Chapter 5
5
Gage
Blair Whitney’s office is exactly what you’d expect from Manhattan’s most ruthless family lawyer. Sharp edges, sleek lines, and not a hint of softness in sight.
Just like the woman herself.
I find her behind her desk at seven a.m. on Wednesday morning. The air around her hums with a don’t-waste-my-time warning that most would take heed of.
She doesn’t look up from whatever document has her attention. “Unless someone’s dead or dying, I don’t take unscheduled meetings.”
“I’m neither, but you’ll take this meeting.” I settle into one of her visitor chairs without waiting for an invitation.
Now she does look up, one perfectly shaped eyebrow arching. “Gage Black. To what do I owe this unwelcome interruption?”
“I need a lawyer.”
“You have a lawyer. We’ve discussed him many times.”
“I need a family lawyer.”
I’ve got her full attention now and a smug expression settles across her face as she leans back against her leather chair. “I see you’re finally ready to listen to me.”
I don’t know what it is about Blair, but she never fails to rub me the wrong way. We’re not even five minutes into this conversation and I’m ready to leave. However, I push past that and remind myself why I’m here. Luna.
“You told me months ago that when I was ready, you’d help me.”
“Did I?” She taps a nail against her desk. “That doesn’t sound like me.”
“Quit the bullshit, Blair.”
Keeping her eyes firmly on mine, she sets her pen down with deliberate precision. “No.”
Her response is unexpected. “Excuse me?”
“No,” she repeats, like I might have trouble with the word. “I won’t take your case.”
“Why not?”
She studies me for a long moment, then says something that catches me completely off guard. “Because I refuse to help you turn Luna’s mother into a ghost.”
“That’s not what I want, and you know it. I’ve told you enough times that I don’t want to alienate Shayla.”
“Right, but here we are after a long time of you putting up with her shit. You’ve reached the end of your patience.” She leans forward. “You’re finally ready to play hardball and we all know what that means in Gage Black’s world.”
“You have no idea of what I want.”
“No?” Her gaze pins me in place. “Let me guess. You want full custody. You want to control all the decisions. You want?—”
“I want stability for my daughter.”
“And you think the best way to achieve that is by hiring the lawyer known for scorched earth custody battles?”
I lean back, studying her, trying to figure out what’s going on here. “For a woman who’s been telling me for a long fucking time to find a new lawyer, you’ve changed your tune a hell of a lot. What’s changed?”
She’s quiet for so long I think she won’t answer. Then she says, “My father controlled my mother.”
Her admission strikes me silent.
“He controlled everything. Everyone. A master manipulator. When my mother finally left him, he used every legal means possible to cut her out of my life.” Her smile is bitter. “He succeeded.”
“Blair—”
“I was twelve when I last saw my mother.” She pauses, her gaze piercing me in a way that says she wants me to pay close attention to what she’s saying. “Do you know what that does to a child? To watch one parent systematically destroy the other?”
“That’s not what this is.”
“No?” Her tone is hard. “You came to me because I’m ruthless. Because I fight dirty. Because I win.” She shakes her head dismissively. “Find another lawyer. I’m good at what I do, but what I don’t do is cut children off from a parent.”
My jaw clenches. “Are you finished? Do I get to speak now?”
“I’m finished, but there’s no point in you responding.” She leans toward me. “I know who you are, Gage. You’re a ruthless guy who always gets what he wants. I’m not going to be your lapdog making that happen.”
“Fuck, Blair.” I stab my fingers through my hair, pissed off and frustrated that she’s refusing to listen to me. Desperate in a way I never am to make someone hear me out. “You might think you know me, but I assure you that you don’t. I have never wanted to destroy Shayla. I grew up in a home with a mother who was emotionally absent. I saw what that did to my family and I never want my child to experience being cut off from her mother in any way.” I pause, trying to rein in my tendency to use cold, direct language when negotiating. “And now, knowing your history, I want you more than I did when I walked in here.”
Her eyes spark with curiosity. “Why?”
“You’ll keep me in check if I do push too far. And I now know that you won’t completely alienate Shayla, which was always my concern with hiring you.”
I watch her brain work and admit that while I’ve usually dismissed this woman because of the agitation between us, I’m now intrigued.
Finally, she says, “I’ll think about it and let you know today.”
“Within the hour.”
I receive another arched brow. “I don’t play well with that style of command, so you may want to rethink your desire to hire me.”
I stand, buttoning my suit jacket. “I want to hire you. At any cost. We’ll figure out how we work best along the way.”
At that, she rolls her eyes. “Seriously, I have no idea why Liv finds you endearing.” Her best friend, my sister-in-law, and the reason I’ve had to endure Blair in my life.
I ignore that. “I’ll loop Hayden in. He’ll keep both of us in check.”
“First of all, I haven’t said yes yet. And second, I know for a fact that Hayden won’t touch family law.”
Interesting. She seems quite confident about what my brother will and won’t do.
“He will for me,” I counter.
She turns silent, and I see her brain working again. A few moments later, she nods, decisive. “Okay, yes. Have your lawyer send me everything I need to get started and make an appointment. Make sure Hayden is with you at that appointment.” Then, gesturing at her office door, she says, “Now get out of my office. I have work to go over that you interrupted.”
I’m almost to the door when she calls after me. “Gage?”
I turn.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
The coffee shop Amelia chose is exactly what I’d expect from her. Understated but elegant and tucked away from the noise of the city. She’s already there when I arrive, laptop open, wearing jeans and an oversized white blouse. Her hair is pulled back in a neat twist that emphasizes the graceful line of her neck.
I head to her table and when she looks up and spots me, I nod toward the counter. “Coffee?”
With a shake of her head, she says, “I’ve already ordered. Thanks.”
I get the distinct impression that even if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have accepted a coffee from me.
After I place my order, I take the seat across from her, pulling out my phone to find the email Mrs. Liu sent us last night. I’m interrupted by a text from my assistant.
Lucy:
Just a heads up. Max is PISSED that you canceled on him this morning. Prepare for an incoming call from him.
Me:
I won’t be taking calls for the next hour or so.
Lucy:
Why must you make my job harder than it already is? Seriously, Gage, this meeting has been planned for A MONTH. I hope that whatever you canceled it for is worth it.
I glance over at Amelia, trying to convince myself that I pushed my meeting with Max for Luna rather than for the opportunity to spend time with this woman who doesn’t want my attention but who has it anyway.
Switching from my texts to my inbox, I locate the email about the science fair as Amelia says, “Okay, so we’ve been given a mess to clean up.”
Right. Straight into it, which isn’t my preference.
“First, how are you?” I place my phone down.
She frowns. “I’m good. Why?”
“One of our last conversations was about your mother and ex upsetting you. Did you manage that situation?”
Still frowning. “You say ‘manage’ like figuring out personal relationships is a simple matter of negotiation.”
“Well, isn’t it?”
She stares at me like she can’t believe what I’ve just said. “Maybe it is for you, but for me, it’s never that simple. It’s not checklists and outcomes. It’s a mess of emotions, unspoken thoughts, and trying to keep the peace without losing myself. That’s not something you just manage .”
I file that away. Amelia doesn’t do simple. She does layered. Complicated. Raw. And I’m beginning to think she’s never had someone who wanted to navigate all that with her.
“I didn’t mean it’s simple, Amelia.” My voice lowers, the weight of my own past pushing through. “I know all about messy. The emotions, the history, all of it. And I’ve learned the only choice is to face it head on and manage what you can.”
She’s quiet for a long beat, her gaze shifting away from mine before coming back to me. “No. I haven’t managed that situation yet.” Her voice is softer now and it seems like she’s going to elaborate, but she clears her throat and says, “Let’s get back to the science fair. We’ve got a lot to go over.”
I’d have preferred some more personal conversation before moving onto the fair, but I follow her lead because I’m a man who’s learned when not to push, and Amelia’s making it very clear not to right now.
“It’s a hell of a mess,” I agree. “I think we should just toss it all and start fresh.”
Amelia’s eyes go wide. “What? No.”
“Why not?” I point to the teacher’s email on my phone that includes an array of unfinished spreadsheets, vague notes, and unhelpful Pinterest screenshots that the previous parent was trying to pass off as a plan. “That’s a Pinterest graveyard, a half-baked science experiment of its own. There’s nothing useful for us to work with.”
Eyes still wide, like I’ve just suggested the worst idea she’s ever heard, she says, “Stephanie put a lot of time into these plans, and I think we should honor that. How would you feel if everything you’d worked hard on was scrapped by the people who took over your project?”
“I’d feel grateful that they took my mess and fixed it.”
Her brows furrow, her shoulders square like she’s ready for battle. “Gage. No. She did the best she could.”
Stephanie Monroe is a well-meaning but control-freak mother who insisted on managing the science fair alone. Other parents offered to co-plan it with her, but she refused. Then, her marriage broke down, and here we are. In a fucking mess because Stephanie might like control, but she appears to lack any kind of organizational skill.
She may have done the best she could, but frankly, her best doesn’t cut it.
I don’t say that to Amelia, though, because I’m a smart man and I know when I’m fighting a losing battle. Instead, I say, “Okay, let’s go through it all and come to a compromise on what to keep and what to improve on.”
She’s not having any of my bullshit “what to improve on.” She gives me a look. A pretty pointed one. “You do realize Stephanie’s enduring a lot of gossip over all this, right? The last thing I want to do is hurt her more.”
Amelia’s not the first woman to accuse me of being ruthless, but she’s the first to do it without bite, and without directly naming it. She simply lays out the facts for me to reconsider. I find it fucking refreshing.
“Okay.” I lean back against my seat, ready to listen. “What do you suggest?”
Surprise flickers in her eyes. Then, I’m given a smile, and fuck, her beauty only intensifies when she smiles like that. I may even agree with whatever she says if she keeps smiling at me like that, damn the consequences.
She retrieves a planner from her purse and opens it to a color-coded list that looks fairly extensive. “I’ve taken Stephanie’s ideas and expanded them.”
She launches into her suggestions for budget adjustments, volunteer recruitment and organization, logistics planning, communication with parents, the event schedule, and the set-up on the day. I’m impressed with not only the amount of work she’s already done on this, but also with every idea she shares.
We spend an hour going over it all, coming up with a plan for how to move forward. We’ve just finished agreeing that I’ll draft an email to send to Mrs. Liu by end of day tomorrow detailing everything when Amelia’s phone rings. She checks caller ID, and her instant scowl tells me she doesn’t want to answer the call.
“Sorry.” Her face twists with apology. “If I don’t take this, he’ll just keep calling.”
When she answers with a curt, “James”, I understand her grimace. It’s her ex who I’ve gathered isn’t her favorite person these days.
I take the opportunity to check my emails for anything urgent. I try not to eavesdrop on Amelia, but her voice, and the tension in it, pulls my attention.
Apparently, she was supposed to be at home this morning so James could drop something of Sarah’s off. She apologises for forgetting but the strain is clear in her voice. He must ask her where she is because she tells him she’s working on the science fair with one of the class parents and won’t be home for a little while.
It’s at this point that my phone rings. I answer immediately when I see Hayden’s name on the screen. I left a message for him this morning after I saw Blair.
“You got my message?”
“Yeah, and I don’t really have the time to get involved.”
“Blair will do all the work. I just need you to keep an eye on her.”
I overhear Amelia’s voice turning sharper. “No, James, I’m not on a date, though if I were, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”
Interesting that he’s grilling her about her dating life.
“So,” Hayden says, “You don’t trust the attorney you’ve hired.”
I’m distracted by Amelia abruptly standing and striding out of the coffee shop, still on the phone, her displeasure with the conversation blazing from her.
“Gage,” Hayden nudges. “There’s no point hiring Blair if you’re not going to let her do her job. And she’s not going to want me watching over her.”
“She explicitly told me to make sure you’re with me when we meet next.”
He turns silent for a moment. Then says, “Right. Okay.”
I frown at the note of uncertainty in his voice. “Is that ‘okay’ as in yes?”
“Yes. Let me know the details and I’ll make time for it.”
It’s unusual for Hayden to bend to my requests so easily once he’s already said no. If I wasn’t so distracted by Amelia, I’d dig into that with him. Instead, we end the call, and I give my full attention back to the woman who is now standing on the sidewalk gesturing wildly with her hands while saying something to her ex that looks a lot like fuck off .
Her entire body is rigid when she walks back inside.
“Sorry about that,” she says as she sits, her face tight.
I nod but don’t speak. Not yet. I want to know if she’ll open up further.
She takes a sip of her coffee, staring at her planner like it holds all the answers she needs in life.
“Is it always like that?” I ask quietly.
Her eyes cut to mine. “What?”
“With him.”
I see her shutting down before she even contemplates answering me. “Let’s just get back to finalizing these plans. I have another appointment soon.”
Not wanting to push her further away, I give her what she wants.
We finish planning, but my focus is shot.
I came here for science fair logistics. Now all I can think about is Amelia, and the fact I want to demand a meeting every day just so I can spend more time with her.