Page 18 of Resisting the Lawyer (Dirty Hot Resistance 3)

They glance up at me and Jace stills. “Mr. Black.”

Ruefully, I wonder when he will come to relax around me. It seems he doesn’t quite trust me or maybe he suspects what I’m hiding under my pleasant veneer.

I smile at him and feel amused when he stiffens in response. Then, I turn to his sister, who’s giving me an expectant look. My lips purse as I get to the heart of the matter, not bothered by Jace’s presence, “Is Elise having problems with anybody here in the office?”

Kendall frowns. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t interact with anyone aside from the Heads.” Her tone is dry. “Caleb keeps me pretty busy. Why, did Elise say something?”

There’s a concern in her voice and it makes me feel warm knowing that my woman has friends watching out for her. However, I also feel frustrated. I was counting on Kendall to know something.

That’s when Jace speaks up, “I’ve been hearing things.”

My gaze comes to rest on his carefully blank face and I hide the tension in my form and ask, easily, “Yeah? Like what?”

Jace hesitates as if he doesn’t know how to phrase it and I wonder how upset his sister would be if I were to punch him to make him hurry up.

Finally, he speaks up, his words slow and carefully chosen, “Elise doesn’t have a fan base in the female staff.”

I relax my body deliberately and my tone is casual, “How come?”

Jace is a perceptive man because the lighter my tone gets, the more his shoulders stiffen up, almost as if he’s scenting the danger in the air. However, he’s also a smart man with a backbone of steel. He’s had to have one in order to deal with all the shit he’s been through since he joined this company from before Caleb took over this place and turned it around. “I don’t know specific details if that?

?s what you’re after. I stay away from women. They’re a pain in the ass to deal with.” He ignores the scowl Kendall sends his way and continues, “But I’ve heard bits and pieces here and there. Something about this guy that she dated.” I can see the uncomfortable look in his eyes as he says, “There’s been a lot of resentment about her bringing her baby to work. Some talk about her trying to use the child to get to the child’s father.”

“The man works here.” My words are a statement, a confirmation to what I had already suspected. This time, I let some of the menace seep into my voice, “Who is he?”

Kendall shoots me a sharp look.

I see wariness shift into her eyes but I pay it no mind, my eyes pinning Jace to the spot.

“As I said, I don’t pay too much attention to what the women are babbling about. I don’t think he’s in a high level position because most of the women seem to know him personally or they’re on good terms with him and if a senior employee got too friendly with the women, it wouldn’t be a very well kept secret. It’s probably someone in a lesser position who’s more approachable. Either way, they feel that Elise getting pregnant was a way to trap him. And, then there’s you.”

My smile grows predatory and I’m no longer even trying to keep up my friendly persona. “Yes? What about me?”

Kendall is watching me in a way that I know Caleb’s going to be hearing about this later.

“Well…” Jace doesn’t lower his gaze, a directness remains in his clear hazel eyes that I admire. “There are some people saying that she’s also set her eyes on you, that she’s using her baby to get your sympathy and plans to foist the kid off on you.”

“Does she now?” I ask, my amused tone ringing false even to my ears.

That’s when Kendall narrows her eyes and studies me. “You know that’s not true, right? Elise wouldn’t—”

“I know,” I say quietly, meeting her gaze.

Elise doesn’t have a manipulative bone in her body.

I straighten up and bury Jace under an assessing look, before drawling, “For someone who’s doesn’t pay much attention to gossip, you sure are up to date with it.”

The Finance Consultant looks aggrieved. “Not my fault when they don’t stop yapping about it.”

“Indeed,” I murmur. Even as I say this, a white scalding rage settles in my gut and I want nothing more than to go downstairs and wring the name of the man involved from Elise. Then proceed to beat the man within an inch of his life, because not for a moment, do I believe that this man is blameless in the spreading of these rumors.

The fact that Elise has never let his name slip within the entirety of her pregnancy and how she’s always acted as if he simply doesn’t exist, tells me more about this man than words ever could.

Is bringing Sophie to work every day even easy for her?

I know she doesn’t have a choice for the first two weeks since her babysitter is down with a cold. But how long can she continue with it? Has the man approached her, knowing that it’s his daughter? Is he turning the women against her out of spite? Will the existence of his child make him curious?

As different scenarios pop into my mind, I realize this unknown man is a threat to me either way. He needs to be completely removed from the picture because either his poisonous tongue will harm Elise and Sophie or he might aim for her affections and both scenarios are absolutely unacceptable to me.

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