Law & The Single Dad

by Emma Nichols

  Law & The Single Dad

  Single Dads Club

  Emma Nichols

  Contents

  Law & The Single Dad

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  About Emma Nichols

  Subscribe to Emma Nichols’ newsletter

  Books by Emma Nichols:

  Law & The Single Dad

  Single Dads Club: Book Two

  By

  * * *

  USA Today bestselling author

  * * *

  Emma Nichols

  Copyright © 2018 by Emma Nichols

  1st Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Megan J. Parker-Squires of EmCat Designs

  Formatting by: Love Kissed Books

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Leo

  * * *

  The elevator doors opened and I groaned inwardly when I saw Louis Pittinger step inside. Since we were the only two people standing there when the doors closed, I knew better than to think he wouldn’t notice me.

  “Shit, Leo Ward? How the hell are you? I haven’t seen you since college.” He reached out and clapped me on the shoulder before pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his hooked nose.

  We hadn’t seen each other in the five years since law school by design. I couldn’t stand the guy then, and I already remembered why. He was too loud, too nosy, too quick to gossip in order to feel more important. “I’m…great,” I lied. The last thing I wanted to get into with him was my personal life, or my personal reasons for being in the building.

  Louis glanced at the buttons to see which floor I’d be getting off on. “Twelve.” He nodded a few times, obviously racking his brain for the reason for my visit. “Well, that’s the divorce floor.” He stole a long look at my hand. “No ring.” He eyed my bag. “Are you interviewing for a position or ending an otherwise unhappy union?”

  Thankfully, the doors opened on my floor and I moved to exit. “Nice seeing you again, Louis.”

  “We should catch up. Drinks later?” he asked as the doors slowly began to close.

  “No. Definitely not.” I sighed and strode toward the reception desk where the young blonde woman seated behind the computer screen struggled to hide a smile.

  “Do you have an appointment, sir?” she asked politely.

  “Yes, with Stan Wallace. He’s representing me.” Even as I stood there, I could feel my confidence wilting and my shoulders slowly rolled forward. The check in my pocket weighed on me. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford the hefty sum. It was that I knew this would be the first of many painfully large checks I’d be writing to extricate myself from my marriage.

  “Go ahead and take a seat. He’ll be with you momentarily, Mr. Ward.” She smiled sweetly at me, but while she was reasonably attractive, I’d decided to be off women for a while.

  With a nod, I moved toward one of the leather chairs nearest the end table loaded with lifestyle magazines. I blew out a breath as I sank down into the seat and pulled out my phone. This was as good a time as any to catch up on my emails.

  Less than four minutes later, a distinguished older man, who matched the image I’d seen on both the website and a nearby billboard, came out to collect me. “Mr. Ward,” he warbled as he reached for my hand.

  I inhaled deeply. This guy already struck me as the greasy, ambulance-chasing type. Nothing thus far had erased that feeling. “Mr. Wallace.” I stood and shook his hand.

  “Follow me.” He jerked his head toward a door several steps down the hall.

  Dutifully, I followed him, already anticipating the scope of our discussion. Taking a seat across from his desk, I crossed my hands in my lap and waited. The lawyer didn’t disappoint me.

  “So, how would you describe your wife, Sable, and the nature of your relationship?” Mr. Wallace pulled out a pen and a legal pad to begin taking notes.

  “Well, we met in college,” I began slowly, “during her first degree.”

  “Her first degree?” His brows rose. “How many degrees does she have?”

  I licked my lips carefully. “Three useless ones. She started with a degree in fine arts, then followed it with one in fashion design. Then she decided to get a degree in communications.” The man across from me was scribbling furiously. “See what I mean? She wasn’t in college to learn. She was there to find a husband. And as soon as she had latched onto me, she was determined to stay in school until I finished.”

  “What does she do for work?” He tilted his head.

  With a snort, I replied, “She has never worked. And when I objected to her staying home like the trophy wife she longed to be, she suddenly had a birth control fail.” I rubbed my face. Relaying this story and thereby reliving it was just as exhausting the second time around.

  “I take it you decided against an abortion.” Mr. Wallace’s lips were pursed, prepared to ask another question when I groaned.

  “Decided? She decided for both of us. Sable somehow managed to fail to notice she was pregnant until she was sixteen weeks along.” I sighed loudly. “I know; I married her. She used to be fun. Then I realized she had zero ambition aside from spending my money. By the time I accepted this was who she was and that she was never going to be mother material, it was too late.”

  “Your money? How much are we talking about?” My lawyer looked me in the eyes without blinking.

  I hated this part. I knew this was going to determine the cost of the proceedings. “I have a trust fund. I come from money, and I’m a corporate lawyer.” I frowned. “I never knew being a billionaire could make a guy so miserable.”

  “Tell me you had a prenup,” Mr. Wallace moaned.

  “We do.” I bit my lower lip as I watched the man sigh in relief.

  “Whew. You had me nervous there.” For the first time since he greeted me, he grinned.

  I reached into my leather briefcase and passed him a copy. “I think if you scan it, you’ll see the problem.”

  His eyes darted back and forth across the document and froze. Slowly, he met my gaze. “The baby.” He slapped his forehead.

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  The chair creaked as Mr. Wallace leaned back in it, crossed his leg over his knee, and stared up at the ceiling. “So, because of the baby, you’ll have to fork out a bunch of money.”

  I leaned forward on the desk. “Just so we’re clear, I have no problem supporting my son, who’s eighteen months old now, by the way.”

  “That’s a whole lot of years, son,” the man groaned.

  “I want custody.” I folded my hands on his wooden desk.

  Mr. Wallace tapped his temple with his pen. “Good thinking. You don’t have to pay if you have custody. Brilliant!”

  Shaking my head, I explained. “I want custody because she’s not fit to be a mother. I’ll treat her at least as well as any employee. I’ll give her a nice fat severance package, but I want my son. My father passed away recently, and while my mother can more than afford to live on her own, she has chosen to stay with me for a while. If she has a sens
e of purpose, like helping with Hudson, then she’ll stay.” I took a deep breath. “My son could be raised in a loving home. If he stays with my ex, I shudder to think what kind of life he’ll have.” I rubbed the back of my neck and slid further onto my seat.

  “So, you want your son, and I assume you’d like to get away with losing as little of your fortune as possible.” He nodded and sat up straight in his seat, his mission finally evident.

  “As long as you understand that the money is nothing and my son is everything.” I smiled. “But yes, I’d be happy to keep as much money as possible for Hudson’s future.”

  Elizabeth

  * * *

  “How can I help you, Ms. Ward?” I tried to hide my frown. I didn’t get paid to like my clients. This one was rubbing me the wrong way. I usually felt so strongly about supporting the women who were struggling through divorce from rich and powerful men. After what my mother endured with my father, I secretly thrilled in lifting up the underdog. And as Leo Ward’s future ex-wife, no one needed my help more than she. Unfortunately, I had a history with both Leo and his wife.

  Sable leaned in and studied me a moment while licking her lips. “Just so we’re clear, anything said in here is completely between us, right?”

  I forced a smile. “Of course. That’s the beauty of attorney-client privilege. And as soon as you pay your retainer, everything you say is between us and stays between us.”

  She sighed loudly. “You’re really subtle.” With an eyeroll, she reached into her Birkin purse, pulled out the matching wristlet, and unzipped it before leisurely removing the check she’d already written out. Sable started to reluctantly push it across the desk toward me when I stopped her.

  “Actually, my receptionist handles all the payments.” I ended with a close-lipped smile. While she stuffed the wristlet back into her purse and dropped it on the seat beside her, I decided we needed to get down to business. I had no desire to linger with her. “So, tell me about your relationship with Mr. Ward. When did you meet? What was your relationship like? Where did it all go wrong?” I seriously hoped there was more to her than met the eye, otherwise I didn’t have much hope. Nothing about her begged for sympathy from the judge. Nothing about her had changed in the five years since I’d last seen her.

  “First, I think you should know you’re my second divorce attorney.” She scowled.

  I blinked a few times. “What happened to the first one?”

  “Fell through. Men just aren’t reliable. And now I’m working with you. I figured you would be perfect, since we sorta knew each other and all.” She leaned forward for emphasis, like I was good and stuck. “So to answer your question, I decided to go to college because my mother told me that was where she’d met my father.” Sable smiled proudly. “Best advice she ever gave me.”

  “Because you met your husband and fell in love?” My brows rose hopefully.

  “Yeah, him too.” She crossed her leg over her knee, a move that probably had countless men trying to sneak a peek up her ridiculously short skirt.

  I tried to hide my shudder. “Continue,” I urged as I started taking notes.

  “Well, there were so many men. And that was cool. Then I joined a sorority and once I found out who the most eligible bachelors were, I went to work.” She snickered.

  Blowing out a breath, I murmured, “Okay, what if we talk about your education? I assume you graduated with a degree?” Since we’d only crossed paths a few times and Leo never really talked about her, I seriously knew nothing about this woman.

  “Three,” she admitted smugly.

  “That’s impressive.” I nodded while I scribbled on the pad.

  “See, I hadn’t found a husband yet, so I had to keep looking. I’d managed to catch Leo’s eye.” She shook her head and grinned. “He was always a sucker for a tight skirt and nice tits.” Sable hefted her breasts, in case I hadn’t noticed them previously.

  Rubbing my forehead, I wondered how the hell I was going to make this woman seem like anything other than the gold digger she truly appeared to be. “Alrighty, let’s go over your work history…”

  “Work?” She laughed loudly. “I got married so I wouldn’t have to work. Maintaining all this is a full-time job. I’d much rather stay married than risk losing all this in the divorce.” She ran her hands up and down her sides.

  “What about your son? You spend a lot of time caring for him, right?” My voice cracked as I grasped at straws. This was absolutely too much.

  Sable looked positively aghast. “With these nails?” She groaned. “I tried to change a diaper and ended up with poop…poop…under these.” She held up one hand with perfectly manicured almond-shaped, bejeweled fingertips.

  “Right. I can see how that would take preference to being a parent.” I nodded numbly. How the hell was I going to manage to humanize this…woman? Already I’d given up on being able to play her off as the victim. Shit, I was ready to tell Leo Ward to run. Take his son and run as far as possible. “So, you have a nanny?”

  “He goes to daycare during the day.” She smirked. “Leo has no idea. I have a household budget. I pay for it from there. After he leaves, I get ready for the day, drop off my little prenup nullifier, and then I do my thing.”

  I wiped at my forehead. “And what does your ‘thing’ entail?”

  “I shop. We have a lot of business functions. I get massages because you have no idea how stressful my life can be.” She looked to me for sympathy.

  I nodded. “I see.” I see how exhausting it can be managing all those lies. Fuck.

  Sable licked her lips. “And I have to manage hair, nails, and accessories. There’s a lot of work involved in looking like this.” She winked at me. “Like the personal trainer.”

  I’m pretty sure I cringed. I couldn’t help it. “Have you been unfaithful to your husband?” She stared at me blankly. “I can’t have any surprises in court. Assume that he knows everything you think you’ve managed to hide. We need to be prepared for every eventuality.” This was true, but also…I wanted to know.

  Her lids lowered and her chest rose as she inhaled deeply. “So, the personal trainer and I may have gotten a little…personal. This kind of thing happens all the time. It’s practically expected,” she huffed. “I bet Leo is fucking his secretary.”

  “Of course.” I set my pen down. I couldn’t listen to any more of her justifications. I knew too much already. I should just turn down her case. I could say it required more time and attention than I had available at the moment. That seemed plausible. I doubt she’d recognize my half-truth. The whole truth would be that I found her to be a despicable human being and I wanted no part in potentially wrenching the child from the one parent who might actually care for him. “So, why do you want custody? His father doesn’t want him?”

  Throwing her head back, Sable cackled. “Are you kidding me? Leo is a natural born father. He always woke up with the little whiner in the middle of the night.” She tilted her head. “I’m a deep sleeper.”

  “I understand,” I murmured, even when I clearly didn’t.

  “He took over the minute he entered the condo every night.” She sighed happily. “It really has been an ideal set up.”

  “Then why ask for custody?” I frowned. The little guy would obviously be better off with his father.

  She shrugged. “It’s the only way I can get money. I signed the stupid prenup. By the time he realized we were doomed, I’d already figured it out and conceived my little back-up plan.” Sable smiled sweetly. “With him, I’m guaranteed a monthly paycheck that will ensure I maintain this lifestyle while I seek out my next husband. Without him, I’m penniless. So, I’m sure you understand why I need you to be tough, on point, and cutthroat.”

  “Absolutely,” I admitted honestly. This didn’t mean I was going to do it. And if it wasn’t for my desire to go off on my own and start my own firm, I would refuse this case and send her to someone with no soul. That’s what it would take to win this case. Sadly, m
y soul wasn’t on the market, but if I turned her away, the partners would kill me. Self-preservation could be incredibly motivating. “Okay, I think I have everything I need for now. Please leave the retainer with Ginny on your way out.”

  “We’re done?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

  I pasted a smile on my face and spoke with as much honesty as I could muster. “Yes. We’re finished.”

  After she walked out and shut the door behind her, I pressed my forehead against the cool wooden desk. This would be so much easier if I hadn’t had a crush on Leo Ward.

  2

  Leo

  * * *

  For the remainder of the meeting, my phone had been buzzing regularly in my pocket. As soon as I stepped out of the lawyer’s office, I checked it and shook my head. My mother had already sent three text messages and I’d missed two calls from my future ex. I’d have to be a fool to not see the connection. Rather than hop right on the elevator, I walked to the end of the hall and stared at the city skyline a moment while waiting for my mother to answer my call.

  “It’s about time Leonard,” she snapped.

  I rubbed a hand over your face. “You know I hate that name. You also know you’re the only person in the world who can get away with calling me that,” I grumbled. “So, what has you all worked up this fine afternoon?” I tried to sound cheerful, but the meeting with Stan had really taken a lot out of me. I could use a nap or a vacation. Probably both.