Leon
After my impromptu meeting with the divorce attorney ended with a door slammed in my face, I went to my office to consider my next move. As I sat at my desk staring off into space, I couldn’t get that young brunette he met with earlier out of my head. She was a looker—that I couldn’t deny. But it was the sadness and anger I saw in her eyes when she was speaking to him that really caught my attention. You couldn’t fake that. My assumption was that she’s in the middle of a nasty divorce or is about to be. I know that feeling all too well. I honestly wondered who she was and if she had anything to do with Counselor Malloy looking into Sadie.
I sat up straight in my chair and scratched the back of my head. It seemed too conspicuous to be a coincidence that Malloy would be looking into Sadie using a P.I. and representing a new client at the same time. I c*****d an eyebrow. I figured that looking into this young brunette wouldn’t be a bad idea, so I called up Jorge and had him hack into the cameras at the law office of Hunter Malloy. I wanted to know anything and everything about this young woman and whether she had anything to do with Malloy doing a background check on Sadie.
“Jorge, change of plans,” I told him.
“Sir?”
“Earlier today, Counselor Malloy was with a young woman. Small stature, short bob hairstyle, brunette, exotic-looking, and pretty. I want you to prepare a full dossier on her for me.”
“May I ask why?”
“I need to know if she’s the reason Malloy is looking into Sadie.”
“I see. Do you want me to add this to my list of things to do, or would you like me to drop everything?”
“Malloy is paying you to look into Sadie, so there’s no longer a reason for you to do it for me anymore. Concentrate on this brunette. I want to know everything. Name, age, what she does for work.”
“I understand, Mr. Von Doren. Let me see what I can do. Allow me 48 hours to get you some information.”
“Very good,” I replied and hung up the phone.
Annika
“I don’t get you, Annika,” Kenzie said to me, frowning while we were drinking at our favorite café after work.
“What?” I replied, playing stupid to her implications.
“Anni, you come from one of the richest families on the country’s Eastern side. You hid your background because you wanted to be with Jeff, and now, you’re just letting him walk all over your heart while he goes and f*ucks that Barbie wannabe.”
“Kenz, it’s not that simple. I can’t use my background to get back at him. Not yet, at least. He took eleven years of my life and threw it away like yesterday’s garbage. He left me for some trust fund baby, according to Hunter.”
“EXACTLY! She’s a trust fund baby. You’re a f*ucking heiress!” she whispered the last part so that people passing by wouldn’t hear us. “Imagine if Jeff found out that he left you for that hussy, who has nothing to her name. It would totally ruin his self-esteem!”
“I don’t want to just ruin his self-esteem!” I shouted while slamming my coffee cup on the table. “I want to take everything from him. His pride, his dignity, his job, and his money. Without any of that, Jeff is f
