Cheryl takes a step toward my desk and puts her fingertips down. She leans toward me, her face completely serious. She’s been my assistant for almost a decade, and in times like these, I’m glad to have someone loyal by my side.
“Listen to me, Maguire. Get your shit together. If you start fraying at the edges, the press will tear you apart. Right now, we’re invoking the Fifth. No comment, no jokes, no reaction, nothing. Not until you speak with the lawyers. Until then, Jerry and I will write up a statement that you can give tonight. Keep. It. Together.”
She says the last words slowly, staring me right in the eye. Her brown eyes are dark, almost black. She looks deadly serious, and she reminds me of a younger version of my mother.
I nod.
“Fine.”
“Good. Don’t do anything stupid. Your appointment with the lawyers is at two o’clock.”
I nod. “Okay.”
She leaves my office, and I slump down in my chair. City Hall feels like a prison, but I can’t leave or else I’ll get mobbed by the press. I glance out the window and I see them circling like vultures.
They love this. Reporters thrive on this kind of thing. They loved me when I was on my way up, being the youngest mayor in Denver’s history. They loved me when I pledged to improve the roads and parks and schools. They loved me when I actually did improve the parks and gave more money to the schools.
And now, they love this even more. The media is pouncing on this scandal and ripping me to shreds. I wasn’t joking when I said this would ruin me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was impeached, convicted, and jailed.
I blow the air out of my nostrils.
I took the campaign money from Hansen Constructions. I did it. And then, I gave them a big contract in exchange. In retrospect, I realize that they were too small, too inexperienced to handle such a big project. It wasn’t exactly legal, of course… but it’s all par for the course. It’s construction, for fuck’s sake! The entire industry is built on backroom deals and greased palms.
This is how these things work. Every politician in every branch of office has a skeleton in their closet.
I just got caught, is all.
And boy, do they ever love to see the Golden Boy fall. A lot more than they like to see him rise, evidently.
I groan, dropping my head in my hands. I was supposed to be governor, and after that—who knows? I had dreams, big dreams. White House dreams.
Well now, those dreams are dead in the water.
I’m nothing. I’m nobody.
I’m a corrupt municipal politician.
I groan.
Idiot!
I si
gh as the phone rings, bracing myself for more deflections, more explanations, more invoking of the Fifth Amendment.
I don’t feel much better by the time I get to the lawyer’s office. Cheryl nods to me and gestures to a chair in the lobby. “I’ll be right here.”
I nod.
A pretty receptionist in a tight pencil skirt leads me down a glass hallway toward a conference room. She brings me a coffee with a smile.
“They shouldn’t be too long.”
“Sure,” I answer. My heart is thumping and my palms are sweaty. Some people hate dentists, but I hate lawyers. Their offices are pretentious, and they’ll suck you dry if you let them. I’m expecting to be talked down to, and then made to feel special, and finally told to open my wallet.
What I don’t expect is to hear raised voices coming through the wall behind me. I lean back, turning my head to listen.
“…It’s a conflict of interest! I won’t do it.”
There’s a muffled voice, that’s obviously trying to calm this woman down.
“He’s my brother-in-law…. Yes, I know there’s no law against it, but I can’t do it. I won’t…. I won’t.”
I take a deep breath. Whoever that client is, he’s a poor bastard if he can’t even get his lawyers to take him on. His case is fucking doomed.
At least I’ve got deep pockets and it wasn’t a problem to get the best criminal law firm in the city. Apparently, they have a criminal defense lawyer who specializes in corruption cases.
Lucky fucking me.
A door slams. A couple seconds later, two men and two women come streaming through the door. I don’t see any of them though, except for the last woman to walk in. She’s tall, with dark blonde hair and curves like I’ve never seen before.
Then, I see her face. She looks at me with so much anger, so much venom, so much hatred, that the other shoe finally drops.
She was the woman next door, and the poor sap who can’t even get his lawyers to want him?
Yeah, that’s me.
My heart sinks to my stomach as the woman takes the furthest seat she can. She doesn’t look at me, instead just folding her hands on the table and staring straight ahead. A vein is pulsing in her neck, and her whole body is trembling.
She’s furious.
I stare at her curiously, and she ignores me. It’s… kind of hot.
Who am I kidding? It’s fucking hot. I’d love to bend her over this table and fuck the anger right out of her. I bet she’s an animal between the sheets. She could dig those French-manicured fingernails into my back. She could bite me and scratch me all she wanted until she begged me for more.
“Mr. Mayor,” the other woman says, and my head snaps toward her. I clear my throat, getting up to shake the hand she extends toward me. “I’m Theresa Gregg. I’m the Managing Partner here.”
“Of course. Nice to meet you, and please, call me Adrian.”
She smiles, motioning for me to take a seat. The other woman hasn’t looked at me at all. I try not to smile, but I’m secretly loving this. There’s nothing I like more than a challenge, and she’s just asking for me to take her on.
Then, I remember what I heard through the wall and my heartbeat slows.
Brother-in-law.
My eyes widen and I glance at her again, and I see it. The fine, graceful nose, the blonde hair, the sharp, blue eyes.
Her sister is married to my brother. The brother that I haven’t spoken to in over a year. The brother who chose his wife over his family. The brother who betrayed me by giving away all my leverage to the one person that shouldn’t have gotten it. The brother who currently holds one little USB key with my future stored on it.
This woman is Stella King.
I feel that same anger brewing inside me, white-hot and pure. I clear my throat and nod to Stella.
“I can’t work with her.”
She finally swings those blue eyes my way, and a cruel smile paints itself on her face. Theresa stutters.
“My point exactly,” Stella says. She pushes her chair back. “Excuse me.”
She only takes two steps before Theresa holds up her hand. “Sit. Down.”
Stella freezes, her back arching up as she raises her chin. Theresa nods to the chair that Stella just vacated and after a tense pause, she sits down. She’s fuming, and my cock throbs despite myself.
I’d fuck that woman every way to next week, and I’d love every second of it.
Unfortunately, she represents everything that’s gone wrong with my term as mayor. Stella’s eyes land on me and I see the depth of her hatred for a moment, and then she sighs.
Theresa clears her throat. “Stella just won a very similar case with a big developer. It wasn’t as high-profile as this one, of course, but the bones are the same. She’s the most thorough, conscientious, stubborn lawyer I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Firing her from this team would be a very big mistake.”
The Managing Partner arches her eyebrows as she says the last words. Her eyes are hard, and she swings them toward Stella.
“And Ms. King. This is a career case. This will make you.”
“This is municipal politics, Theresa. It’s not making anyone’s career.” She stares at me pointedly. “And plus, he’s a piece of shit.”
A couple people in the room inhale. I hold her gaze as a smile tugs at my lips. Her blue eyes are blazing, and that vein in her neck is still pumping hot blood.
I nod to her boss. “She can stay.”
Stella makes an exasperated noise, but Theresa throws her a glance and she says nothing. I fight to keep the grin off my face.
Adrian: 1, Stella: 0.
3
Stella
I hate his stupid smirk. I hate his stupid dimples. I hate his stupid hair and how perfectly it sits on his stupid little head.
I can’t even look at him without feeling my blood boil.
And Theresa! I thought she’d understand. I thought when she realized that his brother was married to my sister, she’d take me off the case, but then she told me that was the whole reason she’d put me on it.
She said a personal connection wasn’t a conflict of interest. She said my dislike of him would probably help me to look at the case objectively. It would help me to get in the minds of the public, since it was likely to become a media circus.
So here I am, sitting in a conference room a couple feet away from the man who tried to ruin my sister’s life. I steal a glance at him as he nods along to what Theresa is saying. His eyes flick to me for an instant and the anger inside me burns brighter.
There is one redeeming thing about this: the case is a mess. He took a campaign donation from a small construction company and promised them a huge development project they couldn’t handle. The tender was a mess, and there’s no way anyone in their right mind would have awarded the contract to Hansen Constructions.
It’s blatant corruption.
He deserves to go away for this.
But somehow, I have to defend this guy.
No, ‘guy’ is too generous. I have to defend this excrement. This sub-human. This pseudo-handsome, arrogant, good-for-nothing… ugh. I don’t even have words for how awful he is. Even thinking of insults makes me feel worse. I take a deep breath and try to focus on what Theresa is saying, but all I can think about is how much of a mess this is.
What am I supposed to tell Ashley now? How am I supposed to explain this one?
‘Oh, hey, my boss thought it was great that I hate this guy, because it wouldn’t cloud my judgement.’
Yeah, that’ll fly. She’ll understand.
Not.
She’s having a baby, she’s under financial stress, her husband’s brother is plastered all over the news, and now she has to deal with me, too.
I’m the worst sister, defending the worst brother in the universe. Anger makes my eyes water, and I hate myself for it.
If I start crying in a business meeting, I’ll never forgive myself. So instead, I focus on Adrian.
His shirt is expensively tailored.
Arrogant ass.
His shoulders strain against the silky material as he adjusts his tie.
So full of himself.
He leans forward, licking his lips in concentration as he reads something that Theresa pushes over to him. My heart thuds, and I look away. His lips are plump, almost feminine.
My whole body is burning up. I can’t think straight. There’s a jug of water on the table, and I pour myself a glass. A drop splashes beside the glass and I wipe it away with my sleeve. I take a big gulp and feel a stare on my face.
He’s looking at me, with that stupid arrogant smirk on his face. He arches an eyebrow and then goes back to reading the file in his hands.
God, I hate him.
I hate his guts.
There is no one in this world that I hate more than this man.
Mercifully, Theresa calls the meeting to a close and everyone’s chairs scrape back. Adrian doesn’t move, and I make a bee-line for the door. As soon as I’m in the hallway, I take a deep breath and head for my office.
Safely inside, I plop into my chair and groan.
This is a nightmare. This is worse than a nightmare, because a nightmare would end when I wake up. There’s no waking up from this. It just goes on, and on, and on, until everything in my life falls apart.
I can already tell that this case is going to be the kind of case that sucks the life out of me. It’ll take every waking minute to deal with the press, and the paperwork, and I’ll have to work double time to keep up with everything.
And for what?
For a guy who doesn’t even have the decency to try to patch things up with his brother. For a guy who not once apologized to my sister for what he did. For a guy that just sat there, smirking at me.
He knows what he did
Tears sting my eyes and I brush them away angrily. I need to get a grip. This is happening whether I like it or not. I sit up straighter and take a deep breath to compose myself.
Love/Hate: The Complete Enemies to Lovers Series Page 36