Chapter 15 #2
She started screenshotting fast and efficiently.
Michael watched her work for a moment, then made himself turn to the next thread.
Once she was done, she handed the phone back to him, and for some reason, he scrolled through the other messages on Kevin’s phone until he came across a thread that made him freeze.
Michael opened the thread and hissed. “Maggie…”
“Yes,” Maggie glanced away from her computer to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
"Look at this." Michael turned the screen towards her.
The thread was with a contact named Baxter Johnson.
The most recent message had gone out from Kevin that morning. Around the time of Maggie's call to Kevin to set up the meeting.
It read: It looks like I'll be getting the building shares soon. I’ll need a deposit up front before I sign anything, but it's a green light on my end. I’m looking forward to doing business with the Wayne Group.
Michael felt the floor of his chest drop an inch.
Maggie's face went through three expressions in two seconds. Confusion. Recognition. Pure white fury.
"Wha the…" Maggie hissed, her eyes sparking with anger. “I’ll throttle that no-good weasel. How dare he?’
"He’s trying to sell the shares he just demanded from you," Michael said carefully. "Before he even has them, and to the Wayne Group of all companies.”
"The Wayne Group wants to buy my building!" Maggie seethed. “Over my dead body.” Her eyes met his curiously. "Are they trying to buy up the entire Sweet Blossom Bay?"
"I don’t know," Michael answered honestly. “But it does seem that way.”
“We need to nip that in the bud,” Maggie stated. “No way will they get their hands on my grandparents' building.”
"Don’t worry,” Michael said confidently. “They won’t.” He smiled encouragingly at her. “We’ll deal with them later. We have Kevin and Vanessa to deal with right now.”
Right then, Maggie’s phone rang. It was her client who had helped them earlier.
“Hi,” Maggie answered. “It looks like they’ve taken the bait.
“I know,” she told Maggie. “And I have something else you might be interested in.”
“Oh?” Maggie glanced at Michael, who was leaning in to listen. “Do you mind if I put you on speaker? I have Michael here.”
“Not at all,” she agreed.
Maggie put her phone on the desk and hit the speaker button.
"Maggie," the celebrity said sharply through the speaker. "Vanessa, was it?”
“Yes,” Maggie answered.
"She has used the photograph taken of us in your boutique,” she told them.
"On the Kitsch Couture social media accounts?" Maggie typed quickly and brought them up. "Michael and I are looking at it on the website now."
"She has also posted across three platforms in the last hour, placing my full name in every caption and a claim that we are personal friends.” Her voice had a hint of anger.
“She also claims that her boutique is now in a formal collaboration with Maggie's Originals, with another bold claim—the gown she is showing is my next wedding dress.”
“I’m sorry, I did warn you…” Maggie started to apologize, but her client cut her off.
“No, sweetie,” she chided. “Vanessa broke every clause of that waiver she signed right before we had the photo taken.” She gave a soft, triumphant laugh. “She broke every single one."
"That is consistent with what we are looking at," Michael said, leaning toward the phone.
"Mr. Heart," the celebrity answered.
"Yes," Michael responded.
"I have heard a great deal about you from Maggie over the years," the celebrity told him.
"I’m retaining you. The signed waiver, the violation screenshots, the retainer agreement, and a written authorization to proceed are already in your inbox.
My team sent them across fifteen minutes ago.
I would like that boutique closed by the end of the week. "
"Understood," Michael agreed, feeling a little lightheaded at the new client he’d just retained.
"I’m not negotiating, Mr. Heart," the celebrity continued. "I am informing you of my position. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Michael replied. "I will countersign the retainer this afternoon and send the first notice to Kitsch Couture in the morning."
"Good," the celebrity stated. “And, I want to have a press conference when this has been sorted out, with both of you by my side.”
“Understood,” Maggie and Michael said in unison.
“Good, keep me updated,” she told them, then paused and laughed once more. “What an exciting day this has been. Let me know as soon as you’ve dropped the hammer.”
Then the line went dead.
Maggie sat back and let out a slow breath. She turned to Michael.
"What now?" Maggie asked. “I did all the bait and trapping, now it’s your turn to turn the legal screws on them.”
"I have a draft of your new divorce contract in my car," Michael told her. "I drew it up the other day. I’ve been waiting to have a meeting with his attorney, but I feel this is a lot better as now we have leverage to force his hand.”
“Okay, are you going to send it to him?” Maggie asked.
"I would like to deliver it directly to him, in person, this afternoon," Michael told her. "Not to his attorney. To Kevin. With you in the room."
"Why?" Maggie asked.
"His attorney will tell him to fight it," Michael answered. "Kevin, if he is sitting across from a draft he is reading for himself, with the evidence on the table, he will sign it. He is not a man who holds up under pressure. He is a man who folds the moment the math stops working in his favor."
Maggie sat back in her chair and looked for a moment, and he could see her brain working. .
"We can go to his office," Maggie suggested.
“Fine by me,” Michael told her. “If you can do it, let’s go.”
Maggie stood at the same time as him, and they headed for his car. Michael squared his shoulders and resolved that by tonight, he’d have Maggie’s divorce signed so he could have it filed first thing in the morning.