The Billionaire's Secret Wife (The Pryce Family Book 3) (Volume 3) (12 page)

“Come for me, Vanessa.”

Her back arched at the darkly whispered command, and she came with a soundless scream. Somehow it was sharper and more intense, like the previous one had just been an appetizer.

Justin groaned as her inner muscles flexed around his cock and he came, his head thrown back. He clenched his teeth, and he looked like a savage god over her.

Rolling so she’d lie on top of him, he wrapped his arms around her. When his breathing slowed, he kissed the back of her neck. “You’re a hell of a woman.”

She laughed.

“What are you doing tomorrow? If you want, we can fly to Mexico for a one-day honeymoon,” he said. “We can take our honeymoon one day a week until we’ve had our requisite month.”

She gasped. “
Month?
Nobody has a honeymoon for a whole month.”

He kissed her. “We do. You’re worth it.”

She gently pushed back the hair that fell over his forehead. “I can’t. I have to work tomorrow.”

“Boo. It’s Sunday.”

“I’ve been taking a lot of days off recently. I have to make up for it somehow. It’s a really long shot, but I might be able to make partner this year. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“Does this mean you’ll be billing over a hundred hours a week? I don’t think it’s healthy for a pregnant woman to work so much.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m on my feet all day.”

“Still.” He put a hand over her belly possessively. “Junior might not like it.”

“Junior, is it?” Would he be disappointed if it was a girl?

“We’ll see. I don’t care, so long as it’s healthy.”

“You don’t want a boy just like Barron?”

Justin shuddered. “One Barron is plenty.” Justin brushed the tip of his nose against hers. “I want our child to have the best traits from both of us.”

Vanessa smiled. “You’re so sweetly sentimental. I never knew.”

“Don’t tell anybody. It’ll ruin my reputation.”

Giggling, she snuggled closer…and wished the moment would never end.

Chapter Eleven

After Vanessa had left for work the next day, Justin pulled out his phone and dialed John Highsmith’s personal mobile number.

Justin wasn’t a client yet, but Highsmith seemed eager to earn Sterling & Wilson’s business. The company needed a new legal team in California, and the firm was one of the best.

“Hello?” Highsmith’s voice was smooth but guarded.

“This is Justin Sterling.”

“Justin! How good of you to call.”

Justin smiled. It was lunchtime on a Sunday. He doubted there was anything good about the timing. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“Not at all.”

“Oh, good. There’s something I need a little help with.”

“If it is within my power,” Highsmith said, relishing his vowels. He sounded like he was auditioning for an Elizabethan play.

“I want you to pull Vanessa Pryce off all her cases.”
Especially the ones she was working on with Felix Peck
. “I’d like her to work on a special project for us instead.”

“That can certainly be arranged.”

Justin smiled. Highsmith didn’t even try to argue, and he liked that. Lawyers should work to please him. “Have her work no more than forty, but feel free to bill a hundred. Keep my name and the Sterling & Wilson connection out of it—this must be absolutely confidential. You can send a retainer agreement to my office in Chicago. Have it addressed to my assistant.”

“It will be my pleasure to do so.”

Justin could feel the man crow over the phone. Highsmith was a weasel—a very good one—and he was Justin’s weasel now. He would do whatever Justin told him to keep Sterling & Wilson as a client.

Justin hung up, fully satisfied.

* * *

Vanessa went to the office early. Since it was an off day she wore a black T-shirt with a shark across her chest and khaki shorts. A few of the associates working over the weekend were also casually dressed. Felix waved from a conference room, and Vanessa went over.

“Get that shit-eating grin off your face,” Felix said. “Highsmith’s been looking for you.”

Vanessa blinked. “He has?”

“Yeah. It kind of felt urgent.”

She cursed under her breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She didn’t work closely with him, but she knew his reputation: impatient and exacting. “Why didn’t you call?”

“He didn’t want me to. He just asked you to join him in his office as soon as you get in.”

That’s weird
. John didn’t believe in wasting even a second of his time. Non-billable moments had no place in his life. “Okay. Thanks.”

She walked down the hall and stopped in front of the dark wood door with a golden plaque that read: John P. Highsmith. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, then knocked.

“Come in!”

The corner office had a priceless antique mahogany desk with a leather executive chair. The windows had a spectacular view of downtown Los Angeles, and the pristine cream walls had built-in shelves with what probably amounted to a metric ton of leather-bound legal tomes and awards. A sleek silver laptop and a phone took up the right side of his desk, while four accordion folders sat on the left.

“You wanted to see me?”

John nodded, his eyes shrewd. He’d always reminded Vanessa of a big bruiser, the kind of a guy she might see working as a bouncer at a popular club, except he always wore suits no bouncer could afford and a superior smile that said he never lost. Given his reputation, he probably actually
hadn’t
lost a lawsuit in at least the last decade.

“Have a seat.” He waited until she lowered herself onto a plush armchair across from him. “I understand you’re working on the Solaris case?”

“Yes. Harry Dickson assigned me to it, along with Felix.”

“Mm. Well, I’m pulling you off it.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“It’s in the best interests of the firm to do so. You’ll be working on a highly confidential case instead.”

“Is Harry aware of this?”

“Yes, but he couldn’t tell you this in person since he had to fly to Florida. His mother had her monthly crisis.”

Harry’s mother’s “monthly crises” were infamous at the firm. They required her only son to fly to Miami to see her. One time he’d ignored her, and she’d supposedly had a heart attack.

“So who’s the client?” Vanessa asked.

“As I said, the case is confidential. So I’m afraid I can’t disclose the name.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I need to know to do what I do best.”

“I understand, but the client’s a bit eccentric.”

“If I can’t even know who the client is, what am I doing?”

“Nothing too complicated. You just need to”—he raised his shoulders in a careless shrug—“review some documents that the in-house counsel’s been working on.”

“That won’t take me any time at all.”

“Oh there are quite a lot of them. Fortunately, there’s no real rush. So you won’t need to work more than forty billable hours a week on this.”

“So I can still work on the Solaris case.”

“No.” John sighed. “The new client will be your only one. For the time being.”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Vanessa. I assure you, this won’t count against you.”

“Right.” She knew how the game was played. If other people had more billable hours than she did, she’d look bad in July, no matter what John said now. She gave him a hard stare. “Are you doing this because you have somebody else in mind for July?” she asked point-blank.

John started. “What? No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then there’s no reason for you to take me off the Solaris case. Put somebody else on this new thing. Like Stan.”

“Vanessa—”

“You know this is going to hurt me. I’ve dedicated my life to this firm.”

“Yes, I understand that. But I give you my word, this won’t be a black mark on your record. Quite the contrary. We’ll be counting your billable hours at two and a half times the actual rate. So even though you’ll be putting in forty, it will count as a hundred.” He spread his hands and beamed at her.

Vanessa gasped. “You can’t do that. That’s unethical.”

John’s smile collapsed. “I’m aware of the ethical aspects, thank you. This is what the client wants.”

“The client told you to limit the work to forty hours, but to bill them for a hundred?”

“Correct.”

“And you expect me to believe this?”

He leaned forward, his previous bonhomie gone. “I don’t care what you believe. I expect you to follow my instructions. And before you think about reporting me to the bar, everything I’ve said in this room is true. If you cause trouble, you’ll end up jobless. Most likely you’ll have to start fresh at some other firm…assuming you can find one that will have you.” He waved her away. “Now run along. Everything you need to look at is in Conference Room 2B.”

Fists clenched, she left.
What a bunch of
… John had to be lying through his teeth.

Or did he? She thought about it, her feet slowing as she walked down the hall. The firm was doing great. He was doing great. There was no reason to risk tarnishing the firm’s reputation, much less his own. And Vanessa had never seen him lie to an associate before. Why would he start now?

On her way to the conference room, she stopped by Felix’s desk. “I can’t believe it.”

He gave her a concerned look. “What happened?”

“He put me on another case.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. And he won’t say who the client is or anything.”

“That’s weird.”

“Right? Anyway, so I’m doing—” she shrugged helplessly “ —something. I have no idea what. Have you heard…?”

“Nope. Not a thing. I had no idea he was going to pull you off the case. Otherwise I would’ve waited until you finished the deposition,” he joked lamely.

She made a face. “I’ll send you everything I have.”

“Thanks.” Felix hesitated. “Look, I just want you to know that the work you’re going to do is important, even though it might look sort of lame at the moment.”

She tilted her head. “You know something I don’t? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?”

“Hey, just saying. Nothing this firm does is inconsequential. You know that better than anyone.” He flashed a quick smile.

She nodded with a smile of her own. “Yeah, and we all know there’s no news in the firm you don’t hear first.”

He waved it away, but it was true. He was popular among the secretaries, and they loved to include him in their gossip. Maybe somebody had let it slip that the work really
was
important.

Conference room 2B had a big desk and two plastic chairs. It wasn’t one of the fancier ones since it was a work room, not a “shock and awe the clients” room.

She opened a leather folio. Inside was a computer print out that read:
Review and file in chronological order
. She stared at the ten boxes in front of her. This had to be some sick joke. This was the kind of work you might give to an intern, not an associate. Had she pissed off one of the partners or their cronies?

The documents’ letterheads were blacked out. She glared at the papers and started reading them. Just because the partners were determined to screw her didn’t mean she had to roll over. She wasn’t giving them any reason to ruin her eval come July.

The back of her neck prickled like a centipede was crawling across it. She turned and saw John tapping his Rolex at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered as he jerked his chin toward the door.

If he wanted her gone, fine. She’d leave. She picked up her phone and texted Justin.
Have you had lunch yet?

Not yet
.

Let’s have Chinese then
.
Order me sweet and sour pork and fried rice
.
I’m heading home now
.

* * *

Justin glanced at Vanessa’s text and ran his teeth across his lip. Hmm. That didn’t sound good. He padded barefoot to her kitchen, looking for a menu. She must have one from her favorite Chinese delivery.

He didn’t have to wait long after placing their order. Vanessa showed up, her eyes flashing fury and her mouth flat and disapproving. If their lives were drawn in a cartoon, steam would’ve been hissing out of her ears.

“I thought you were going to be at the office all day,” he said conversationally. If Highsmith had screwed up, Justin was going to kill him.

“Well, things have changed.” She tossed her purse and briefcase on the couch and started pacing. Her jaw muscles worked as she clenched her teeth. “That jerk pulled me off the case.”

“What case?”

“An important one. That’s all I can say.”

“Maybe they had an even more important task for you to do.”

“No. They put me on something that should be an intern’s job. Seriously. Filing stuff in chronological order? And this mythical client wants to pay more than twice my billing rate? I don’t think so.”

Justin scratched the tip of his nose. “What’s so unbelievable about that?”

“Because it’s stupid to pay that much! Besides, I can’t waste my life filing when I should be working on important cases and make sure the partners know how valuable I am to the firm. I need to show what a great lawyer I am, how I can charm clients and win more business. You know, things like that.”

“If you want to bring in business, why don’t you use your family connections?”

“
Because I’m not going to climb the ladder of family connections to the top like some brainless moneyed idiot!
” she burst out, then clicked her mouth shut. Flushing, she blinked a few times. “Maybe it makes me sound arrogant,” she began, her words slow and measured, “but I want to do it on my own. I want my career to be…entirely mine. Dane, you rat bastard.” Suddenly she buried her flushed face in her hands.

Justin didn’t know how her oldest brother figured into all this, but he could guess. As if being an asshole wasn’t enough, Dane was very good at manipulating people, somewhat like Barron. Justin pulled Vanessa down onto the couch and held her.

“Every family has a rat bastard,” he said, tucking tendrils of her hair behind her ears.

She laughed humorlessly. “But not like Dane. He played me all along, egging me on, telling me I could never be a partner on my own. And I wanted to prove him wrong so bad I spent the last ten years of my life doing exactly that.”