Andrea made a note to review the previous day’s video. Maybe there was some way for Howard to measure the size of the woman’s bump. Before yesterday, Andrea thought that Ms. Litener was pregnant, although with some other man’s child. After yesterday’s deposition, Andrea was starting to suspect that there wasn’t even a pregnancy. An interesting twist, she thought.
“Okay, I’d like to remind you of…” and she went through the regular legal warnings and reminders. Ms. Litener agreed and nodded in all of the appropriate places. Then Andrea started asking questions.
“Can you tell me a bit about your relationship with Mr. Mancuso?”
Ms. Litener smiled and turned her head, winking as Mike stepped into the conference room, taking a seat next to Andrea. “Hi, honey,” Sylvia Litener said with a wink, her fingers twitching over her stomach.
Mike barely even acknowledged her, his eyes not glancing downward in any way.
“Ms. Litener?” Andrea prompted, irritated that the beautiful woman would flirt during a deposition. How…tacky!
“Oh, right!” she said and straightened. “Well, we met about six months ago. He was sitting at a bar and looked…just devastatingly handsome.” She laughed, winking at Mike who ignored her. “He looked lonely too, although he never explained why.”
Andrea’s mind stopped functioning. Six months ago?
She didn’t look at Mike, but she felt him stiffen, although no one else in the room probably noticed. The only reason she felt it was because she was so attuned to him. So aware of every movement of his body.
The other woman looked dreamily off into the corner of the room, acting as if she were remembering their time together. “He loves scotch, you know. A particular brand, but I can’t think of it off the top of my head. It wasn’t anything I could afford though, so I didn’t memorize the name of the brand, but I looked it up online. It’s something like a thousand dollars a bottle.”
Andrea’s pen slipped from her fingers. She knew exactly what the woman was talking about because Mike drank a very expensive, rare type of scotch.
Mike shifted slightly and Andrea blinked, trying to focus on the next question. “Continue. You were talking about your relationship.”
“Oh, right. Well, he would come over to my place after work and we’d talk, I’d cook. He hates cooking,” she teased. She glanced at Mike and winked again. “But when a man looks like him, he doesn’t need to do anything he doesn’t want to do, right honey?”
Okay, that was confusing. Mike loved cooking! He used to entice her out of her office with the promise of something delicious. He constantly tried new recipes on her. Some were absolute flops and others were impressively delicious.
“What kinds of foods did he cook for you?” she asked, needing more information. Was he lying? Did he cook for some of his girlfriends? Or was it a game he played? Had he actually cooked those meals for her or had he gone out to a restaurant and bought the meal, then made a mess of things at home to make it look like he’d cooked?
No, that didn’t make any sense. Mike didn’t need to play tricks on her to get her to have sex with him. She was more than willing. Except for the first few weeks, she’d been a sucker for him and his body. Completely in lo…infatuated with him.
“Oh, he loved lots of different kinds of cooking,” Sylvia was saying. “But he loved Asian foods the most. Especially Thai foods. All of those weird vegetables and things like the bamboo shoots or…what are those nuts in water?”
“Water chestnuts?” Jeff offered.
“Right!” she replied, snapping her fingers. “Water chestnuts! He taught me to eat those. They aren’t very good, but I’d eat them for him because he seemed so happy when he brought food back from some restaurant. Every time he did that, I told him that I didn’t mind cooking but he said, because he hated cooking so much, that he didn’t want me to have to do it either.” She grinned. “Isn’t that sweet?”
Andrea didn’t reply, stumped. This woman knew about Mike’s drink preference, right up to the kind and expense. But the cooking stuff didn’t add up.
“Okay, what other things did you do during the time you were with Mike?” she asked.
“Well, he loves art galleries. One weekend, he flew me to New York City to show me that art museum. You know, the famous one that is white and goes around and around?”
Marsha smiled, placing a hand on her client’s arm. “You’re speaking of the Guggenheim, correct, dear?”
“Yes!” She snapped her fingers again. “That’s the one. He loves that place! He showed me all around that place.”
Andrea froze, not sure what to say. Because Mike loved that museum so much that he’d flown her to New York City one weekend, specifically to see that museum. They’d stayed in the beautiful hotel that he owned that was less than half a mile from the museum. That weekend, she’d seen many of the glamorous people who lived in New York City and had even been introduced to Donovan Corgey, who had been trying to hide from the press after winning his third Oscar the previous weekend, as well as the vice president of the United States, both of whom had been eager to greet Mike and chat him up for a few minutes.
“Where did you stay during that whirlwind tour?”
“Oh, Mike always treated me to the best hotels in the city. What was it, honey?” she asked Mike, tilting her head so that her sparkly earrings dangled slightly. “Oh, I know! The Ritz!” She slapped the side of her head as if the name of the hotel shouldn’t have been forgotten. “He loves The Ritz! Never stays anywhere else.”
Andrea wrote that down, so confused, she wasn’t sure what her next question should be.
“I think we need to take a break,” Jeff suggested.
“Good idea,” she agreed and stood up. “Let’s take a break for lunch and come back in ninety minutes. If that’s okay with both of you?’ she asked politely.
“Sounds perfect!” Sylvia jumped up. Once again, she patted her stomach. “I’m eating for two now and it takes me a while to get enough food.”
The two women hustled out and Andrea’s hands trembled as she gathered up her notebook. “Thank you everyone. I just…”
“We need to talk,” Mike growled. He didn’t wait for her agreement. Instead, he took hold of her elbow and led her out of the conference room and back to her office, slamming the door behind him.
“Stop it!” he ordered as soon as they were alone.
“Stop what?” she demanded, backing up and glaring at him. “Stop wondering if the woman is telling the truth? Stop trying to put the puzzle pieces together?”
“You know that I love cooking! Hell, I cooked for you all the time!”
“Yes, but was that just a trick?”
He was still for a long moment before he shook his head, obviously reading her mind. “You know the answer to that. You’re just grasping onto anything that will protect you from committing to me, Andrea. I don’t think she is pregnant. And if she is, then it isn’t my child. You know me better than anyone in this world.”
“I do! And I know that you drink that special whiskey. How did she know about that?’
“Lucky guess? And might I point out, she didn’t know the brand of scotch that I drink. She just knew that I preferred the expensive stuff, to quote her. Tell me what I drink!”
Andrea threw her hands in the air, her mind whirling with both the inconsistencies as well as her accurate statements. “Macallan! You drink Macallan scotch. But don’t ask me what year because I have no idea.”
“Exactly! You know what I drink, but she was clueless. It’s easy to know my net worth, Andrea. And once someone knows that, they can pretty much guess that I drink expensive alcohol. So no, the fact that she knows that I drink expensive scotch is not enough to prove that she and I were intimate.”
He was right, Andrea acknowledged. “But she knew that your favorite museum was the Guggenheim. You flew me out to New York and we toured that museum together.”
“Right. But why the hell would I stay at The Ritz when
I own the damn hotel less than a mile away from the art museum? The Ritz is on the other side of the park. If I took someone to see the museums, I definitely wouldn’t inconvenience myself by staying twenty minutes away from the main reason for visiting.” He moved closer. “And more importantly,” he continued, “I’m a hell of a smart business man, Andrea. Even you have to acknowledge that. So, why would I stay at the Ritz? Why would I patronize my competition?”
He had an excellent point. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “You’re right. But…”
“No buts, Andrea. Think! This doesn’t make any sense! And how the hell did that fetus more than double in size over the past twelve hours?”
That was something even she’d wanted to know, it was no wonder that he’d noticed as well. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You believe in me, Andrea. I know that you do or you’d never have taken this case.” He pulled her into his arms and pressed kiss to the top of her head. “When you left me months ago, you were looking for a reason to get out. If you’re honest with yourself today, you’re looking for a reason to believe in me. You’re not stupid either, honey. You know, deep down inside, that I’m not the father of her baby. And once you prove it, we’re going to talk. We’re going to figure out how to move forward together.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Eventually, you’re going to trust me, honey. Because after the past several months, there isn’t really an alternative for me. I need you. And if the dark circles under your eyes are any indication, you need me too.”
She laughed, wishing that the world was black and white and she could figure out what was right and wrong. “The reason I’m so exhausted today is because of you and your voracious appetite last night.”
He laughed and hugged her close. “Yeah, you keep on telling yourself that it was all me,” he teased.
Chapter 7
The group reconvened after lunch. Andrea smiled politely at the two across the table, but she kept in mind what Mike had said. He was right. There were too many inconsistencies in her story. The details were…glaring. And he was also right about her trying to find a reason to believe in him.
Then something startling occurred to her. If she wanted to believe him, then…she trusted him? No, if she trusted him, she wouldn’t have doubted him earlier. So…what was going on? Why had she really taken this case? It wasn’t just the recognition she’d gain from the managing partners when she won the lawsuit. There was so much more to what was going here.
Yes, Andrea wanted to believe him. So, if she wanted to believe him…why not just…trust him! Why not trust…herself? That was a startling moment and she looked over at him. His gaze was curious at first, but as they stared at each other, she realized that…oh, good grief, she was in love with him! It wasn’t just infatuation. It was love. It was absolute, complete, irrevocable love!
He saw it in her eyes. The realization startled him, but she saw the easing of the lines near his eyes and even his shoulders relaxed.
With a nod, she turned to face the two across the table. She believed Mike. She believed in him. And even more, she believed in herself. She was enough. She was enough to work at a relationship with him and make it work forever. She could do this!
And with that in mind, she straightened her shoulders, facing the two women with renewed purpose. She believed in Mike and in their future. Time to kick some liar-butt! Time to corner this bitch and discover the truth!
“Ms. Litener,” Andrea started off, folding her hands over her notebook. “You mentioned earlier that Mr. Mancuso flew you out to New York City in his private jet. Could you tell me a bit about the flight?”
The woman shrugged. “What do you want to know? It was a flight. We…I didn’t see a whole lot.”
“Why is that?” Andrea asked.
Ms. Litener turned her head slightly, a perfect imitation of a shy woman’s pretense. She even did a nice imitation of a blush. “Well, we weren’t…looking at the plane.”
Andrea gritted her teeth. “Right. Understood. So, could you tell me a bit of the color of the plane?”
“Muted colors,” she replied, shrugging her shoulder slightly.
“And the date of this…” she stopped, about to say something sarcastic but pulled back at the last moment. “What was the date you traveled to New York City for the museum tour?”
Sylvia leaned forward, her eyes bright with excitement. “I can’t remember the exact date, but it was in February,” she told the camera, smiling and toying with her sparkly earring.
“I need you to be more specific,” Andrea stated firmly, her body tensing as she realized what the woman was saying. Last February had been a pretty special month for her and Mike as well.
“Well, let’s see. I’m four months pregnant now, so it would have to be right around Valentine’s Day. But it wasn’t the exact week of Valentine’s Day. I’d say it was the following weekend that he took me to New York City.”
Andrea had been gripping her pen tightly, waiting for the date. She could feel the tension in Mike as well. Both of them were on the edge of victory, but Andrea didn’t so much as glance in his direction. If she looked at him, the Litener woman might realize how dangerous her answer might be.
“We can get store and hotel receipts to validate the dates later on,” Andrea stated firmly, not smiling when Sylvia looked startled all of a sudden. “But let’s just work through the dates. Valentine’s Day was the fourteenth of February. But you said that the trip to New York was the following weekend. So let’s assume the twenty-first. Is that correct?”
Sylvia smiled dreamily as if remembering a sexy moment in New York. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”
Andrea wrote down that information, then carefully placed her pen on the notebook. Victory was always sweet and Andrea loved to savor the moment a bit. Taking a deep breath, she looked at her notes again, and slashed a line under the date. “Ms. Litener, perhaps you have the dates wrong?’
“Oh no, it might not have been that exact date, but it was around the twenty-first of February. I’m sure of that.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Well, for one thing, my obstetrician did a sonogram,” she pulled a grainy, black and white picture out of her purse, pushing it forward. It was a picture of a baby, sure enough. “You see here?” she said, pointing to something in the middle of the pictures. “This shows that our baby is six inches long. That puts the development at four months.”
Andrea nodded and wrote that down. “You’re right. Conception would have been around the twenty-first, give or take a few days.” She referred to her notes on fetal development, then looked up at the woman. “Are you sure you want to continue?”
That was a startling question. Sylvia blinked, unsure now. But she looked at her lawyer who nodded, then back at Andrea. “Of course,” she replied, smiling and sitting back against the chair.
“Well, because Mr. Mancuso was in Paris on the week of the twenty-first of February. The week before, he was in Tokyo and the week after, he was the keynote speaker at a conference in Dubai.”
Everyone in the room was quiet for a long moment as that information sank in. Sylvia was the first to recover. “Well, then it was the week before…Tokyo or…wherever.”
“That would make your baby five months along, wouldn’t it?” Andrea asked, her voice hardening as her anger increased.
The woman’s mouth opened and closed. Another glance at her lawyer, then over at Andrea. “Okay, then our baby is five month’s along.”
Andrea tapped the sonogram picture with her finger. “Not according to the science,” she stated firmly.
Marsha finally realized that she needed to step in here. “Measurements aren’t an exact science. That picture could show that the baby is less developed.” And she smiled smugly. “And that just shows that Ms. Litener will need additional financial resources to raise this child. We’ll revise the court documents to reflect a higher monthly stipend.”
Andrea shook her head
. “There’s no lanugo on this picture,” she stated firmly. If the baby is that far along, you should be able to detect the lanugo on the fetus.”
Sylvia’s mouth fell open once again, but she persevered, pulling the picture closer. “You can see it!” she said and pointed to what was most likely the foot. “See? It’s right here!”
Mike chuckled while Jeff closed his notebook. “Lanugo doesn’t grow on the foot, Ms. Litener.”
Andrea shook her head. “I think we’re done here,” and she closed her own notebook. “Ms. Litener, because of your multiple interviews, we will be filing documents in court this afternoon claiming defamation of character. You’ve attacked Mr. Mancuso’s character on national television under false claims of paternity.”
“I didn’t!” she gasped, leaping to her feet. At that moment, her “baby bump” shifted to the side and she grabbed hold of whatever was under her maternity dress, and shifted it back in place. “I’m pregnant!”
Andrea shook her head and stood as well. “The documents will be filed this afternoon. If you continue to claim pregnancy, we will require you to visit a doctor of Mr. Mancuso’s choosing for a non-invasive pregnancy test and a sonogram to validate the development of the fetus. In the meantime, Mr. Mancuso will forward copies of his passport to prove that he wasn’t in the country during the time you claim to have been intimate.” Andrea gathered up her papers. “We’re done here,” she stated firmly.
She glanced at Howard, silently telling him to continue to film after their departure. Howard was good and knew the drill. Andrea collected Mary, Jeff, and Mike with her gaze, and together, they left the conference room. Silently, they walked into her office and shut the door. Mary, already busy with her computer, set it on Andrea’s desk so everyone could see the screen. With a few clicks, they linked into Howard’s camera feed. Off to the side, they could see Howard pretending to load up his camera equipment. They watched the other two players as they argued.
“You chose the wrong dates!” Marsha snapped.
Craving Him (Sinful Nights Book 6) Page 6