Page 28 of Objection

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “I know you feel like you have to because we’re used to Daddy’s conditional love, but that’s not what we’re on here. There are so many genuine people here who love networking and giving back. Even if we weren’t in the position to help you, we’d know someone else who could. If you want to thank us or pay us back . . . thrive, boo.”

She nodded and fought her tears before giving me a hug. We talked a little longer before Kaos and I headed up to our floor. I thanked him for all he’d done for us though he promised me it wasn’t necessary. When I made it to my office and saw the bright red roses waiting for me, I gushed. His arms wrapped around me, and I was too in love with my man to even care about anyone seeing us.

“These are beautiful, baby. Thank you.”

“They are beautiful, but not as beautiful as you.”

Turning in his arms, I wrapped mine around him and gave him a quick, sweet kiss. “Your latte will be here soon. I’ll share your schedule for the day. There’s nothing pressing for this morning, but you do have that brief this afternoon to prepare for.”

“The Hamilton case?” I nodded my agreement. “When does that trial start?”

“On the fifteenth.”

“Good, that gives me a little time to try and get a deal done before litigation. I need this handled at the table. It’s not worth my time to go to trial.”

“Okay, I can schedule a meeting between you and the ADA and see if they’d be willing to offer a deal. She’s been super busy lately, though, so you might have to pull up on her at her office.”

“That works. Get Hamilton on for a call before he comes in for the briefing. I want to see if he’d be willing to plead no contest for the criminal case. He’s going to lose that civil case,and if we go to trial for this and lose, he’s going to have to pay more.”

“Alright, baby.”

As he walked toward his office, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Kaos had a high win rate, but he cared more about getting the best outcome for his clients. Sometimes a not guilty verdict just wasn’t possible, and I loved that he didn’t give them false hope. That’s why those who were both guilty and innocent wanted to be defended by Kaos Montgomery. They knew regardless of the outcome that he would fight for what was best for them. And now that things had taken a romantic turn between us, I realized that wasn’t just his character as a lawyer; that was his character as a man too.

Kaos

Ihardly ever took on research gigs. If a client asked me to look into something, I usually had a paralegal do it. This was too personal of a situation for just anyone’s eyes. Though I trusted my team, I didn’t put anything past anyone. If what Mayor Collins had me looking into was true, I didn’t want to risk anyone sharing the information with a blog site for a quick come up.

Mayor Collins was serving his second term as The Hill’s mayor. He was a sixty-four year old Black man who had a hunch that his grandson was actually his stepson. When he told me he believed his son had an affair with his third wife, a part of me wanted to tell him that couldn’t be possible. However, in my profession, I’d seen more impossible things than I wanted to remember. This wasn’t my usual area of expertise, but I agree to help as a personal favor. The only other person who knew what was going on was my private investigator.

If it turned out that his son and wife had an affair, I had no idea what Collins was going to do.

When the door opened, I didn’t bother to look up as I said, “What do you need, princess?”

“Princess? You’ve never called methatbefore.”

My head snapped up at the sound of my mother’s voice. With a wide smile, I stood and rounded my desk to hug her.

“Hey, old lady.”

“Ugh. I think I liked princess better,” she joked as we hugged.

“Wassup, Mama?”

“I can’t stop by and see my only son?” she asked before giving me a kiss on my cheek.

“Of course, but you and I know you only stop by the office when you’ve got something to gossip about or you want me to do something.”

She laughed as I helped her into her seat. “I won’t take offense to that.”

Serenity lightly knocked on the door and stuck her head in. “Hey, Mrs. Montgomery. It’s great to see you again.” Her eyes shifted to me. “I was just letting you know I’m back.”

She’d left the office to grab some files from the DA’s office, which explained how Mama had gotten into my office without me knowing she was here.

“Serenity, come on in here and give me a hug, girl,” Mama said, standing with her arms wide. Serenity shyly made her way inside and into my mother’s arms. “How have you been?”

Serenity’s eyes locked with mine when she said, “I’ve been great, Mrs. Montgomery,” and I took pride in knowing I had a hand in that.

“Great, great. You are absolutely glowing!”

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