Page 94 of Tailored for You

“I was told his access to the fund was being revoked due to a morality clause violation,” Antonia continued, not looking up from the pages in front of her. “Take a look at these.”

She handed over another folder. The words were in legalese, which, to me, was as foreign as the Italian Enzo was constantly muttering.

“The highlighted sections are his violations. There are stipulations and clauses that leave little grey area. Should he violate any of them, the trustees have the right to withhold the funds. He gets a percentage of the fund every year, which for him is ten million dollars.” She sighed. “Why they are choosing to invoke the morality clause is more about the fact that his family can no longer ignore how frivolous he’s being. It reflects badly on the family and their business. A thirty-six-year-old man-child who frequently screws up deals is not a good look.”

She waved another folder, but didn’t give it to me. “Those pictures are the tip of the iceberg. Junior is bad at business and has no idea how to properly cover his tracks when he crosses into the wrong side of the law. For every indiscretion you have, he has three. Hopefully, his team will understand that and have a come-to-Jesus talk with him that will make him back down.” She sighed. “I’m even less concerned about his trust fund. His family is serious about enforcing the rules, and they have before. I’ve seen them do it.”

“Didn’t your father have to handle some contract issues that he’d signed without reading or sending over?” Sly asked. She gave me a long-suffering look but didn’t acknowledge that Sly had spoken.

Antonia flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, placing her laptop on the coffee table. She typed without looking up. “My father has known Charles Senior for most of his life. My family firm oversees all their funds. Charles Junior has been running amok and has only gotten sloppier in the way he handles clients and investors since he stepped into the role his father handed to him.”

She looked up from her laptop and frowned at me. “He’s a loser with a lot of money and self-entitlement. He’s the father of your child, but I can’t imagine what it’s like to deal with his sorry ass every day. That must suck. I’m sorry I couldn’t help before. I am glad you took my recommendations. Your last lawyer did well. I’ll finish it for you.”

“It was helpful. And the last guy was honored that you suggested him.” I smiled at the memory. The shocked look on my previous divorce attorney’s face when I showed him her actual recommendation still made me laugh. He couldn’t say yes fast enough.

“Good. He should be.” She closed her laptop. “I’m heading back to my office. Read over the files. I made annotations with my suggestions for the next steps. Email me if you have questions or ideas that overlap. I also want you to send me every communication you’ve had with him in the last two years. Any hostile or what you perceived as retaliatory behavior. Don’t leave anything out.”

She stood up.

“I’ll walk you out.” Sly stood up, too.

“No. I can leave perfectly fine on my own.” She wrinkled her nose. If she didn’t look so murderous, I would’ve thought the action looked cute. “I know where the door is.”

Antonia strutted out, so fast there was a poof of smoke behind her.

Sly turned to Enzo and me. “It’s been fun, guys. Ma will be in touch. She wanted me to let you know.” He pointed at Rafael; “You’re still the biggest asshole I know.”

He rubbed his hands together as he walked to the door. “Got to go catch my girl before I lose her again.”

Sly prowled out, like a man on a mission.

“Should I be worried?” I asked. “Antonia Mancini is the best. I don’t want him running her back across the country.”

“I will make sure that doesn’t happen,” Enzo reassured me.

I flipped through the folder that detailed the custody agreement. It was four pages long, detailing every rule and aspect of my life as it pertained to Harper. Each page had one yellow-highlighted section.

Charles had pushed certain clauses that fell entirely on me to fulfill, like putting Harper in golf and tennis. We were to split the costs.

“This clause is crap.” I pointed to the section for Enzo. “I enrolled her in specific tennis and golf programs, because look,” I pointed to a line, “he went as far as to stipulate where it was acceptable for her to take the classes. She hated them. It was torture for both of us. She wanted to be an ice princess and a soccer star. Charles vetoed it because he sucked at soccer as a kid, according to Minnie.”

“I’m not going to force her to go to things she hates when she’s interested in other things. And the responsibility always fell on me to get her there.” I read the other sections.

The one about meeting our respective partners was highlighted, but a note in the margins made me hopeful.

“He was awful.” I gripped the pages. “He still is, but he showed me exactly who he was during this process.”

“I cared about him.” I swallowed, unable to look up. “I don’t know if I loved him, but marrying him when I found out I was pregnant felt like the right thing to do. And then he disappeared.”

“He missed Harper’s birth because he was at a meeting that went over and didn’t hear his phone ringing. At least that was his excuse.” I never believed that story. “I filed the moment I got out of the hospital, after I saw pictures of him on Page Six, partying with Apple. There were some others of him leaving with her and some of those influencer models. Once he was outed, it was like he went harder to be seen and photographed.”

“Charles fought tooth and nail, even though I knew he didn’t want to be in a relationship and had no intentions of being monogamous.” I sighed.

“He was used to being a little prince. Everything was handed to him; no one pushed back and told him what he was doing was wrong,” Enzo said. “Where does Apple come in? They were attached for a long time.”

“I think she was behind the pictures leaking to the media.” I’ve never been able to prove it, nor do I care at this point.

“If you want to put a stop to him yanking your chain in a permanent way, let me know,” Rafael said.