Dice (Blackwings MC: Croftridge #3)

Chapter 7 – Daphne

7

DAPHNE

A ndi and Jan were waiting for me when I arrived at the office on Monday morning. They both gasped when they saw me.

“It looks worse than it is,” I said. I’d done my best to cover up the bruises on my face, but they were still visible.

“Are you sure you’re up to working today?” Andi asked. “You can take more time off if you need to.”

“I think I’ll be okay. I have a pretty light load this week.”

“Let me know if you change your mind, and please take it easy.”

“I will,” I promised and headed to my office.

After catching up on emails and returning a few phone calls, I decided to give the club’s lawyer a call. To my surprise, she was in her office and available to take my call.

“Um, hi, my name is Daphne Clark,” I said, stumbling over my words. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting to actually talk to you. I thought I’d be leaving a message.”

Tina laughed. “You caught me at a good time,” she said. “Phoenix told me I might get a call from you. Tell me what’s going on.”

I quickly explained my situation to her.

“I see. May I ask who your current lawyer is?”

“Ernie McGee.”

“And how did you come to be his client?”

“I picked him because he had the cheapest rates,” I admitted. “The divorce was supposed to be simple, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money if I didn’t have to. Plus, he cheated, and I was pissed about having to pay for the divorce in the first place.”

“I can completely understand that,” she said. “Regarding your case, you can absolutely move forward with divorce proceedings even though your spouse has been reported missing. We can file a motion with the court requesting service by publication. That means we’ll publish the notice in the newspaper for four consecutive weeks. If he doesn’t respond to the notice during the allotted timeframe, we can move forward and request a court date.”

“What about proving I tried to find him? Will I still need to hire a PI?” I asked.

“No. You are not required to hire a private investigator to prove you tried to locate him. We can use phone records and certified letters. In your case, we can also use the missing person report.”

“Really?” I asked hopefully. “It’s that simple?”

“It is,” she confirmed.

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but how much do you charge for something like this?”

“If you decide to hire me, I’ll be compensated for my services by a third party,” she said.

“I bet that third party has a penis,” I muttered.

Tina laughed. “Yes, they do.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I frequently work with bikers. Trust me, I’ve heard much worse.”

“Well, I definitely want to hire you. Do I need to do anything to discontinue service with the other lawyer?”

“I can send a letter on your behalf,” she said.

“Perfect. Let’s do that.”

“Great. Let me just make sure I have your contact information, and I think we’re all set.”

“Thank you so much,” I said after providing the information she needed.

“You’re quite welcome. I’ll be in touch.”

Leaning back in my chair, I exhaled in relief. She made it sound so easy. Which made me wonder, why did my other lawyer make it seem so difficult?

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. “You have a visitor out front,” Jan said.

I got up and followed her back to the reception area, wondering who it could be.

Irene was standing there with a large cardboard box in her hands and a smile on her face. “I brought lunch for you and your coworkers,” she said.

“Oh, Irene, you didn’t have to do that. But thank you,” I said and moved to take the box from her.

“No, ma’am,” she said and stepped back. “You’re still healing.”

“I’ll take it,” Jan said as Andi stepped out of her office.

“What’s going on?” Andi asked.

“This is Irene Dawson. She brought lunch for the office,” I said.

Andi shook Irene’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. And thank you. I’ve heard great things about your food.”

“Thanks,” Irene said. “I’m not going to lie. Part of the reason I came by was to check on Daphne, and I wanted to make sure you knew how wonderful she is to work with.”

“I do,” Andi smiled. “But it’s always nice to hear from satisfied clients. I did try to get her to stay home today, but she insisted upon coming to the office.”

Irene tsked. “I should’ve known you’d be hardheaded, considering who your father is.”

“I’m okay,” I assured her. “I promised Andi I would go home if I needed to.”

“Good,” she said. “Well, I better get back to the diner. You guys enjoy your lunch.”

“Thanks again,” I said.

“Let’s see what she brought,” Jan said. “It smells delicious.”

“How was your day?” Dice asked when he picked me up from work.

“Good, but I’m definitely ready to go home. I hope you weren’t expecting amazing company, because I’m probably going to go to bed after dinner.”

“I’m here to make sure you’re safe. You do not have to entertain me,” he said.

“I know, but it feels rude.”

“It’s not. You’re still healing, and you need to rest.”

“On that note, do you mind if we order a pizza or something for dinner? I really don’t feel like making anything.”

“I’m good with pizza. I’ll order one when we get back to your house. What kind do you like?”

“Cheese is fine with me.”

When we got back to my house, Dice took Diablo outside while I stared at the stairs and wondered if it was worth going upstairs to change clothes before dinner. I was still standing there when they came back inside.

“Daphne?” Dice asked. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m just trying to find the energy to go up and change.”

“Go upstairs,” he said gently. “I’ll bring the pizza upstairs when it gets here.”

And that’s how we spent the rest of the evening—eating pizza in my bed and talking until I fell asleep at an embarrassingly early time.

Thankfully, the rest of the week was uneventful. When I wasn’t in the office working, I was showing Phoenix houses available for potential rental properties. It was a nice change of pace, but I was looking forward to the weekend. Byte and Gabby invited me and Dice over for dinner on Friday night. After that, I planned to do absolutely nothing for the next two days.