“No, no.” He shook his head. Breaking away from Ana, he moved across the foyer in my direction, unfolding a piece of paper from the inside of his suit jacket as he did so. “We stopped by to take some things back to Ana’s guest house. Since it may take a while for us to negotiate what will and will not be going with her, the judge granted us temporary custody over someof the property in order to make her comfortable during our proceedings.”
The second he was within reach, I snatched the paper out of his hand.
Judge Matthews. County Court of Forest Hill. An order of compliance and notice of a filing.
The rest of the paragraph, where it explained in a bunch of legal jargon, essentially stated that Ana had full rights to seize temporary custody of any item that was designated as ‘unused for more than three years’ in order to create a ‘safe and comfortable’ space for her and her unborn child (the legal heir to the estate) until proceedings could begin.
At the bottom it was signed by the judge and notarized by the Ellington Heights township clerk.
What the fuck.
“We made sure to only grab some of the guest bedroom furniture,” Steele explained further. “Your staff let us know it hasn’t been used in... a very long time.”
The jab wasn’t unnoticed. Nor was his professional tone that bordered on condescending.
Again, the man had balls. If we weren’t playing for the opposite team, I’d consider hiring him as another one of my personal lawyers. But as it stood, he was public enemy number two.
Folding the paper in half, it was a conscious effortnotto rip it up in front of him. “I never gave you permission to enter the home.”
“You didn’t need to. We were given the access code to your gate a few weeks ago.”
My eyes rolled over his shoulder to focus on Ana who remained rooted to where she stood right outside of the archway. It hadn’t crossed my mind before this but her showingup at my door a few weeks ago unannounced must’ve been when she’d gotten the code.
How, I wasn’t sure. Though, it was safe to say that would be changing the second they were off my property.
“Okay.” Reeling in my anger was difficult, especially when all I wanted to do was get them the fuck out of my house as quickly as possible. The problem was the cops were more likely to throw me in handcuffs if I started threatening anyone, no matter how justified and deserved it was. “I’m going to be straight with you, I know exactly what you’re doing.”
Steele let out a short laugh. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s not his. And you know that.”
To his credit, the expression that crossed his face looked like genuine confusion. To the point where if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve fallen for it instantly and backtracked my accusations.
Being from the corporate world, or rather the upper echelon of it, I was accustomed to people trying to pull a fast one on me. Either to get a better deal, screw me and my company over, or simply cause chaos in order to confuse my shareholders into backing out and finding somewhere else to burn their wealth.
My specialty in smelling out bullshit had felt like a curse growing up, one that ostracized me from a lot of my peers because I demanded authenticity over popularity. Now, though, it was my super power. One I used to protect myself along with my assets.
“I’m... not sure I follow, Mr. McAllister,” he said.
Stepping forward, I watched the moment of hesitation in Steele’s eyes as he contemplated giving in to his baser instincts to step back and give me more space. Whatever he was reading on my face, I hoped it was making his heart pound.
“The baby, Steele. It’s not his. It’syours.”
His lips parted in surprise.
Heels clacking over marbled floors dragged my attention away from him briefly in order to focus it on the Russian model storming over to me.
“You lie,” she spat out.
“If that’s the case, you wouldn’t mind doing a DNA test right now.” I jerked my head back toward the front doors. “Come with me and we’ll settle this once and for all.”
Steele moved to put his body in between Ana and I. “Mr. McAllister, the DNA test was already done. The results were sent to your lawyer to give to you.”
“You know what’s funny about going to any medical center?” My gaze flitted between them both. “They have cameras set up everywhere. Even in the parking lot.”
Both of them remained quiet, even as I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out my phone, bringing up the picture stills Ted had sent over to me after we’d gotten off the phone. Zooming in on one of the clearer shots, I flipped it around to show them both.
“Given the timeline of your relationship, and the fact that my dad was snipped long before you met him, I’m pretty confident that I’m right.”
