Page 2 of Daddy’s Accidental Little Fighter

"This woman came in demanding a job with the company, and I refused to give her the job because of how inexperienced and unqualified she is. She decided to go over my head and ended up loose in the office." Lance nodded as he turned to look at the young woman.

"Care to defend yourself?" he asked, and the woman nodded as she pulled out two pieces of paper from her satchel.

"All I did was come here looking for a job," she stated as she handed the papers to Lance, who looked intrigued. "As you'll see on my resume and letters of recommendation, I graduated high school a year early, immediately paid to get my real estate license, and, while I was studying to get my real estate license, I interned at Benedict and Lanberger Real Estate. When she saw the name, she claimed it didn't qualify as real experience and to come back as soon as I had what she considered to be real experience. When I asked her what she meant, she admitted to me during a recorded conversation that she had personal business against Skylar Benedict and that she refused to hire me because of it. After hearing her admit this, I knew that I needed to bring this to your attention, especially after seeing the Hiring sign outside. The rest everyone knows…" Lance folded his hands in front of his face and looked around, trying to determine what to do from this point. Seeing his conflicted expression, I looked over at the young woman.

"Do you mind playing back the recording so that we can hear it for ourselves?" I asked, and she nodded as she pulled out her phone. Vicky raised an eyebrow at her and shook her head.

"This is highly unprofessional," she protested, seeming to grow more nervous by the second. "She shouldn't be recording conversations without permission, not should she be playing with her phone during an interview." I smiled as I looked over at Vicky.

"Afraid we might hear something that will cost you your job?" I asked her, and she went silent for a moment. At that point, I looked back at the young woman, who played the conversation.

Immediately, Vicky went pale while Lance and I listened to the end part of the interview, where, just as the woman had described, Vicky had mentioned that she was refusing to hire the woman for personal reasons. The longer the conversation played, the paler Vicky got, and I knew that she knew she was going to lose her job. As soon as the recording finished playing, Lance looked from the young woman to me then at Vicky, looking perplexed by the situation. After a long, awkward silence, he shook his head.

"Vicky, clean out your office now," he instructed her. "You're fired." Vicky looked shocked and dismayed, almost as though she was going to faint. Rising to her feet, she shook her head.

"I'll be seeing you in court!" she shouted before storming out of the room, and I looked at Lance.

"Should I call security?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yes, please," he stated before looking back at the woman. As I turned to leave, I heard him tell her, "Now, let's talk about the job you are applying for."

CHAPTER THREE

Hannah

Justice will prevail… That's what my grandparents told me the day the drunk driver who killed my parents got let off with community service because his rich parents paid off the judge and jurors. It was on that day I took an interest in law, but, despite my impressive grades and extensive college resume, I was rejected from Harvard and Yale, so I resorted to plan B. My parents had both been real estate agents, so I could always honor their memory by following in their footsteps. After that day in the courtroom, I never thought the statement to be true.

That is until that day in the office…

As soon as we were alone, Lance smiled at me from my resume and letter of recommendation. He seemed like a kind man, but everyone knew that Lance Lanberger was a shark. He and his brothers had all gone to either Harvard or Yale and come to Chicago with seemingly one goal: to rule the city with an iron fist. Derek and Ashton were both the best lawyers in the city, and there was never a chance of winning against them in court. Lance, on the other hand, was the businessman who could waltz with the devil and walk away with the keys to hell itself. Anyone who went against him would likely get crushed, and I knew better than to push my luck. After all, in the business world, I was more of a minno, not a shark.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, and I forced a smile and nodded.

"Yes, sir," I told him, fighting to keep my composure. For all I knew, he was planning on ruining my chances of ever getting into real estate thanks to our chance encounter gone wrong. I cursed my luck as he continued.

"So, I must say that this is a rather impressive resume," he told me as he folded his hands before him on the desk. "How old are you?" I frowned a little as I looked at him.

"I'm eighteen, sir," I informed him. "I'll be nineteen in three months." He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled.

"Young and ambitious," he chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. "I love it." With that, he took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry to say it, but we're only hiring secretaries and assistance right now. We have a lot more real estate agents than we really know what to do with. However, I don't want you feeling discouraged just yet. You see, Ashton is our in office legal consultant, and we've been looking for someone to be his assistant for quite some time. Having the real estate know-how, I think you would be perfect for the position until an opening for real estate agents opens. If you took the job and worked with him for a while only to decide a change in career, say law, we would be more than happy to set you on the right track." My eyes widened as I stared at him in shock and disbelief, and he knew right away he had touched a nerve. "Who knows? We have connections in Harvard and Yale, should you decide to go. We even offer scholarships to further improve your value to the company." There was no point in beating the dead horse. I was already hooked.

"I would be proud to be Mr. Lanberger's assistant," I informed him, and he nodded.

"That's great," he said as he reached into his desk drawer and pulled a folder of papers. "Let's go ahead and review all these and get you hired on."

Within minutes, I had gotten everything filled out and signed, and Lance wanted me to start the same day in order to get used to Ashton's daily routine. Normally, I would have expected to start either the following morning or Monday, but, after seeing the mischievous look on Lance's face, I decided that it was smart not to look too deep into it. Before long, he led me to an office at the end of the hall, and I stopped when I saw the man who had been in Lance's office with us, finally able to get a good look at him.

He was a rather intimidating man in person, standing and sitting. From where I stood, he reminded me of a powerful CEO, not a lawyer with a cutthroat reputation. His suit was silky, but it looked like it was too tight around his muscular body. It was either that, or he was much too big for the suit he was wearing. Either way, he was scarier in person than I ever imagined. He looked up from the files he was reviewing and froze when he saw me.

“Lance?” he asked as he rose to his feet. “What’s going on?” Lance chuckled and motioned towards me.

“Ashton, meet your new assistant, Hannah Dennison,” he announced proudly, and both Ashton and I stared at each other in shock and disbelief.

This was getting to be too much. I knew he knew I had walked in on Lance and Bianca, and I knew he was never going to let me live it down. After staring at me silently for a long time, Ashton sighed and shook his head.

“I don’t need an assistant,” he protested, and I felt my heart sink in my chest. Lance raised an eyebrow at his brother in disbelief.

“That’s not what you told me just this morning,” he reminded him. “As I seem to recall, you were telling me to send you the best qualified candidate as soon as possible so that you were actually able to get your work done.” He motioned towards me. “This is the best we’ve come across all day.” Seeing that he had no room to argue, Ashton sighed and shook his head as he looked at me.