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She would not merely be nodding in agreement, which was fine, but he didn’t have a sense of exactly how ticked off she was. He didn’t want to wait any longer to find out.
Luckily for his focus, the monitor showed Saoirse contentedly sitting on the floor, fitting yet another puzzle piece into its spot. She was about a quarter done. He’d need to get more puzzles, clever girl. Arthur shifted his attention back to his laptop screen just in time to see Nikki clasp her hands on top of her desk and lean forward. Well, shit. That meant he really had it coming.
“I’m appalled that you’re putting me and Vance and this firm in this situation and doing so to play nursemaid to your ex-stepdaughter who it sounds like would be better off in rehab. We all know you’ve got a hero complex, Arthur, which is mostly great. You work hard, you’re an upstanding citizen, you make the firm look good in the papers with all the donations and the fundraisers and the pro bono cases. But I have a big problem with you jumping ship on your caseload to take on something you’re not at all qualified for.”
Arthur’s head reeled as though Nikki had literally instead of just metaphorically slapped him.
“Nikki—”
“No, Vance. Don’t you dare try to placate me. This is shitty and I don’t see it ending well for anyone. Not this firm, not for you or me or Arthur, and definitely not for this girl. You could at least have the good grace to let us buy you out. We’ve got the cash on hand to do it and then you won’t tarnish our reputation when she wraps a car around a tree and kills herself and probably someone else in the process.”
Arthur heard Vance exhale, “Fuck, Nikki,” but it sounded far away. He hadn’t expected a ticker tape parade, but he hadn’t expected this level of vitriol either. And whether he liked it or not, there could be some truth to what Nikki was saying. It made him sick to his stomach.
Who was he to think he could help Saoirse through this? Maybe sheshouldbe in rehab. Or an outpatient substance abuse program. Maybe he was an idiot for thinking he could give her what she needed. After all, he knew as well as anyone kink wasn’t therapy. Though he was also well aware it could be decent at curtailing symptoms.
Until Saoirse was ready to talk about what was underlying all this—because he was certain there wassomething—he could at least keep her safe and comfortable and maybe even happy? He could heap love and attention on her and perhaps that would be enough. And if not, it should be easier to see that she needed more and he’d be able to persuade her to get professional help.
At least that’s what he told himself as his shields went up and he put on his stripping-down-a-combative-witness demeanor to snap back at Nikki who was still seething on his screen.
Adrenaline pumping, blood boiling, anger thumping at the base of his skull, Arthur let loose his own hostile torrent.
“You can pry my stake in this firm out of my cold, dead hands. I’ll be looking after Saoirse for the foreseeable future to ensure she doesn’t harm herself or others and if that means more serious interventions in the future, then it does. But speaking of not knowing jackshit, you’re not familiar enough with Saoirse or my relationship with her to determine what’s best for anyone, Nikki.”
“Whoa, whoa. You two need to back it up. I’m not sure why this got so hot so fast but you both need to calm down. There’s no way I’m letting our lives’ work go in the shitter over this. We’re going to take some time to hammer out the details, but no one’s going anywhere.”
Nikolina looked like she wanted Arthur to go to hell or at the very least take a long walk off a short pier but she kept her full mouth pinched shut, which he was grateful for.
Arthur gave a short nod. “Fine. I have to go—”
He caught himself from finishing his sentence of “I have to go check on Saoirse,” because no way was Nikki in any space to humor him for that.
“I’ll speak with you both later.”
He didn’t wait for their farewells but ended the connection with a tap of his keyboard. That had gone far worse than he’d expected but he really did need to look in on Saoirse and she wasn’t going to know how badly it had gone so he’d best get his shit together before he went to lavish affection on his little girl.
