His brows pulled together as he looked from me to his secretary. “Lidia, go get me some coffee or something.”
“Yes, sir.” Lidia collected her purse in a hurry and headed toward the elevator.
“I hope you did not talk to Eloise that way,” I said when Lidia was gone and the doors had sealed shut.
“Follow me,” he grumbled, ignoring my words.
I followed him to his office. He offered that I sit. I didn’t.
“So I am going to get straight to the point, because, unlike you, I do not like my time wasted.” I pulled my phone out and started playing the recording as Rafael lowered into his seat.
As each sentence of his played, his face whitened more and more. Where was that smug smile now?
I paused it, and he shot out of his chair. “You hired that woman to follow me, didn’t you?”
“I did not hire anyone.”
“So how did you get that? You set this up!”
“Rafael, I am not a schemer. I do not give enough fucks about you to have anyone waste their time following you around. We can just consider this my lucky break. So here is what will happen—” I walked closer to his desk, and he backed away. “You are going to drop this custody battle, you are going to leave me and my family the fuck alone, and if you do not do that, all it will take is one click from my lawyer to have this recording sent to Judge Dalton.”
Rafael’s throat bobbed.
“What do you think the judge will say when she finds out that you only wanted custody of a four-year-old so you could milk her for cash?”
“Oh, you are so full of shit,” Rafael growled. “She came frommyfucking balls, so you know I have the right!”
“No,” I snapped, storming around the desk and gripping his collar. “You have no fucking right, and you are lucky I did not rip your balls off the moment Eloise told me about you.” I shoved him backward until his back was against the wall. He tried acting like he wasn’t afraid, but I saw it in his eyes. The fear swimming in them.
“If you do not drop it, the judge will know everything, and she will leave custody to me. And once that’s finished, I will countersue you foreverythingyour minuscule life is worth for trying to ruin mine. You know that I love her and that she is better off with me. Do not fight me on this.”
“Fine, whatever,” Rafael said. “Just get the fuck off of me.”
I kept hold of his collar, still glaring down at him. Then, after counting to ten in my head and forcing myself to calm down, I shoved him away and stepped backward.
“Call your lawyer. Now.”
Rafael blinked at me several times, almost as if he thought I was joking. But I was not, and he fucking knew I was not, so he sat down in his chair and picked up his cell phone.
His hands shook as he tapped the screen a few times, then pressed the phone to his ear.
“Put it on speakerphone,” I ordered.
He released an irritated sigh but did as he was told.
The phone rang a few times before a male answered.
“Hey, Jim. It’s Rafael.”
“Hey, Rafael. What’s up? Gotta make this quick—I’m on my way to a hearing.”
“Yeah, listen. I need to drop the custody battle.”
The line was quiet for a few seconds. “What are you talking about?”
“You heard me. I need to drop it. Today. Send a notice or a letter or whatever to the judge and let her know I no longer want custody.”
“Uh ... okay. What’s going on, man? We had this bagged.”
