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"She doesn't have sleep apnea. That was just due to her prematurity. She's totally healthy. You can sleep as well as any other new parent."
"I'll try," Kate said and she looked at Sophie with doubtful eyes. "I'm not looking forward to all the childhood illnesses she'll get."
"She won't get many at all because well make sure she gets all her vaccinations. Really, Kate. I'm trained in pediatrics. Sophie is healthy. She was only premature because of the accident not any underlying disorder."
I took her in my arms and kissed her, wanting to quell her fears. She had no reason to be concerned. I realized that it was her lingering PTSD that made her worry so much about Sophie. I hoped that as time passed, she'd grow less and less worried about Sophie and could enjoy her more without the constant fear of something bad happening.
We had breakfast together and I had to rush to get ready for my meeting with my lawyer to talk about the case. I had a quick shower and selected a grey suit and white shirt and then gathered my laptop and briefcase before giving Kate and Sophie a kiss goodbye.
"I'll meet you for lunch," I said when I got to the door. Kate followed me with Sophie in her arms. "We can go to that deli down the street if you want some smoked meat."
"That sounds good," Kate said and leaned in for a kiss. "I thought pasta for supper?"
I nodded. "Sounds good. Whatever you feel like."
I left them and took an Uber to rent a car for our month in Manhattan. After I was finished with the paperwork, I drove to the offices of Gary Wood, my lawyer, who was a partner in a prestigious criminal law firm in the upper east side. Although I had nothing to worry about regarding the trial, he was right that I had to be careful to phrase things so that people didn't get the wrong impression of me or what happened between Lisa and Derek and me. My demeanor had to be impeccable so that I wasn't seen as a crass exploiter of psychologically vulnerable, barely legal women.
She wasn't barely legal. She was a med student and had to be close to twenty-four at the minimum. I didn't see myself that way and had always demanded that my submissives were at least twenty-one or older. I didn't want someone who was virginal. I wanted a submissive who knew what she wanted but hadn't found someone with whom to explore it yet. So that had been one of my rules.
It would require a delicate hand dealing with questions about BDSM. Most people probably viewed it as perverted and oppressive to women. While it could be that way, it wasn't always that way and many men were the submissives in the relationship and the power dynamic flowed in the opposite direction to patriarchy. But I found over the years that people saw what they wanted to see. There was only so much you could do barring an epiphany to change their minds, especially on such a contentious issue as sexuality.
As I drove through the streets of Manhattan, I looked back over my years as a Dominant in the community. The first year I did some SM as part of my training, but it was always with who I assumed were consenting and willing adult women who signed NDA forms and waivers. They knew what they were signing up for because they were usually vetted by members with experience, to exclude those who might be underage or mentally ill. While the NDAs and waivers didn’t have any real weight in court, they demonstrated state of mind of the participants.
Unfortunately, not everyone who signed those NDAs and waivers were of sound mind, despite being vetted. Sunita was one such case. She was conflicted about her sexuality and desires. She felt torn between her religious upbringing and her need to be dominated to be able to enjoy sex fully. Many women felt that way.
I wished I could go back in time and not try Sunita out as a partner. I wished I could go back in time and not do several scenes with Lisa but there was no way to undo the past. I had to focus on the future.
My future was with Kate and Sophia, and hopefully, with Liam. That was what held my attention and towards which I would focus all my energies.
I parked on the street and made my way into the law offices after signing in at the front desk and getting a visitor pass. There was high security in the building and people couldn't just pop into the offices. These lawyers dealt with high profile clients and needed to maintain security and complete discretion.
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I checked in with the receptionist at the front desk of the law office and sat in the small lobby to wait for Gary Wood, my lawyer, to come and get me.
After about five minutes, he popped out of an office and came over to where I sat.
"Drake," he said and extended his hand. "Glad to finally meet you. Sorry to keep you waiting. I had a Skype meeting and I couldn't get the client to stop talking. Come on in."
We shook hands and he led me down the hall to his office in the corner of the floor. We were on the 23rd floor and had a great view of the East River and Roosevelt Island.
"Take a seat."
I sat on the chair across from his desk and waited while he flipped a file open and scanned the top paper inside briefly.
"So, I've been going over the police reports on the attack on your wife and the witness statements and those of the accused. Seems like she's maintaining that you encouraged her to kill your wife, so that the two of you could be together."
"Of course, that's false," I said, my hands folded. I took in a deep breath to calm myself. Whenever I heard that claim, I grew incensed and didn’t want to appear too upset. "I never saw her once between the time we had our last encounter and when she started as a resident at NYU."
"You two were never at a function together? Any parties that you might have both been at?"
"No," I said. "At least, at none that I was aware of her presence. I'd gone to a few costumed parties where people wore masks, but if she was in attendance, she never made herself known to me."
"You did say that Derek Richardson attempted to involve you in an ongoing relationship but that you refused?"
"Yes, that's the case. He said that Lisa enjoyed our experiences and wanted them to continue. At that point, I decided I wasn’t really interested in being involved in a voyeur scenario where the focus was on pleasing an external viewer who directed our actions. I met a new partner and was happy with her and so I turned him down. Derek and I remained friends because we were both at the head of businesses in the medical industry. We'd occasionally play racquetball or meet for a drink to discuss business. Nothing more happened with Lisa and me after that time. In fact, it was a total shock when she showed up at the NYU residence program for neurosurgery. I knew she was a medical student but had no idea she had chosen neurosurgery as a specialty."
We went over the steps I had taken to try to avoid her and all the claims Lisa had made about me and the lies she told, insisting that we had been together. I refuted them all.
