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“What’s that, boss?”
Kelly leaned back in her chair, her expression deceptively innocent. “I think Alejandro here is one of those men who doesn’t want his woman to be more successful than he is.”
Chris pretended to be shocked. “You don’t say.”
Alejandro sat erect in his chair, his face a stiff mask of fury.
Veronica, who had been holding her cousin back, suddenly stepped around Teresa and slapped Alejandro upside the head. Very hard, by the way his neck snapped forward and then back. He swung around in his seat, and she pointed her finger at him, only an inch from his nose. “You almost made me lose my job, pendejo.”
Alejandro let loose with a rapid burst of Spanish, and by his expression and hand gestures, Kelly was pretty sure he was telling them all to fuck themselves.
Chris waited until Alejandro was finished before he spoke directly to Teresa. “The good news, Teresa, is that Kelly is more than happy to tear up your contract with Something Borrowed, officially and without penalty, as the evidence proves Something Borrowed was not at fault for the wedding being canceled. However, because some of the vendors had nonrefundable deposits, we cannot get those back for you.”
“That’s fine,” Teresa said, stabbing Alejandro with a dangerous glare. “When I take him to court, I’ll get my money back.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Chris laid a piece of paper in front of Alejandro.
Alejandro leaned forward, squinting at the paper. “What is this?”
“That is a contract. Basically, it states you are going to contact all of the media outlets you took money from and retract your statements about Something Borrowed. In exchange, Something Borrowed will not file a lawsuit against you for defamation, and we will not release these photos to the press.”
“What photos?” Alejandro asked.
Chris gave him a white envelope, and when Alejandro saw what was inside, he clutched them to his chest in horror.
Kelly was dying to know what they were of, but figured she would ask Chris later.
Chris examined his cuticles like a cop with a solid case just waiting on a confession. “I have copies, in case you were wondering if you could just destroy those. You have until tomorrow afternoon or my colleague will release the photos and you will spend years and all the money you’ve earned, in litigation.”
Alejandro took the pen Chris held out to him with a jerk and signed the paper with hard swipes. When he stood up, and started to leave, Chris called out to him.
“I have one more document for you, but it’s up to Teresa on whether or not she wants you to sign it.”
Alejandro paused in the doorway, but didn’t remain silent. “What does that mean, she has to decide if I sign it?
Chris pulled one more document from the envelope and held it out to Teresa. As Kelly watched Teresa read it over, a sad little smile spread across Teresa’s lips.
Then, she held out the document to Chris and nodded.
Chris stood up and handed it to Alejandro. “This is a document that will terminate your parental rights to Ms. Valdez’s unborn child. In exchange, she will not file a lawsuit for the breach in your confidentiality agreement.”
“What confidentiality agreement?”
“It was a subsection of your prenup. Apparently, Ms. Valdez’s agent didn’t trust you.” Chris smiled at Teresa. “Smart man.”
“Actually, woman.” Teresa sniffed. “She kept telling me that he was no good, but I didn’t see it.”
“That’s not your fault. You thought you had fallen in love with a decent human being. Just because he turned out to be slime has nothing to do with you.” Chris focused his attention on Alejandro, who was practically pulsating with rage. “In conclusion, you sign and you can walk away from this with a small shred of dignity and money, or fight, and lose everything.”
Alejandro took the contract and signed it against the back of the door. “I never wanted a kid anyway. I was content to just sleep with her until I could move onto bigger and better things. She was the one who didn’t know how to take her pill.”
Chris took the contract from him. “Classy. You really are a prize. Now, you are signing away your parental rights of your own free will?”
“Yes.”
“Good, you can go then.”
“One sec.” Kelly came around the desk and stood in front of Alejandro. “You almost destroyed my reputation and my business I’ve spent the last ten years building with your petty revenge. And for what? Because you were too stupid to realize you had something really good? Or that you were so greedy you couldn’t just love Teresa, you wanted to own her too?”
