I turned to him sharply. “Yeah, well, you’ve said a lot of things,” I accused. His eyebrows shot up and mouth dropped slightly as my comment obviously hit its intended mark.
“Chanel, that was a low blow.”
“No, Jay, a low blow is waking up to see my personal business strewn on some damn gossip site just because I won a divorce case against a client of your law firm.” I stopped pacing, positioning myself in the middle of my father’s office, where I could see both my father behind his desk and Jason by the door. “Jacob Wyatt is your client, right?”
“You already know the answer to that,” my father answered.
“And you do anything for your clients, especially the big names like him, right?”
“We do, but not this,” he insisted.
I paused, looking at my father’s eyes the color of cedar wood, trying to discern whether he was telling the truth. When I stormed in here minutes ago, I was sure he was behind this. I just knew he was and wanted to see his face as he heard my accusations. But now, I felt differently. I’m not sure if it was the way his eyes were trained on me pleadingly or the fact that Jason was just as adamant. Jay was harder for me to be angry at than my father.
“Then who?Someonewho works for you obviously had it out for me.”
A look passed between Jason and my father. They both stood up a little taller, bracing themselves for whatever they were going to reveal.
“Robert.”
I turned to Jason. “What?”
“Robert.” He paused. His eyes that looked so much like our father’s flicked over my head and then back on me. “He was up for a promotion, trying to make partner, and a favorable outcome for Jacob’s divorce would’ve helped his cause. He had you investigated by a private investigator to try and get information. That’s where the photos came from.”
I was floored. A private investigator? I’d been followed around for God knew how long. The thought made my skin crawl and made me furious at Robert Fuller. I began shaking my head.
“I still don’t understand. Why would he have me followed instead of Michele?” Michele Wyatt was Jacob Wyatt’s now ex-wife. It would make more sense for his attorney to have the soon-to-be ex-wife of his client followed than her lawyer.
“He did that as well.”
I turned to my father, who’d revealed that piece of information.
“He had both of you followed, but was able to dig up more dirt on you than on Michele. Once the case was finalized and didn’t go his way, he wanted payback.”
“Payback?” Why the hell would he want payback for me winning a case? We were attorneys; it's what we did, winning and losing cases all the damn time.
“He knew that we wanted you to work here at Combs and Combs, and eventually head up our family law division. He was hoping to get the promotion instead, so he thought it made sense to sabotage you,” Jason explained.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, gritting my teeth. I’d been humiliated over a petty jealous rivalry that I didn’t even know I was a part of. “Where’s Robert now?” I started towards the door, ready to confront Robert Fuller.
“He no longer works for Combs and Combs.”
I paused, turning to my father.
“He quit?” I asked, still distrustful. I heard Jason snort behind me, but kept my gaze focused on my father.
“He was let go,” he answered.
I rubbed my hand over my forehead, trying to gain hold of all the emotions flooding through me. I took another deep breath and blew it out before turning back toward the door.
“Where’re you going?” my father asked.
“To work,” I stated as if it should be obvious.
“Chanel, wait,” he said, and finally came out from behind his desk. “We need to talk about this, and about…” His voice took on a somber note as it trailed off.
I held up my hand, knowing what he was going to say.Ethan.He wanted to talk about my ex-fiancé. Specifically, the information that was in the article. For weeks, I’d avoided calls from Jason and his wife, Tori, and my father and hiswife, Marjorie. I made it clear to my office if any of them stopped by, they were to say I was out. I even had the security of my building not to let anyone except Gabby up to my condo.
“Not now,” I said, before turning and quickly exiting. I didn’t get more than three steps down the hallway before I felt a tug on my arm.
