Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (136 page)

Miles smiled as he stood up and extended
his right hand. “Thank you again, little lady. I have to get back to the damn
courthouse. I feel better about all of this knowing it is in your capable hands.”

Miles made it as far as the door before
turning around and saying, “You mind if I ask a personal question?”

I wasn’t sure I liked that idea, but said,
“No, go right ahead,”

“I was wondering if it would be a problem
for you if I were to ask your pretty little assistant out on a date.”

 
“Mr. Brigham, you are a piece of work.” He
shrugged and smiled and I went on, “Carla is a single free adult and welcome to
date whom she chooses, so go for it.”

He winked at me and closed the door behind
him as he left. I could only shake my head. I had most definitely never met
anyone like him before. I looked at the clock then and decided I better head
over to the courthouse. Traffic would suck today with last minute shoppers out
and about and I wasn’t going to walk today – it was freezing outside.

 
I
got to court in time to greet Pamela just before the judge called it to order.
We’d gone over everything yesterday and the judge had taken the night to
deliberate. He asked now if anyone had anything else to say before he pronounced
judgment. Both parties declined and the judge went on,

“I have carefully reviewed the assets of
both parties both before and after the marriage state. I have also carefully
reviewed the pre-nuptial agreement signed by both parties prior to their marriage.
With both of these things in mind, I have then taken into consideration the
statements made to this court with regards to the situation leading up to this
divorce.

“I am not one that often declares a legal
contract null and void. In this case, however, I am finding that if the
prenuptial agreement were to be upheld Mrs. Lewis would be excuse my language
here please, sorely screwed. She was the one who established and built her
business. From all I have read and heard here, she was the one that made it the
success it is today. I will uphold the part of the prenuptial that regards
alimony only.

“Mrs. Lewis, you are not granted alimony
nor are you to be granted any of Mr. Lewis’ assets. However, your business is
yours, as well as the assets that come with it. As far as the apartment is
concerned, I grant you both fifty-fifty interest in it. I would strongly urge
you both to put it on the market, split the proceeds, and move on with your
lives.”

The judge slammed his gavel once and
pronounced court to be dismissed.

Patricia was ecstatic. She hugged me and
over her shoulder I saw the look of astonishment on Nick’s face. He had truly
believed he would win. I was happy for Patricia. It was a good thing that she
was rid of this arrogant, entitled man.

CHAPTER
SIX

ADAM

I forced myself to leave the work on my
desk and go home early on Christmas Eve. I still had shopping to do. I drove to
the mall before going home. I was anything but a procrastinator in my
professional life, but when it came to Christmas shopping, I took first prize
in the procrastination department. I couldn’t recall ever shopping before
Christmas Eve, and had even begun to tell myself that it was a tradition now. I
had already given Alicia the engagement ring I bought, of course, but wanted to
have something to give her on Christmas day, as well.

I didn’t go in with a definite idea of
what to get her. I window shopped by the clothing stores knowing that I wasn’t
going to even try to match her style. Alicia had a way of making casual Friday
clothes look elegant. I was going to just leave that to the expert. I found a
small store that offered engraved items, and after looking at everything, I
settled on a platinum ink pen. I had it engraved with the words, “I love you
the most. Adam.” I smiled, thinking that it would irritate her a little that I
had managed to get in the last word. Part of the reason most attorneys are good
at our jobs is that we love to win an argument.

Next, I stopped at the jewelry store where
I bought her ring. The owner was behind the counter today and greeted me
warmly. I told her what I was looking for and she went to the back and came out
with a square red box. I opened it and inside set against red velvet background
was a beautiful bracelet. It was made of chocolate diamonds and very, very
small rubies. The black of the diamonds contrasted beautifully with the deep
red of the rubies. It was perfect. I told her I would take it and as she was
wrapping it up I remembered Alicia’s parents. What the heck do you get a Lord
and Lady for Christmas?

I wandered aimlessly through a few more
stores and then finally stopped to get a cup of coffee and call Alicia. She
laughed when I told her what I was doing,

“You do realize that it’s Christmas Eve?”
she asked with a giggle.

“Of course,” I said. “That’s why I’m
shopping.”

“Well, had you done your shopping earlier,
like the rest of us, you could be here enjoying cookies warm out of the oven
right now. Mother has been baking all day.”

I wished I were there. I looked around me
at all of the last-minute shoppers as desperate as I was to find just the right
thing. “I needed to ask you what does one buy a Lord and Lady for Christmas.”

Alicia laughed again, and then said, “Aw,
that’s sweet, powerful attorney and CEO of his own firm, at the mall on
Christmas Eve worrying what to buy the future in-laws.”

“I’m glad you are amused,” I said
sarcastically but with a genuine smile. “Can you help me out, or not?”

“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “How about
tickets for another Broadway show? They loved the one they saw last night.”

“How long will they be in town?” I asked.
I hated to wish them away for Alicia’s sake, but somewhat selfishly I was
hoping it would be soon.

“They will be here for another week,” she
said.

“Okay, then, show tickets it shall be.
Thank you, I love you,” I told her.

“I love you more,” she said before ending
the call.

Once I finally finished the shopping, I
checked in with Marie to make sure all was well with the plans for the party
later that night. She told me that everything was right on schedule. I decided
that since I had a few hours before I needed to get ready, I would drive over
to Alex’s house and surprise him with the gift he I picked up for him. As an
attorney, I was sure there was too much evidence against Alex at this point for
him to be innocent. As a best friend, I still wanted to hope.

Alex lived in a home in an upper class
neighborhood out on Long Island. When I drove into the driveway, I noticed a
large black sedan parked in front. I thought to myself that maybe I should have
called first, but I was here now so I figured what the hell. I grabbed the
envelope with the Super Bowl tickets I had bought Alex for Christmas. The New
York Giants were a sure thing this year, and I knew they were his favorite
team.

I walked up to the front door and was
about to ring the bell when I became aware of raised voices inside. Looking
through the small glass window on the front door I could make out Alex and the
back of another man standing at the edge of the living room. Alex looked angry.
I stepped to the side of the glass and put my ear to the door. Alex was
yelling,

“This was supposed to have gone away by
now! You were supposed to have made it look like Brigham was responsible for
Vick’s death. You screwed it all up from the start. No one was supposed to get
hurt. You were just supposed to shut Vick up and make sure that old blow-hard,
Brigham was ruined in the press by this oil spill.”

“Obviously, I did a fine job of setting up
Brigham,” the other man said, “Or they wouldn’t have arrested him.”

“I heard the tape. Alicia told him that
the FBI is looking at other suspects. What if that’s true? I don’t want the FBI
sniffing around here. Do you understand? If they start looking into where the
campaign funds are coming from and going, I may as well have committed
political suicide. Not to mention the jail time because they’ll think I had
something to do with Vick Landon’s and Marjorie’s murders.”

When the other man spoke again, I
recognized his voice, or rather his accent. It was Jack Grant. “You just need
to calm down. Alicia doesn’t know anything. She was trying to make her client
feel more at ease, that’s all. That’s how she does things. She’s a decent
person with a big heart. As for you being held responsible, well…I’d have to guess
you’re right on target there. That being said, I wouldn’t go shooting my mouth
off to anyone.”

“Are you kidding?” Alex said
sarcastically. “Who am I going to tell? The police? My best friend whose
ex-wife was murdered by people working for me? Don’t worry, Grant, my lips are
sealed. You just better clean this mess up in a hurry. Where are you with
finding Vick’s boyfriend? That’s another loose cannon there.”

Grant had lowered his voice at that point
and I couldn’t hear his reply. I had heard enough, however. I got back in my
car and sped out of Alex’s driveway and down the street as quickly as I could.
As far as I could tell, neither Alex nor Jack had realized I was there. I drove
a few blocks and then stopped my car in front of a plush home with about an
acre of lush green lawn stretching out towards the sidewalk. I took out my
phone and punched in David’s number.

“Agent Tyler,” I began after David
answered. “I have some information for you. It’s urgent that I meet with you
today. Can you come to my office?” David agreed to meet me there in an hour. I
asked him to bring someone who could sweep for bugs, as well. David agreed
readily and didn’t ask any questions.

The office was dark and quiet when I got
there. Mac and I had given the staff and associates off until the day after New
Year’s. I unlocked the door, disabled the alarm, and headed to my office. Once
there, I called the security company and told them not to worry that I was
meeting with a client and would alert them once we were finished. As I sat and
waited for David I fumed inside. I was furious with Alex for involving himself
in dirty politics. I was furious that Grant who was involved in at least two
murders continued to present himself to Alicia as a friend, and most of all, I
was furious that he had been listening in on Alicia’s private conversations.
Thank God I hadn’t spoken to her about her suspicions about Jack while in her
office. Thank God I hadn’t spoken to the FBI while they were listening.

David called and said he was pulling up in
front of the building. I went down and let him and his associates in. He had
two crime scene technicians with him. They were prepared to sweep the entire
office building for bugs. David motioned to me with his hand not to speak until
they were done.

It took the technicians about twenty
minutes to find two listening devices. One was in Alicia’s office, inside the
frame of the picture of her and I that had been tampered with the night of the
break-in. It was a very small, flat device and would never have been noticed
had we not been looking for it. The other one they found in my main conference
room. David said he was surprised it had been put there rather than in my
office, but I wasn’t. Alex, being my best friend and confidante, knew that most
of my important business was conducted in the conference room. My office was
mainly for entertaining important clients during which time not much important
business was discussed. After they had removed and disabled the devices, I
filled David in on what I had heard at Alex’s home.

“So, Fritz said that Grant was supposed to
shut Vick up, but not hurt anyone. I wonder how that led to your ex-wife’s
murder.”

“I wondered about that, too,” I said, “I
still don’t believe that Alex would have tried to have me harmed in any way.
Maybe Grant has gone renegade on him.”

“Maybe,” David said. “Tell me again what
we said about me?” I repeated what I heard Alex say to Jack about him being a
“loose cannon”.

“This we can use,” David said. “Did he say
who they were using in the press to smear Brigham?”

“No,” Adam told him, “But my best guess
would be Rose Dugan. She has published the worst of the reports on Brigham with
regards to the oil spill and his personal life.”

David nodded slowly, “Okay, I’ll work with
that,”

“What about the bugs? Won’t they know we
found them?”

“Absolutely,” David said. “But they don’t
have to know that you know who planted them. The break-in is as of yet unsolved
to our knowledge, correct?”

“Yes, that’s true. So in the meantime,
what do you want me to do?”

“Nothing, go and have a Merry Christmas
with your friends and family. Just remember to act as if things are all okay
when you see your friend Fritz.”

“That’s going to take an academy award
winning performance,” I told him, “I really want to punch the son of a bitch in
the mouth.”

“In good time, friend,” David told me.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

ALICIA