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Today may be a good day at work, after all.
I jinxed it. I don’t know how, but I played myself dismally. The workload that I had to manage today had been insane. The research I had to do on Charlotte Davenport had been ridiculous. I was not the kind of girl who followed pop culture closely, but after researching this case, I was an expert.
I had been tasked with looking into this woman suing Ashton for all he was worth. She was one of those high-class models who grew up with nothing and used her beauty to break into modeling. To say she was controversial would be an understatement. The woman had been with multiple high society men and had been engaged to an Arab prince, but the family disapproved of their union, and she had to leave him.
The drama was mountain-high, and I was so invested in all of it. I was still not fully
comfortable working on that case, seeing as we were defending the man who likely was
screwing her out of money. But it was not my choice whom the firm represented, and seeing
as I was here only to play a secondary supporting role, I had to keep my opinions to myself.
I grabbed what I had and headed down to the conference room where the meeting was to take
place. Daniel was already there.
“It’s Sammy’s birthday, and Claire wants us back in Braven for the weekend. They are having his second birthday, I’m sure she told you.” His eyes were glued to the file in his hands as he flipped through the pages.
“She did.”
“Good, I will drive us down. No need for us to take two cars. We leave at 6:00 AM sharp, and I don’t want any excuses on why you are late.”
This was not a question. This was not up for debate; it was a simple order I needed to follow, and quite frankly, I was in no mood to go back and forth with him.
“Okay,” I agreed and sat down next to him.
He said nothing in return.
The seconds ticked by into minutes, and the silent room grew even quieter. This was my first time alone with him since our little dinner. Navigating this new dynamic with him had been interesting.
“I thought you said you would meet him in New York.” I looked at Daniel, who still buried his head in a file. We were still waiting for Ashton to make his appearance.
“Ashton needed to attend to some business in Chicago. This is the best time for us to meet.”
“Okay,” I breathed heavily, blowing away the hairs that had found their way to my forehead.
The door opened, and in walked a rather tall-looking man with short stubble that graced his jaw. His bright blue eyes were the first thing you noticed about him, and his dark brown hair looked blacker than anything in this light. When I had googled him, it said that he was tall, but the man towered over me and even had quite a few inches over Daniel, who stood at an impressive 6’2”.
Ashton LeVrous, half Canadian and half Spanish, was tennis’ next big thing. He had already won Wimbledon three times and the US Open two times. He was set to add to those records this year, but the scandal halted all of it.
Daniel stood from his seat, causing me to do the same.
“It’s good to see you, Ash.” Daniel pulled him into one of those “man hugs” and patted his shoulder. “This is Selena,” he gestured toward me. “She will be helping us on the case. I have her doing as much digging as we can.”
Ashton’s tired eyes looked at me, and he gave me a weak smile. The man looked like he had just returned from war. Dark circles marred his perfect skin, and his cheeks were slightly more sunken than I had seen in the photos.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I could hear the slight British twinge in his accent. I guess that was what happened when you spent the majority of your upbringing in England. “Shall we start?”
We all sat down around the large table and settled in. My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to Ashton. His presence demanded your attention, but unlike Daniel’s, whose presence screamed for your attention, Ashton’s was more of a gentle whisper. An air of awe and wonder surrounded him like a mythical creature.
He leaned back in his chair and ran a tired hand through his dark locks. “Tell me you have some good news for me, Daniel. I need this whole circus to be over.”
Looking at him now, standing only a few feet away from me, he didn’t look like the kind of man who would want to screw over a woman. But that was the same thing I had said about Marcus, and look how that turned out for me.
“I think we are in a good position to win this case. All she has is her word, but I have asked the judge that we have a look at her phone records and financial statements. Selena found that Charlotte, your wife, has had some issues with finances within the last two years. She has maxed out three credit cards and has to sell most of her designer closet to repay her debts. We can use that in the court. The judge will then see that she is simply trying to extort you.”
“And what about a countersuit for defamation of character? I have lost millions in sponsorship and endorsements.”
