1

If there is one thing that I hate more than anything in this world, it is listening to investors drone on and on about their problems as if I care about it. It is not my fault that you don’t know how businesses work and that you refused to read the contract before signing. I cannot help the fact that you signed over fifty percent of your total earning instead of your profit.

People only ever get a lawyer after they have fucked up instead of to prevent said fuck up. I am a lawyer not a miracle worker, I cannot help you.

I took my glasses off my face and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration as I looked at my father’s new client. To be honest, I don’t even know his name, and I don’t care. I work as one of my father’s lawyers. I am fresh out of law school so I don’t handle any of the major cases yet.

“I’m sorry but I can’t help you.” I said cutting him off mid sentence.

         “It’s your job to help me.”

“If you had brought the contract to me to read before signing then maybe I could have helped you, but you didn’t. It’s a legally binding document; there is nothing I can do about it.”

       “I always said that women shouldn’t be lawyers,” he spat the word at me, “You can’t even fix a single thing.”

I held back the urge to roll my eyes, “You can sit here and sneer at me all you want and talk like a misogynistic piece of shit.”

“You can’t talk to me like that,” he began but I ignored him.

        “But doing that isn’t going to help your problems,” I leaned back into my chair, “Find something that you know he would want. Give him a house or sell him your shares from another company. I don’t know what you’re going to give him, but you have to find what he wants in exchange for him to sign an amended contract that I will draft up.”

His face had turned a violent shade of red but I was past caring. If he wants to act like a child, then I will talk to him like a child.

He muttered a few expletives under his breath, followed by a quick nod of understanding and he stormed out of my office.

Thankfully, he is my last client of the day. After picking up the important files from my desk, I made sure to lock my office and made my way to the car. Usually I would say goodbye to my father first but he stepped out over half an hour ago and I know he is going straight home when he is done with whatever it is he is doing.

My car is one of my most prized possessions; he got it for me after I graduated from law school. Apparently, he snooped through my P*******t to see the kind of cars I liked and got me one as a gift. It was both the most thoughtful and weird thing he had ever done for me.

When I got home, dad wasn’t there. Usually I would hear his hearty laughter straight from the door or I would see his car in the garage but his spot was empty and the house was silent. I made my way into my room first and stripped out of my uncomfortable skirt and blouse.

I ditched them for comfier clothes and tied my hair into a messy bun. I wiped off every trace of makeup from my skin and made my way into the kitchen to get a snack.

Alana, our cook was bent over the gas stirring a pot of what looks like chili.

I have known Alana since the very first day that I was born. Apparently, she was my father’s cook when he was a child and when he moved out with me, he asked his parents if she could move with him.

She is like the mother that I never had. She taught me how to cook as soon as I was tall enough to reach the gas. She was the one who always cleaned up after me when dad was running late as work. She helped with my homework and even got me little gifts for every milestone in my life.

To everyone else, I am this spoilt daddy’s girl, but to her, I am still the loud two year old who would pull off her diapers in the middle of the room, I am the five year old who drew on the walls and I’m the seventeen year old who got caught sneaking back home after losing her virginity in the backseat of a guy’s car.

She noticed as soon as I entered and gestured for me to taste her chili. I spent the next half an hour helping her around the kitchen when a familiar scent filled my nostrils.

He’s here; I can smell his cologne all the way from the kitchen. I leaped off the counter and said goodbye to Alana. She shook her head and muttered something about how I would be the end of her.

I rushed to my room to inspect my outfit in front of the standing mirror; gym shorts that made my ass look even bigger than usual and hung low on my hips, a navy blue bralette and my hair in a messy bun.

Even though my mother abandoned me, she did give me her wonderful Spanish genes in the form of thick thighs and a well endowed body as well as a mass of curly hair that I cannot seem to tame. I’ve been told that it gives me a look that screams innocent but wild.

I debated on whether or not I should grab a sweater but decided against it at the last minute. I always walk around the house like this; it would simply be a shame that he meets me like this.

I made my way down to the living room quietly and he was facing the door when I walked in. His eyes subtly ran the length of my body and then he looked away with a clenched jaw and annoyance in his eyes.

“Hayley put some clothes on,” my dad’s voice cut through the room and I saw him to my left with a glass in his hands.

My dad is rather young, he is just forty four. He had me when he was nineteen years old and a trust fund baby like me. He has told me the story more times than I can count.

He was frivolous with his money and enjoyed spending it on women. He met my mother in a night club and they had a one night stand. She realized she was pregnant and thought it would be a good idea to try to blackmail my father. She waited until she had given birth and appeared on his front porch with a baby in her hands.

My grandparents were upset but they heard her out. Unknowing to her, they recorded the entire conversation where she said that she didn’t want me and threatened to take it to court unless she waived her parental rights. She did it in a heartbeat and they paid her off.

They gave my father an ultimatum at that point. Present a business proposal to us within a month or we cut you off and take responsibility of your daughter.

My father had said that the moment he saw me, he wanted me. So he worked night and day until he created the best proposal that his parents had ever seen. The rest, they say, is history. That is probably why he was so adamant that I also do something with my life. So no matter what happens to him, I have something to fall back on.

His hair hasn’t started graying yet weirdly enough, but he always keeps it closely cropped. Today he is wearing sweatpants and a polo shirt. He was staring at me with a frown and I made my way over to him.

“I am wearing clothes dad.”

He frowned, “You are going to give me a heart attack before I hit 50.”

“That,” I began taking the glass out of his hands and downing it. “Would be because of all the whiskey you consume, not me,”

He laughed and opened his arms immediately and I let his presence overwhelm me. There is nowhere I feel safer than in my father’s arms.

“Lord knows why I don’t have more children,” he mused as his chest rumbled with laughter, “I would never be able to handle more of you.”

I reluctantly pulled away from him and turned to Jake, “Hi Jake.”

“Hayley,” he kept his eyes on my face but not entirely on my eyes. If I were to guess I would say he was staring at my nose or my cheek.

Jake Ryker might be adamant on not looking at me, but I am looking right at him and he looks yummy in his suit and tie. I have no idea why he is always formally dressed but there is never a moment since I turned sixteen that I have seen him without a suit and tie.

The thought I have had because of that suit and tie. If he knew, he would burn every suit within a ten mile radius.

He is my father’s age with ink black hair and icy blue eyes that stare into the very depths of your soul and threaten to discover your deepest darkest secrets. Time has been kind to him because he has a body fit for sinful things with defined muscles and a fitted frame.

“I got a call from Winston today,” my dad’s voice echoed through the room. I turned to him in confusion and he chuckled, “The poor lad who you insulted today.”

“Oh,” so that’s his name, “Before you say anything; it is not my fault.”

      “He said you called him a misogynistic piece of shit.”

I flushed pink, “I did,” dad laughed but I was quick to continue, “But in my defense; he did something absolutely stupid and when I told him that there was no way I could fix it, he proceeded to say that women shouldn’t be lawyers.”

“Hayley sweetheart,” he ran his palm down my cheek softly, “You can’t go around insulting your clients even if they do or say stupid things.”

I pouted, “But he deserved it.”

“I know he did sweetheart, but it’s called good work ethic. You can’t be mean to your clients.”

      “Fine,” I huffed and crossed my hands over my chest. I turned to Jake, “You think he deserved it, don’t you?”

“I think your father is right.”

“You always take my dad’s side,” I rolled my eyes at him and walked over until I was on my knees in between his legs. I placed both palms on his knees and looked up at him. “Can’t you take mine this once?”

I dropped my voice to an innocent whisper and I saw the way his eyes flickered from me to my father. My dad wouldn’t think anything of this innocent position but Jake and I know that there is nothing innocent about what I did.

He has a free view of my boobs straining against my bralette and anyone coming in would probably have to look twice to realize that we aren’t doing anything.

“Get up, Hayley,” was what he ended up saying and I frowned.

       “Not until you tell me that I’m right.”

He appeared unmoved by what was happening but I knew better. His hands were fisted by his sides and I could see the way his nostrils flared. He was just as affected as I was, but he is better at hiding it, I’ll give him that.

“You’re a little brat do you know that?” he asked and I shrugged innocently, “You were right, he deserved it, now get the fuck up.”

       “Language,” I teased as I rose to my feet.

Dad shook his head at both of us and I saw Jake adjust his jacket slightly. I smirked to myself knowing I had gotten the reaction I wanted and added an extra sway to my hips as I sashayed out of the living room.

I’ll give him a while to recover before I strike again.