AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Now, though, I knew she wasn’t thinking about them. She was promising me things with her eyes that I’d collect on later—this time tomorrow in fact.
* * *
As it turned out, I wasn’t able to see Lily come into the office bright and early. My lawyer, Jones, asked if I could meet earlier, and then he confirmed what I’d suspected. Kim’s counsel was reaching out, probing for more money. First, she’d claimed that she’d paid expenses for Halley’s education that I needed to reimburse her for half of. Everything she brought up was bullshit. I’d paid 100% of tuition, room, board, and books. I’d paid for the summer immersion trips. I’d even covered the sorority fees even though I didn’t get why the hell she wanted to join one. Kim must have known that wouldn’t work, because she also offered up a cleverly worded NDA. If I paid her enough, she’d never say another word about me. Not to the press, not to gossip bloggers, not even to her cat.
“I think that’s blackmail,” I said to Jones.
He shrugged as if that was just semantics. “She thinks she could get a book deal.”
I snorted in disbelief. “You’ve got to be fucking with me. I’m the head of a talent agency, not George Clooney.”
“You’d be surprised,” Jones said seriously. “She can create a good angle. Claim to have been in the inner circle throughout the Me Too movement. Juxtapose that with her experience co-parenting a child with you, a powerful man. How your stature affected the dynamic, how inequitable the court system can be—”
“You mean how it favors mothers?” I demanded. Twenty years ago, I’d been through hell and back trying to get full custody of Halley. It didn’t matter how much dumb shit Kim did. How many times she drove under the influence or disturbed the peace. The court kept trying to give my daughter back to her. Halley had been seven before I was finally awarded full physical and legal custody and Kim was reduced to supervised visits.
“I mean how it favors money,” Jones said, unruffled. “Now I’m not saying that was the case, but it could play well in a book. People are just going to see that your dad owned the agency–”
“He owned a small agency with seven clients and turned a profit that barely covered the overhead,” I corrected.
“Doesn’t matter what it was. It was called The Walker Agency, same as it is now. If Kim wants to, she’s going to make you look like an asshole who was handed everything and used his daddy’s money to take custody away from a loving mother.” Jones spread his hands out in apology. “I’m not telling you what to do. I’m just telling you what I think she can make it look like.”
It pissed me off to know Jones was right. “What would you do?” I asked grudgingly.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Come on, Jones. Not as my lawyer, just as a friend. Would you pay her?”
Jones paused, then nodded. “Yeah, I would.”
On my way to pick up Halley, I called Garrett to talk about it. He agreed with Jones. “You can do damage control, but you know what I always say about damage control.”
“It’s an oxymoron. Once you’ve taken damage, you’ve lost control.” I rubbed my eyes and glared at all the red brake lights in front of me. “The only real damage control is to avoid the hit all together.”
“That’s right,” Garrett said. “Glad someone listens to me.”
“So you think I should pay her too?”
I couldn’t see him over the phone, but I could practically hear his careless shrug in his tone of voice. “I don’t know. I honestly can’t see it making much of a dent in your career. It’s not ugly enough.”
“It would be ugly for Halley though.” Frustrated, I thumped my fist on the driver’s side window. The passenger in the car next to me looked over. “You think that has any chance of stopping Kim?”
“Halley’s feelings?” Garrett sounded droll. “No. I don’t.”
“Yeah, me either,” I sighed. “I’ll pay.”
“Look at the bright side,” Garrett said. “At least she doesn’t have the PI tailing you anymore.”
“Some bright side,” I said, and hung up. The real bright side would be when Halley was safely at LAX and I could get back to Lily.
