“I think that gives us a good idea as to how much of a fucking bastard he is,” I said, watching my brother and trying to weigh up his expression. “Katie, you’ll have someone assigned to you for most of the time. I think you’ve worked out the details with my brother.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m intending on staying here when I can and helping Nick out with the twins. I don’t need to be back in London for another few days. There’s an awards dinner where I’m meant to be presenting and we have mediation that Dean’s insisted on the same day. He’ll have picked that date as he’ll have known what I was scheduled to do the night before. Other than that, I can do what I need to remotely.” She gave Nick a grateful look that was followed by a wail from one of the twins. Katie stood as if she’d been pulled by an unseen force. “I’ll go,” she said with a small smile.
“What chance has she got of being granted more than what’s in the pre-nup?” I said, hearing Katie talking to the girls.
Claire smiled coyly. “She’s got me as a lawyer, so the chances are very good. There’s been precedent set and I think we can invalidate the pre-nup anyway given the circumstances under which it was signed. Katie kept all of her emails and messages; there’s evidence that the pre-nup is invalid on three counts: she wasn’t given adequate time for consideration; she didn’t have her own counsel and Lacey gave incomplete information as to his assets – they weren’t fully disclosed. I don’t think a judge will let the pre-nup stand and I’m not being over-confident there.”
Nick nodded. “But then Lacey is going to become more aggressive and do what he can to buy her off or scare her into taking a lesser deal. What’s with the mediation?”
“Couples wanting to divorce are encouraged to go through mediation first to make the resolution less expensive. The idea is that they agree terms on asset division and child maintenance or custody beforehand. Lacey’s insisted on it, which makes me suspect he’ll be trying to appear amenable in front of a judge and use the mediation to subtly threaten Katie,” Claire said. “What else are you two doing to keep her safe?”
“Research,” Nick said. “And then we watch and wait.”
“Hacking?” Claire murmured. “I always knew you’d put that degree to good use.”
Nick grinned. “You’re not going to make me feel guilty. I’m doing it for good, but it’s probably better you don’t think any more about it.”
She gave him a look that suggested she knew better on many counts and the conversation changed as Katie led the twins towards us, their sticky hands held out like weapons. Clearly there had been some form of sugary shit in the playpen.
Two of our employees turned up at the cottage around midday, a van full of extra security systems to be placed around the cottage, main house and the driveway and other paths into the property. In some ways, the Callaghan estate was a nightmare to make secure, given its size and the lack of perimeter fencing, but it was in the middle of nowhere, the village a good mile away and not near to any main roads or motorways. Any strangers would be observed, even any new vehicles, so if Lacey did start sniffing round, or more likely one of his minions, it wouldn’t be unnoticed.
Denico Montessi had worked for my brother since he’d formed the company and had been our number one security guard. He was tall and broad, with a head full of tight curls and a broad grin. He looked more like a musician than someone who could knock you unconscious with an intelligent squeeze and that was part of his success. He was inconspicuous. Nick had met him in the Marines and when they had left, they’d kept in touch. When Katie was in London, he’d be the one to keep an eye on her, so he’d come over with Gareth who was a technical geek and wiring wizard. Katie and Claire had disappeared into Oxford to pick up some more bits of girl shit for Katie now she’d figured staying longer was a smart move. That left me alone with my brother, given that Gareth had huge headphones on so he could listen to his eclectic playlists without getting grief from the rest of us.
“Only you would land yourself a nanny like this,” I said as we took a break from both strumming on our keyboards, him doing whatever investigative work he was busy with, me from negotiating a contract with an actor’s agent who was filming in London.
Nick gave me a shit eating grin and put his laptop down on the ground, casting a glance at the twins who were sprawled out asleep on their rug on the grass. “It’ll be helpful,” he said. “It’s nice for the girls to have a woman around more too. I should probably think about getting a full-time nanny at some point.”
“Maybe Katie will take the position,” I said, unable to resist prodding the wasps’ nest. He’d been almost monk-like since becoming their only parent, something I’d enjoyed pissing him off with.
Nick rubbed his foot into the grass. “Katie’s got a plateful of shit to deal with. If looking after Margot and Kitty for a few days or weeks helps her feel real then that’s all well and good by me, but there won’t be anything long term with her staying around.”
“I wasn’t just thinking about work,” I said. “She’s hot, and you know, when you’re not covered in baby drool you’re passable…”
“I think the baby drool makes you catnip for women,” Nick said. “If I take the twins to nursery or the parent and baby mornings, I end up surrounded by mothers who think I’m some sort of child guru. Three have tried slipping me their numbers and I’m pretty sure one was married.”
I laughed. My brother had never had an issue with women but he’d never been a dick. The twin’s mother had been an old friend and they hadn’t been in a relationship when she’d gotten pregnant, just the scratching of a mutual itch. They’d opted to co-parent and no one was in any doubt that they would make it work and then she’d died. “You weren’t tempted?”
Nick’s focus was on the twins. “Not then. It’s only in the past few weeks they’ve been sleeping through the night. Between them and work all I've had a hard-on for is sleep and a decent craft beer.”
“Katie?”
“Would be taking advantage. And I don’t know who would be doing the taking. She likes the twins and she’s not got too much to do while she’s here except update her website and social media shit. She’s got that awards dinner in a couple of night’s time,” Nick said, picking up his laptop.
“Are you going with her to that?”
“No. Denico will. She’ll stay in a hotel which we’ll book for two nights – the one after the mediation and the night of the awards. I’m going to stay here,” Nick said. “There are issues for the al-Bukhari family’s security when they travel next month. Errant step-daughter.”
“I’m sure you can sort it,” I said, lounging back in the sunshine. I enjoyed my job, as busy as it could be, and I definitely preferred my role to Nick’s.
“How’s Claire? I hear you went out last night for dinner,” Nick said, asking the question I knew he’d been dying to since this morning.
“It was good.”
“By good does that mean your friends? Or just old fuck buddies? Or more?”
“We were never fuck buddies, man,” I said. “You know that.”
Nick chuckled. “You’re too easy to wind up. Look, K, I know you’ve never stopped feeling shit for her, but when she ended it or cut things off because she never really ended it, you were gutted and I still don’t think you’ve ever gotten over that. I don’t want the same thing to happen again. Can’t you find yourself a nice bit of London tail?”
