Private Lives. Karen Young

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      “Then for Ryan, it’s once in a very rare while. Frankly, I don’t recall him losing even once since he’s been with the firm.”

      Elizabeth stood up. “Actually I see an advantage here, Gee.” She gave her a little push toward the door. It was time for lunch. Jesse had half a day at kindergarten and was now playing in the yard under Louie’s watchful eye, but she would be coming inside soon. She didn’t intend for the child to get wind of any stress, especially regarding her contemptible father. “If Paxton has been in the firm that long, then you’re hardly a stranger to him. No matter what gossip he hears, it’s facts he must present in court.”

      Gina was still wringing her hands. “I can’t count on that. I was a paralegal, not a lawyer, and I worked exclusively for Austin. When it comes to taking the side of some lowly ex-employee at LJ and B over someone whose father is Curtiss Leggett himself, guess who’ll come out on top?”

      “Austin forced your resignation from the firm, Gee. When he realized you planned to demand child support for Jesse, you had to go. Just as he forced you to move out of the house where the two of you have lived together for eight years. Maude will reveal all that in court. When this is over, you should file a civil suit against the firm. You have every right to bring your own case.”

      “Hah! That’s all Austin is waiting for,” Gina said bitterly. “I can’t bear to think what he’ll do if I don’t just shut up and let him have his way.”

      “Does that include handing Jesse over?” When Gina’s eyes filled with fresh tears, Elizabeth felt a pang of remorse. Gina knew what was at stake without being reminded. “I don’t think you need to worry too much about Paxton digging up dirt on you, Gee. He’ll be aware that you’ve been a conscientious employee. Knowing this, he’ll hardly go for your jugular.”

      “You don’t know him.” Gina looked defeated. “Wait and see, he’ll destroy me.”

      “I don’t care how you do it, just destroy her.”

      Ryan Paxton placed his pen on the legal pad and leaned back in his chair, watching his fellow colleague stalk about the office, tight-lipped and furious. “That’s a pretty harsh statement, Austin.” Ryan glanced at the notes he’d taken. “Nothing you’ve said so far is going to give a judge sufficient cause to deny Gina compensation after a live-in arrangement that lasted eight years.”

      “That’s why we have to destroy her.”

      Ryan sighed with frustration. Austin Leggett was his client only because Curtiss Leggett, senior partner at Leggett, Jones and Brunson and Austin’s father, had approached Ryan and asked him to represent his son in “a delicate matter.” Curtiss wanted a quick, quiet and final resolution to a sticky situation without a hint of any unpleasantness to the firm. Ryan studied his notes. Making that happen was going to be tricky. Gina D’Angelo had been a paralegal at LJ and B and Austin had been shacking up with her for eight years. They had a child, a little girl, five years old. Now Austin wanted out of the relationship and he didn’t want any expensive consequences. Tuning out Austin’s ranting, he briefly considered telling Curtiss he wanted no part of Austin’s sleazy life. But as a partner in the firm, the reputation of LJ and B was as important to Ryan as it was to Curtiss. Too bad Austin didn’t have the same concern.

      “I guess you didn’t consider the firm’s policy of non-fraternization when the two of you became lovers,” Ryan said to him now.

      Austin shrugged. With his hands stuffed deep in his pockets, he looked like a petulant teenager being forced to discuss a misdemeanor. “We had some good times. In the beginning.”

      “I hope it was worth a couple of thousand a month in palimony, buddy. Because that’s what I’d expect from you if I were her lawyer, plus child support.”

      Austin was shaking his head, dismissing the possibility.

      “Not a problem. The attorney she’s hired is some bleeding-heart female who specializes in family matters. You can run rings around her without half trying. Name’s Maude Kennedy.”

      “I know Maude Kennedy. I’ve seen her in court where the only bleeding is from wounds inflicted by Maude herself. No, Austin, you’ve got to have something more than hostility and wishful thinking to get out of this one with your assets intact.” Ryan rested farther back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. “Frankly, it’s the kid that complicates everything.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “Well, if you didn’t have the little girl…” He moved forward, paged back in his notes, found a name. “Jesse, is it? If you didn’t have Jesse, Gina’s case would be a lot weaker. Come on, Austin, she’s your flesh and blood. You want to do the decent thing for your daughter, don’t you? It’s Gina you’ve fallen out of love with, not Jesse, right?”

      Scowling, Austin resumed pacing in the cramped office. Ryan had a tendency to stack material on any empty surface, including the floor. Case files littered the thick carpet along with reference books, computer printouts and—Ryan winced—the empty pizza box from last night’s take-out when he had been burning the midnight oil on a real case, and not some irritating domestic dispute between two former lovers who now hated each other. But if the clutter hampered Leggett, or if he even noticed, he gave no indication. He was too intent on coming up with a strategy to stiff Gina, even if it meant his own daughter’s quality of life suffered.

      “What if I sued for custody of Jesse?”

      Ryan felt a pang of sympathy for the little girl. “You’d have to prove Gina unfit, since she’ll probably put up a fight. Mothers are funny that way,” he added dryly, but Austin was busy thinking and missed the irony in his tone.

      “She had a rough upbringing.”

      “Gina?”

      “Yeah, she was raised in foster care. Lived with a dozen families, the way she tells it. Then struck out on her own when she was about sixteen. She’s been around the block more than once.”

      “No crime there.”

      “It shouldn’t be difficult to prove she isn’t the best role model for a five-year-old girl.”

      “Starting with…?”

      “Hell, I don’t know.” He rubbed both hands over his face. “There’s gotta be something. Nobody’s perfect.”

      “You’d be the best judge of that after observing her as a mother for five years. I’ll need specifics and so far, I haven’t heard any. I don’t know Gina personally. Except for an occasional encounter in the halls, I don’t think we’ve ever talked. But she seems pretty solid to me. She’s a damn good paralegal, according to my assistant, Jean Johnson.”

      “Yeah, well, give me a day or two and I’ll compile a list that’ll guarantee she’s unfit to mother a stray cat, let alone my daughter.”

      “It has to have the ring of truth, Austin. You go at it from the angle of proving her unfit with bogus charges and Maude Kennedy will hang us both out to dry.”

      “Well, shit!” Austin flung himself into a chair.

      “For starters, Maude will produce a couple of character witnesses. I don’t need to СКАЧАТЬ