Chapter Twelve #2
Sylvie disguised a convulsive swallow. She normally refused to discuss her private life with a client but she owed Edwina some sort of explanation.
‘Jack and I are neighbours and friends. We’ve been on opposing sides of court cases before and no doubt will again.
Our…association will have no bearing on my handling of your divorce. I am a professional and so is Jack.’
‘I can’t believe you’ve betrayed me like this.’ Edwina was in full victim mode. ‘I thought you were the one person I could trust.’
‘You can trust me, Edwina,’ Sylvie said. ‘I will continue to do everything in my power to represent you and fight for you. You have my word.’
Edwina swiped at her eyes where tears had formed. ‘I was so worried about Mimi last night…’
‘Please…’ Sylvie came around from her desk and patted one of the client’s chairs. ‘Sit down and tell me what happened.’
Edwina obediently sat, and Sylvie plucked a couple of tissues from the box on her desk and handed them to her. She then perched on the corner of her desk rather than go back behind it to her own chair.
‘What happened?’
‘Hugo called and insisted on talking to both the kids. Mimi reluctantly spoke to him but apparently, he emotionally blackmailed her and then a couple of hours later, I found her in the bathroom with both wrists…’ Edwina gulped as if recalling that terrifying scene was retraumatising her as it would have anyone.
‘I’m not a nurse or a doctor or anything but I knew she needed stitches.
I did what I could with a towel to stop the bleeding and took her in a taxi to the hospital.
I was in the hospital café getting a drink for her when I saw you get out of Jack Wilde’s car. ’
‘I’m so sorry you’ve had such an upsetting experience with Mimi. You must still be in shock. Is she okay? Has she had a mental health assessment?’
‘Yes, the psychiatrist on duty assessed her and recommended she have some sessions with a psychologist but how am I going to afford it? Hugo refuses to pay for it. He doesn’t believe in talk therapy. He just expects her to pull herself together.’
‘A lot of people don’t understand the benefit of therapy,’ Sylvie said. ‘Finding the right one is an issue, of course, but I’m sure one who specialises in adolescents will help Mimi through this difficult time. Right now, you’re her best support and you’re doing the best you can.’
Edwina was visibly less agitated by now and had stopped crying.
She bundled the tissues into a ball and pushed them up the sleeve of her cardigan.
‘Thank you. I’m sorry for barging in like this but I can’t let Hugo destroy the children, especially Mimi.
He can’t see what he’s doing to them. He refuses to see it.
He thinks it’s my fault they lack resilience but he’s always tearing down their confidence. ’
‘Some people parent the way they were parented, and it can have devastating results,’ Sylvie said. ‘At least the children have you.’
A look of panic entered Edwina’s gaze. ‘But what if Hugo wins custody?’
Sylvie straightened her shoulders with steely determination. ‘He’s not going to win. I’ll make sure of it.’
Sylvie was agitated for the rest of the day.
It was near impossible to concentrate on her work because all she could think about was how her involvement with Jack may have compromised Edwina Winters’s divorce case.
She couldn’t get over the shame of allowing herself to be tempted into his bed when he was the lawyer of her client’s estranged husband.
She should have known better. She was furious with her own weakness, at allowing herself to fall into Jack’s bed when she had known all along the dangerous line she was walking.
She was supposed to be focused on her work.
On her client in a difficult divorce that involved traumatised children.
The Winterses’ children were at risk, especially Mimi.
Mimi’s cutting was a cry for help and if there was another episode it may be even more serious than the last one.
Finally, the long and arduous and emotionally draining day was over and she caught a ride-share so she could get home to speak to Jack in person. She dumped her briefcase and bag inside her front door, then locked it and went straight to Jack’s house.
He answered the door just as she was reaching for the doorbell. ‘Hey, I was just about to come over to see you. How did the delivery go?’ His smile was wide and dangerously attractive.
Sylvie looked at him blankly for a moment. Her mind was so fixated on what she had to say to him, she couldn’t for the life of her understand what he was referring to.
‘The baby?’ he prompted.
‘Fine,’ she said with a curt edge to her voice. ‘I’m not here to talk about that. I need to talk to you.’
‘Come in.’ He waved her in and she stalked past him with her head held high, desperately trying not to notice the alluring scent of his aftershave, or the way his rich dark stubble gave his mouth and jawline such sexy appeal.
Damn the man for being so handsome and irresistible.
He had caused her to compromise her standards and she had to stop imagining herself in love with him and tell him what she really thought of him.
Sylvie went as far as the sitting room, knowing she wouldn’t be staying long. She folded her arms across her body and met his gaze. ‘Edwina Winters saw us last night.’
Jack frowned. ‘Saw us where?’
‘When you dropped me off at the hospital. She was there with Mimi who had cut herself again.’
‘Is Mimi okay?’
Sylvie was impressed he at least showed concern about the teenager first but it still didn’t redeem him in her eyes.
‘She had to have stitches but she’s okay or at least until the next time.
Your client is destroying his kids and he refuses to see it.
He emotionally blackmails them and Mimi can’t handle it. ’
Jack’s frown deepened. ‘Look, personally I don’t like the guy but—’
‘I’m not interested in your opinion of him. What I want to know is did you sleep with me to compromise my case?’
Jack’s expression locked down but she caught a glimpse of something that looked like hurt flicker through his gaze before his eyes turned to ice. ‘Seriously? You think I would sink that low?’
Sylvie hitched up her chin, her righteous indignation in full lava flow.
‘I can’t help feeling you viewed me as a challenge to win over.
You knew I didn’t like you, so you made me fall…
into bed with you.’ She only just caught herself in time before letting slip she had fallen in love with him.
‘I should never have allowed it to happen but—’
‘Good to know you’re accepting some responsibility for it.’ His tone was sardonic, his expression as cold and hard as marble.
‘How long were you going to let it continue?’ Sylvie asked. ‘Until we got all the way to court? Was this all a game to you? You thought it amusing to not only battle it out in court but to bed me in private?’
His jaw was like stone and a hard glint came into his eyes. ‘Clearly nothing I say will stop you believing the worst of me but I genuinely wanted you.’
‘So, you got me like you always get what you damn well want.’ Sylvie was furious for allowing herself to fall into his arms just like every other woman who had come before her.
And no doubt like everyone who would come after her.
She was just a number on his long list of casual lovers.
How could she have not seen it coming? Why had she caved in to his charms when she should have known better?
‘I don’t always get what I want,’ Jack said, his posture still rigid like he was wearing an invisible suit of armour. ‘Why is this such a big deal for you? It was just sex, remember? That’s what you kept insisting it was and only ever could be.’
It was not comfortable being hoisted with one’s own petard but now Sylvie was feeling the full spectrum of discomfort at having her own words thrown back at her.
She had insisted their fling was a no-feelings, no-strings one.
She had thought she could be a female version of Jack, having fun without feelings, but there was a price to pay and she was paying it now.
‘Whatever it was, Jack, it’s over now,’ Sylvie said with an iron thread of determination in her voice.
‘It was fun while it lasted but it’s over. ’