Page 29 of Only Fate

“Cardi B’s ‘WAP’?”

“I don’t even know what that is, but no. ‘Simple Twist of Fate.’”

I shut my eyes, feeling my heart thump. “We have to keep this professional, Adrian. We’ll never go back to how we were in the past.Never.”

His face turns slack. “Essie, please give me a chance to explain myself.”

I take a step back, his hand falling from my face. “No. And no more dinners, flowers, or forced encounters.Please.”I hate that my tone turns almost begging, but I also hate that I’m about to lie to him even more. “I’ve moved on.”

Adrian lowers his voice. “But what if I haven’t?”

I gulp and glance away, positive if we make eye contact, I’ll break. “You’re eight years too late to tell me that.”

12

“Listen, you need to keep your cool,” I lecture Rhett over the phone.

Never have I not wanted to work with a client before. I woke up this morning contemplating advising him to seek counsel elsewhere. We worked with some serious assholes at Adaway and Williams, but Rhett doesn’t listen to any advice.

Unfortunately, he’s the only tie I have to Essie right now.

The only excuse I have to see her.

So, I’ll have to suffer through his bullshit.

Terrance also passed the case down to me. It’d look pretty damn bad if I ran away from the first client he’d handed over to me at his firm.

“You ever been married, Adrian?” Rhett asks.

I reach into a drawer and grab my phone charger. “No.”

“Don’t. Now, you need to deem Brielle an unfit mother.”

I shove the charger into my computer and my phone into the other end. “You can’t deem someone unfit because you don’t like them.”

“She takes antidepressants. Can’t we use that against her?”

“Does she have an addiction problem? Has she ever been rehabilitated?”

“Well … no … but can’t antidepressants make you unfit?”

“No, they can’t.” I hold in the urge to addjackassto the end of my sentence. “Meth? Yes. Abuse? Absolutely. Antidepressants? Negative.”

And fuck this dude for shaming a woman for how she coped with him putting her through hell.

“I talked to a friend,” he says, almost rambling now. “He said he did that with his ex-wife. Surely, there’s a way for you to twist the truth.”

“That won’t work with Brielle.”

“Don’t forget who’s paying the bill here. I have a lot of pull in this town. If you’re good to me, I’ll send you more business.”

I grit my teeth, and my jaw aches. “You need to remember I have a successful career with or without you, Rhett. Choose your words wisely or look for representation elsewhere.”

He goes quiet for a moment. “I want you present during the home tour and ateveryinteraction I have with Brielle. You’ll see what I’m talking about when I say she shouldn’t have custody of my children.”

“Are you fighting for custody? I wasn’t aware of this.”

“I know I don’t want to pay her a penny of child support.”

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