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I was going to win this and to hell with Magda Riley. My chest felt tight, my stomach in knots, and Ihatedthat feeling. I knew what it was, and I didn’t like it one bit: heartbreak. Magda Riley had wormed her way into my heart, and I hated the idea of it.
Especially now that she’d betrayed me.
I kept pacing around my office, and eventually, I went out to the lobby to get coffee. The coffee in the lobby is the shittiest coffee that exists, but there’s just something about the burned taste that soothes me. I have my own ground coffee beans and French press, but when I’m stressed, I like the office mud coffee.
Mark Windham stood at the water cooler, and I rolled my eyes, brushing past him and hitting him hard with my shoulder. He made a noise in the back of his throat but didn’t say anything. Pussy.
As I poured the coffee, I heard him talking to another one of the junior associates. “I can’t wait to get her alone,” he said, and I froze, gritting my teeth.
He better not be talking about Magda.
As angry as I was with her, I hated the idea of her with Mark, especially since I just felt it in my bones that he was a snake in the grass. I knew that there was something off about him, even if I couldn’t convince her of that. Add that to the fact that I’m violently jealous that they went on a date, and I didn’t know what I would do if Mark kept talking.
Unfortunately, that was just what he did.
“She’s too easy,” he continued. ”She’s been playing hard to get but she smiles so big at me every time I see her. I know she can’t wait to get some of this.”
I took in a deep breath through my nostrils and out through my mouth, trying to count to ten. I was partner here, but I couldn’t exactly haul off and hit him as bad as I wanted to. Maybe he was talking about some other woman.
“Next time I talk Magda into going out with me, I’m going to take her to my place. She’ll be on my dick before—”
That was it.
Rage washed over me and my vision blurred out around the edges. I was sure my blood pressure was sky-high. I walked over to Mark and threw a left hook that caught him high on the cheekbone. His skin split and he started to bleed down his face, and he gasped out a breath. I punched him in the stomach before he could react and he lost his breath, doubling over.
“Roarke!” Richard came around the corner and made a beeline for me. “Take a walk.”
Mark was gasping for breath and all I wanted to do was hit him again.
I set my jaw, staring him down, and he didn’t even attempt to look at me. Richard grabbed my shoulder and I let him lead me outside onto the bridge to the parking garage.
“What the hell was that?” he asked, leaning against the brick of the building.
I sighed and rubbed a hand across the back of my neck. “I didn’t like the way he was talking about Magda. She’s your daughter, you should understand—”
Richard nodded. “I would have hit him myself if you hadn’t,” he admitted, and I blink, surprised.
“You’re not mad?”
“Not mad, just confused,” Richard said. “You jeopardized this firm for Magda Riley, who I always thought you couldn’t stand.”
“I just don’t like men disrespecting women,” I mumbled, not wanting Richard to know that I’d developed feelings for his daughter.
Richard stared at me for a moment before shrugging. “All right, fair enough. But you’ve got to get it together before the custody hearing.”
“I will, but Richard, there’s something off about Mark. Something bad.”
Richard looked at me. “Is this one of your hunches?” he asked dryly.
I knew what he meant. I often had a certain feeling about something, like a case, a client, or a coworker, and that was the feeling I had about Mark. Richard had learned to trust my instincts over the years.
I nodded.
Richard sighed. “All right, Roarke. I’ll look into it. You have my word.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly, my head spinning with everything that had just happened.
He walked back into the building, leaving me with my thoughts.
