Page 22 of Drowning in the Deep

With a deep breath, I tuned back into what Williams was saying. “Then, you’ll just type up the information and get it to me.” When he said “type,” he moved his fingers in the air as if to show me how one went about performing that action.

Fuck! He thought I was an idiot. My father must’ve told him I wasn’t so bright when he told him that he wanted me to handle this. My boss thought I was a fucking moron because my own father thought that’s what I was!

Well, I’d just have to let my work speak for itself. “Thank you, Mr. Williams. I’ll get started on this right away. I’ll make sure that the titles are all free and clear without any restrictions or encumbrances and then negotiate a fair settlement for my father’s corporation. We wouldn’t want another case likeFreeman v. Quicken, now would we?” I flashed him my most dazzling smile, getting up to gather all of the files so I could take them to my desk to review.

“You’re familiar withFreeman?” Mr. Williams asked, not moving as I continued to stack the files on top of one another. His voice betrayed that he was shocked to hear that I was aware of one of the most widely known cases of corporate title disclosure infringement in US history.

“Yes, sir. Of course, I am,” I told him. “I did graduate from law school, after all. I’m only waiting for things to settle down with my family before I take the Bar.”

“Of course,” he said, running a hand through his hair as he looked at me, slightly confused. I’d given him something to think about. Maybe I wasn’t quite as idiotic as my father had led him to believe.

Once I had the files gathered up, I thanked him again and headed back to my desk. By now, it was well past the time I usually went home, and almost everyone else in the office was gone. But I wanted to take a look at these files before I left for the night.

Sitting down at my desk, I stacked them up on one corner and pulled the first one off the top of the pile. Immediately, my eyebrows furrowed as I tried to make sense of what I was looking at. I had no idea where the property was, but it wasn’t just my father who was trying to acquire the building—Lillian’s name was on the paperwork as well.

I set that file aside and picked up the next one, quickly looking at the part of the form that said who was making the acquisition. Once again, it said Lillian Petrov La Rosa. Every single file in the stack was a joint venture between my father and Daemon’s mother.

Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I quickly called him without even thinking about whether it was a good idea. As I listened to the phone ring, I realized that he probably wasn’t going to answer at all.

Yet, he did. On the fourth ring, he said, “Yep?” which made me think he was in the middle of something.

“Hey, sorry to bother you,” I said in a rush. “I just wanted to tell you, I got those property files I was telling you about before, and not only is my father’s name on them as the potential buyer, but your mother’s name is on them, too.”

He was quiet for a second, either distracted or mulling it over, before he said, “Well, that’s suspicious as hell.”

“Right?” I agreed. “I know. I thought I should pass that information on to you as soon as possible.”

“Thanks.” He was clearly distracted, so I decided not to press the conversation for now. At least he was being civil.

“What are you doing anyway?” I asked, hearing some strange sounds in the background.

“Driving,” he replied.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry. It’s not safe to talk and drive at the same time.” Granted, I’d seen him do more dangerous things in a car than drive and talk at the same time, especially if he had his phone hooked up to the car.

“Fine. Talk to you later.” He hung up before I could even say goodbye.

I took a deep breath, wondering if I’d done the right thing in telling him like that. I was trying to win back his trust, but I didn’t need to be stupid about it.

I wasn’t the idiot my father thought I was—was I?

CHAPTER16

DAEMON

The second I hung up the phone call with Elisa, the razzing began. I should’ve known better than to answer the call from her while I had two of my brothers in the vehicle with me, along with Nico, but I’d done it without thinking, and now, I was going to pay the consequences.

“Well, who the fuck was that? Your girlfriend?” Vin asked from his position next to me in the passenger seat. “Shit, I didn’t know you were such a little bitch, bro.”

I growled at him, but I knew there was nothing I could say to make him shut up, so I decided to just let him have his fun.

“Yeah, Daemon. I knew you were fucking her, but I didn’t know she had you whipped,” Dezzy chimed in.

I looked at him in the rear-view mirror, glaring. “Don’t make me fucking shoot you.”

Nico had a grin on his face, but he didn’t say anything. All of us were dressed in black, headed down the dirt road in a long train of black SUVs ready to attack the farmhouse full of Savages. The others had their shotguns between their knees, barrels down, while mine was in the very back so I could concentrate on driving, though now I was so distracted by the remarks my brothers were making, I was beginning to lose contact with the vehicles in front of me.

“You’re just like Ma,” Vin said, still laughing despite my warning. “You’ve got La Rosa fever!”

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