want them shut down.” The older man dabbed at his brow with his jacket cuff. “I want them shut up!”
“These things take time.”
“While my career goes down the bloody toilet?”
“We’ll get compensation.”
“Tattered reputations don’t mend that easily, Jakey boy.”
“When the truth comes out they do.”
Howcroft scratched at his wiry ginger-gray hair. “According to this latest piece, I’m a sodding drug lord now!”
“It’s a piggyback small-time troll.”
Grant wasn’t listening. “How do I come back at that? I ask you. How?”
“By addressing the heart of the lies. By going after the one with the money.” Wynn Hunter and his big-time “untouchable” media arm. “We only need to meet the standard for actual malice and prove the accusations are unfounded, which they are.”
Then the wrong would be righted and Hunter Publications could kiss both sides of Howcroft’s butt.
His client’s brow was beaded with sweat. Jacob poured him a glass of water and brought it over.
Howcroft downed half and then closed his eyes at the same time he grit his teeth and his trembling lips turned white.
“I want to see Wynn Hunter destroyed. The rest of his blood-sucking family, too.” An image of Teagan flashed into Jacob’s mind while Howcroft took another mouthful then eased out a shuddering sigh. “How far away are we from getting this done?”
Jacob went into the fundamentals of where they were with the case. Today was only Thursday, so there wasn’t much to add since Monday when they had spoken last. But when a person’s life was falling apart, Jacob understood—minutes could feel like years.
Howcroft pushed back into the couch as his eyes darted around the room. “Maybe I should do a runner. Hole up somewhere in Mexico until this thing blows over.”
Jacob’s chin went down. What happened to wanting to see Wynn Hunter destroyed? “We agreed. This is a process. Now we need to hold our course.” Then go for the jugular.
“You know I was born a charwoman’s son,” Howcroft said, like Jacob didn’t research the shit out of his clients’ backgrounds. “My first job was as a filing clerk. Respectable, but rubbish pay. I got into theater and climbed the industry ladder from assistant stage manager to walk-on parts. Those first few years were brutal, mate. Young people nowadays don’t know the half.”
Jacob disagreed. There were lots who did.
“There were a few TV appearances,” Howcroft went on, “the move to Hollywood, then the role that launched my career. Instant overnight success, the papers said. There were parties, marriages... And, yes, I made mistakes.”
Jacob saw how Howcroft’s eyes were edged with moisture and worried he might cry. But his client found his feet and tried to square his hunched shoulders instead.
“I don’t know if I can...”
Jacob felt a prickling at the back of his neck. “Know if you can what?”
Putting up his hands like he’d heard and said enough, Howcroft headed for the door. “I’ll be in touch. One way or another. Probably another.”
Which was code for what exactly? “Are you saying you want to put the lawsuit on hold?”
“I’m saying I don’t know if I want to continue, period.” Howcroft swung open the door. “In fact, drop the whole bloody thing. I need time to get away. Clear my head.”
“You want to drop the lawsuit?”
But Howcroft was already gone, which left Jacob wanting to slam the door the same way he had slammed down the phone earlier. He wasn’t pissed at his client. The guy had every right to be upset. If he wanted to put a brake on things, it was his time and his dime.
The thing that stuck in Jacob’s craw was the situation with Teagan. If it hadn’t been for this lawsuit, their time together would have ended on a very different note. She’d have taken his call today...if the time they had spent together had meant more to Teagan than simply letting loose. If she hadn’t planned to somehow set him up.
After thinking that all through again, Jacob made another call. Not to High Tea Gym this time. To people who had never let him down before and weren’t about to now.
The moment the image popped up on her laptop screen, Teagan knew why her eldest brother and his bride were video calling. Good news. The best. And when they actually said the words, Teagan promised herself to look happy for them both because she was. Genuinely thrilled.
Attending their wedding last year, hearing their vows and seeing the love they so obviously shared, Teagan had no doubt that Taryn and Cole would last until death do them part. Now, her brother looked proud, but also calm. A huge difference from his former everything depends on me demeanor—as if the fate of Hunter Enterprises rested solely on his shoulders. But Taryn’s appearance struck Teagan even more. With her long hair draped around her shoulders like a thick, glossy mantle, she looked radiant. Blissfully content.
The couple said it together. “We’re pregnant!”
“Ohmigod! Congratulations!” Teagan sucked down a breath and bolstered herself. “When did you find out?”
With an arm around his girl, Cole replied, “Four months ago. Taryn wanted to keep it under wraps for a while.”
“I figure I’ll be showing soon,” Taryn added. “So time to let the cat out of the bag.”
The newlyweds looked into each other’s eyes like life would always be this way. Bright and wonderful. Never a tear. Although they had been grounded enough to delay the announcement.
Teagan could recite the statistics in her sleep: more than eighty percent of miscarriages occurred in the first three months of pregnancy. When fertilized eggs that failed to implant were also factored in, around seventy-five percent of all conceptions didn’t go full term.
But this one absolutely would.
Teagan shored up her smile. “So, too early to know if I’m getting a niece or a nephew?”
“We’re not sure we want to find out,” Cole said.
“We’ll be happy no matter what,” Taryn added.
“Whichever it turns out to be,” Cole said, “we want another one.”
Teagan’s smile held firm.
More than one. Imagine that.
“How does Dad feel about being a grandfather?” she asked.
Cole’s
