The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max) novel Chapter 45

Monday morning Lark stood next to her father outside the offices of his ex-best friend and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Grady looked at Max, “you keep your mouth shut in there no matter how much the fucker shoots his off. I don’t care what he says about Lark. Now he knows the minute he starts talking about her, he gets a rise out of you. He’s looking to cash out. I don’t want to give him any more ammunition against you.”

“He actually thought he would convince her to go back to him and then get half of her settlement from the firm,” Max growled angrily.

Their evidence from the investigators not only were able to get several witness statements to this effect but they had video of him bragging about exactly this in a bar near the firm the lawyers frequented after work.

“And he called her naïve and he called her insipid,” Grady didn’t hold back, “but none of it matters right now. What matters is you keep your mouth shut. Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” Max sighed.

“We have a decent angle of the security from home where it shows the way he lifted his hand right before Lark fell to the ground which will support her claim she was worried he’d hit her. We also can argue there is no way on earth after three years of dating he didn’t know her family was close to the Villeneuves. He went looking for a paycheck.”

Ollie came up with the idea he knew all along who she was, and any internet search of Lark, Max and Ollie together would have brought up any of the stories which used to make headlines when they were in high school. The billionaire’s oldest children were often targets of paparazzi and Lark and Johan were always caught in the crossfire.

“I hate we have to come to his turf,” Lark frowned at the sight of Sawyer’s law firm. “He’s hoping to put Dad off his game.” “It’s only making me more focused,” Grady patted her shoulder.

“Lark,” Doug’s voice called out from the edge of the parking and the quartet of Grady, Lark, Bobbie, and Max all turned to face him. He looked at her and nobody else, “you look good.”

“I know,” she nodded earning a snicker from Max and a smirk from her father. She looked to her entourage, “shall we. I have better things to do today and want to get this over with.”

“I can make this all go away,” Doug called out again approaching her. “Just come home. I miss you.”

“Save it, son,” Grady spoke purposefully condescendingly. “You’re not good enough for her and now she’s away from you and your manipulative and abusive behavior, we’re going to make sure she never goes back.”

“Abusive behavior?” Doug chased after them into the lobby of the small office. “I never once hurt her.”

“Watch me prove it to your lawyer.” Grady’s blue eyes flicked over the man. “Let’s see how much he thinks you can get in mediation once I present all the evidence I collected. For the record, Doug, your old law firm hates you and they cooperated fully with me. I can prove you set Lark up to catch you f*****g your secretary. I also have a slew of instant messages taken from the work network between you and the secretary which talk about how you were hoping to get to keep the condo once you and Lark broke up.”

“That’s not true!” he was pale now.

Lark shook her head at him, “and yet they were found on the back up server at the firm.”

“Douglas, before you say another word,” an incredibly attractive older man stepped into the space, “how about we take this into a meeting room.”

Lark looked the man who must be Sawyer over and then looked at Bobbie who also seemed surprised. The man had not aged poorly at all. Despite the blustering of her father about him the week prior, the man didn’t have an ounce of fat on him, he still sported all his hair, unlike her father and he boasted the complexion of a man who spent a great deal of time out of doors without any of the aging associated with too much sunshine. Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on Jo b ni b.c o m. She looked to her father and then the other man and while her father appeared outwardly relaxed, she could see the tiny twitch of his pinky finger and knew he was struggling not to punch the guy out.

“Grady, bald looks good on you.” Sawyer said with a glint in his eye. “This must be your eldest daughter, Lark. I’m sorry we’re meeting under such circumstances.”

“No, you’re not.” Lark shook her head at the man while accepting his handshake. “You are actually reveling in it thinking you have us off-kilter. You don’t know any of us other than what you can find in your very thin file.”

“I bet your father told you all about me.” He motioned for them to precede him into a room.

“Actually,” she met his gaze bluntly while her father and Bobbie exchanged knowing grins. “He has never mentioned you to me in my entire life until you reached out last week. Imagine my surprise to find out about an ex-wife who married his ex-best friend.”

“You lie. He must have mentioned me.” Sawyer’s smile slipped as he looked at Grady with confusion.

“Not even a single time. Not once. We’ve been to Houston many times growing up and not once in all the time we were here did your name ever come up. I imagine it’s like when you have a cancer cut from your body. Even speaking it about feels like bad karma waiting to happen.” She looked to Doug, “speaking of bad karma. Let’s get this over with.”

Sawyer was staring at Grady incredulously, “you simply forgot about thirty years of friendship?”

“It really wasn’t as hard as you think it was.” Grady said as he took a seat at the far end of the table beside Max. “How do you want to play this, Sawyer? Do you want all my evidence up front, or would you like me to build the suspense for you? Either way, we’re walking out of here by the end of the day not paying a damn thing to your client and he will be paying my legal fees on behalf of Mr. Villeneuve.”