8.Do you have any siblings?
Knowing my father, anything’s a possibility …
9. How important is marriage to you?
Very important – given I make a serious living from their termination.
10.What are you hoping to achieve from signing up to HeartSync?
A fucking miracle.
Cleo isn't joking. Divorce Daddy has serious issues. But I’m not sure HeartSync is the right company to help him.
Unless …
ChapterTwo
CILLIAN
One day earlier
Monday 27thNovember
I don’t believe in true love.
I don’t believe in soulmates.
And I don’t believe in ‘until death do us part.’
The only girl who’s ever stolen my heart is six years old, three-and-a-half feet tall, has pigtails and a lisp, and calls me daddy.
Being a single father is tough. It makes standing in court tearing strangers’ marriages apart feel effortless in comparison. But I wouldn't change it for the world.
Phoebe wasn't planned. Not by me at least, but she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Her mother, Teagan, on the other hand, is a piece of work.
Any woman who leaves their partner and child for a man they met while away on a girl’s weekend in Marbella, doesn’t deserve to be a parent, let alone to a little girl as awesome as Phoebe.
Teagan blows in and out of our lives like a tornado, leaving me to repair the destruction each time she leaves. Which is, coincidentally, each time she gets a new boyfriend, or the offer of an opportunity to party somewhere sunny.
And people ask why I don’t date.
Even if I had the time, I don’t have the inclination.
Not after Teagan.
Not after my parents.
And not with what I see day in and day out in the courtroom.
I nod at the stoic-looking judge at the front of the high-ceilinged courtroom, straighten my impeccable suit, and congratulate my client on her divorce. The terms are everything she asked for, and I managed to secure her more assets than she’d dared to dream of.
And that’s exactly why I’m the best divorce lawyer this country has ever seen.
My work here is done.
A quick glance at the chunky Swiss metal on my wrist reveals it’s too late to go back to the office. The staff wouldn't thank me for it anyway. They’re all terrified of me. Well, except Beth, my PA. We spend way too much time together for me to maintain the marmoreal mask in her presence.
I button my jacket, grab my briefcase and head out into the crisp November evening with two things on my mind: a neat whiskey, and a hug from my baby girl.
