Redemption: A British Stepbrother Romance (39 page)

I
should have thought
this through. Why did I always have to act on instinct?

Zach called my bluff. He went through with it. April had been fired and she wouldn’t return my calls.

Zach had been right; I was an idiot. No matter how good I was as a lawyer, I still couldn’t control my base emotions. I’d reacted with my fists and now everything good in my life had disappeared in an instant.

I went to April’s apartment, but she didn’t answer the door. I knew where she would go when times were hard, so I hopped on a flight and went back to New York.

She wasn’t there either. Unfortunately my Mom was.

“I want a word with you,” Mom yelled as I tried to sneak up to my room. I felt like a teenager sneaking back into the house after a night of drinking. I’d never been good at being subtle.

“What about?” I asked grumpily.

“You know what about. Are you going to explain what the hell happened with this Jacob situation?”

“We’ve already had this conversation. I fucked up, that’s what happened. I forgot to run a conflict check.”

“Don’t give me that crap. I know when you’re lying to me. I always have. I checked the conflict log on the database. You did run that conflict check.”

“There’s no conflict check on the system,” I replied. “I checked.”

“That’s because you deleted it. I’m the managing partner, Foster, I have ways of finding these things out. You ran the conflict check and it came back negative. How did that happen?”

“Don’t you have ways of finding that out?” I asked sarcastically.

“I’m giving you a chance to explain, Foster. A chance to tell me what the hell is going on here.”

What’s going on is that I’ve completely fucked everything up
.

I didn’t even care about the fallout for me. I was going to get shit for this, and I’d almost certainly end up with a black mark on my record, but worst of all, I’d lost April.

She’d done nothing wrong in all this. It wasn’t her fault that some low-life took an interest in her and made her life hell. Then I came along, and my attempts to make things better had the complete opposite effect.

“Fine,” I said, exasperated. I just want to get this conversation over with. “I deleted the file.”

“That doesn’t explain how the conflict check came back negative.”

“April made a typo in the name, and she forgot to include the complete list of all parties. I changed the spreadsheet to hide her mistakes.”

“I figured as much,” Mom said. She didn’t look the least bit surprised. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why.”

I let that comment slip by without response. I didn’t have the energy for it right now. “What’s going to happen now? Is there any way we can salvage this?”

“I already have,” Mom said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “I’m not just a pretty face you know, Foster. I have connections. Connections at Cooper & Cooper.”

“You’ll never convince Zach to drop this. He’s fucking evil and he has a grudge against April. And against me as well. I may have accidentally broken his jaw.”

“Accidentally?” Now it was Mom’s turn to raise an eyebrow quizzically.

“Long story.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve had words with his father, and they’re going to keep this information to themselves. Zach hadn’t gotten around to making a formal complaint and he’s not going to.”

“How on Earth did you swing that?” I asked. Mom had achieved a lot in her career, but this was truly impressive.

“Let’s just say I have information on what the father gets up to without his wife’s knowledge.”

“Oh Mom, please don’t tell me you and him--”

“God no,” she snapped. “Give me some credit. But I know some of the women
and men
that he’s had affairs with. He won’t want that information getting out.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I guess I owe you one.”

“You can repay me by fixing whatever it is that’s happening between you and April. I want this to be a happy family, okay?”

I nodded. “I’m trying, but it may be too late.”

“You’ll find a way. You’re my son.”

Mom kissed me on the cheek and then walked off into the kitchen to start cooking, as if nothing had happened. I tried to call April and tell her the good news, but she didn’t answer. I didn’t bother leaving a message. She ignored the ten previous ones I’d left.

“Foster, can I have a word?”

I spun round and saw Pierce standing at the top of the stairs. “I’m kind of busy right now,” I lied.

“It won’t take a minute.”

I sighed, and walked up to the top of the stairs. No doubt Pierce had plenty to say to me after I’d effectively ruined his daughter’s life.

“What is it?” I asked tersely.

“I overheard that conversation with your mom.”
Shit
. “Why did you take the blame for all this? You covered for April’s mistake.”

Once again I tried to shrug casually, but even after practicing in the mirror it still came across as awkward and ungainly. Was it just physically impossible for someone of my size to shrug and look nonchalant?

“I’m the senior associate, and she’s just a law student,” I replied. “I have to take the blame when things go wrong.”

“That’s not it,” Pierce said. “Kathleen said ‘you don’t have to be a genius to figure out why.’ Unfortunately I’m not a genius. We both know that. So why don’t you explain it to me.”

Pierce was a lot cleverer than he was letting on. He might not have achieved much in his career, but he’d married two incredibly successful lawyers, so he couldn’t be stupid. And right now he was playing me. Just like Mom, he’d figured out what was going on between April and me. He just wanted confirmation.

“She’s family,” I replied. “I felt duty-bound to cover for her.”

“You’re lying. There’s covering for someone, and then there’s going to a lot of effort to keep someone out of trouble and taking the blame yourself. You stood to get disbarred for this. I’ll ask you again. Why did you do it?”

Pierce still sounded friendly, even as he accused me of lying to his face. He might not sound so friendly when he knows the truth.

“I did it because I… I did it because I love her. I’m in love with your daughter.”

“You love April?” Pierce asked.

Now he did look shocked. Maybe he hadn’t known after all. Or perhaps just didn’t realize I loved her. I hadn’t realized it myself until I said the words out loud.

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

“I had no idea. I mean, I suspected there was something going on between you two, but I didn’t realize you loved each other.”

“We don’t,” I said reluctantly. “I love her, but the feeling isn’t mutual.”

Pierce smiled, and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You know, for someone who isn’t short on experience with women, you don’t really know a lot about them, do you?”

I knew a lot of intimate details about April, but Pierce probably didn’t want to hear that. “What do you mean?”

“Just talk to her.”

“She won’t take my calls.”

“Give her time. She’s stubborn. She gets that from her mother.”

“Thanks.” Pierce smiled and headed downstairs. “Does this mean you don’t mind?” I called out after him. “About April and I?”

“That remains to be seen. If you make her happy, then I’m fine with it. If you hurt her… well, let’s just say that all the muscle and tattoos in the world can’t counter the rage of an angry father.”

I believed him.

I emailed April and told her that the situation was sorted. I didn’t expect her to talk to me any time soon, but at least she wouldn’t have to worry about her career.

I’d give her some space for a few days. There was something I needed to do. It might not be enough to make it up to her, but it was a start.

I
still had
a career as a lawyer, but I wasn’t sure I wanted one.

The law school told me to spend a week thinking over my decision. A career counselor called me to talk things through, but it didn’t help much. I couldn’t tell them all the details, so my career counselor just insisted that I would get another job easily with such stellar grades.

I read over Foster’s email for the hundredth time. He’d been light on the details, but apparently Kathleen had fixed the situation. He’d left voicemails apologizing for being selfish and promising to make it up to me, but I’d not returned any of his calls.

Even Dad had been in touch to tell me not to go too hard on Foster. Was there anyone Foster couldn’t charm?

Bryan found out I’d lost my job, although I’d no idea how, so he showed up at my apartment with a bottle of wine and a large tub of ice cream.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Bryan asked.

“Do I have to?”

“No, you don’t
have
to. However, if you don’t talk then I shall sit here and eat this ice cream without sharing any of it.”

“That’s not fair,” I yelled, as I tried to grab a spoon from his hand. He held it out of reach and I didn’t have the energy to fight him.

“Life’s not fair,” Bryan replied. “I thought you would have noticed that by now.” He dug his spoon into the banana-flavored ice cream, and fed it slowly into his mouth. “This is
really
good, by the way.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you. There was a fuck up at work, and I ended up getting placed on a project that I’d already worked on for Cooper & Cooper representing the other side.”

“Oh shit,” Bryan remarked.

His face went serious and he quickly passed me a spoon. I dug into the ice cream and scooped out my reward.

“Yeah, ‘oh shit’ indeed. I don’t know how I didn’t realize, but I have such a bad memory for names, and I’d never been exposed to enough of the facts to spot that I was working on the same case.”

“At least you didn’t do anything corrupt. The only problem is how the situation looks to the ethics committee of whatever state bar you apply to. Unfortunately, they tend to come down hard on even the appearance of impropriety.”

“The situation has been resolved. Kathleen sorted it all out. I don’t know how, but she has.”

“Oh, well, that’s good. Isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“But you’re still miserable, and cooped up in your apartment like an old cat lady, just without the cats.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Problems with Foster.”

I nodded again, but Bryan waited for me to give more details. Slowly but surely, he was teasing all the information out of me. “I thought we had something for a second. I even thought he felt the same way. I’m a complete idiot.”

“You are most definitely not an idiot. You’re the cleverest person I know, and I know some smart people.”

“I should never have got involved with him. And to make things worse, he’s my fucking stepbrother. I’m going to have to see him every Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus whatever other forced family events I get dragged along to.”

“You should talk to him,” Bryan said. “Just give him a chance to explain his side of events.”

“I know what happened. He put his career before mine. I doubt he’s lost any sleep over all this.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you.”

Bryan had a guilty look on his face, like he’d said something he shouldn’t. He ate another scoop of ice cream and tried to look calm, but I could tell he was hiding something.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

I snatched the spoon out of his hand, and held it out of his reach. “If you don’t talk, I’m not going to let you eat any more ice cream.”

“I can’t say anything yet.”

“Then you don’t eat.” I took the ice cream from Bryan and helped myself to another scoop, which I let slowly melt in my mouth, and added orgasmic noises for good effect.

“Alright, alright. All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t be so quick to write him off. Foster’s one of the good guys.”

“He’s a heartless corporate lawyer who doesn’t give a shit about me or anyone else,” I snapped back. The words sounded too cruel, but he’d made me feel that way. He only had himself to blame.

“That’s not true. Just give him a chance.”

“He’s had enough chances,” I replied.

“Hang in there,” Bryan said. “I promise things are going to get better soon.”

“They’d better,” I said, as I handed Bryan back his spoon. He hadn’t told me much, but if I ate all this ice cream by myself, I’d end up having to buy a new wardrobe with the last of my money from my summer working at Arrington & Hedges.

I checked my phone, but there were no messages or missed calls from Foster. He hadn’t been in touch for days. Had he given up on me? I considered replying to one of his old messages, but it had been too long now.

When Bryan left, I tried to chill out in front of the television, but couldn’t concentrate on anything. Every television show I watched reminded me of how shit my life was right now. I loved watching legal dramas, despite the inaccurate portrayal of life in a law firm, but they were a big no-go right now.

Similarly, any show with students in made me feel like shit, because they were always so optimistic. I wanted to scream at the screen, and tell them that life was hopeless and the real world sucked.

In the end, I picked up my laptop, and flicked through the prospectus for law school. I still intended to drop out, but if I was going to finish the third year, I needed to find some classes that actually interested me.

I thought I’d had this all planned out. I had a spreadsheet saved with all the classes I intended to take in my third year, but all those classes focused on a career in corporate law. There was no way I could spend a year studying for a career I didn’t want.

While logged in to the law school’s databases, I decided to check the court filings in the Jacob case to make sure Zach hadn’t gone ahead and filed anything relating to Foster’s fuck up with the conflict check.

Kathleen had apparently sorted it out, but if a motion had been filed with the court, then all her powers of persuasion wouldn’t mean jack shit.

I didn’t find anything. Just to be sure, I looked up Foster’s legal profile on one of the legal search engines in case there was any mention of it there. Again, nothing showed up.

Just before I closed the tab, my eyes were drawn to the most recent filing under Foster’s name. Yesterday he had filed a motion in the PorTupe case. There wasn’t much unusual about that. In large cases like that one, motions were being filed on an almost weekly basis. Most of them were pointless, but this one was definitely not.

Foster had filed a motion to withdraw as legal counsel. That was a huge deal. While a client had free reign to pick and choose their attorney as they desired, attorneys had an obligation not to abandon their clients after commencing representation. Not to mention, the case would be in court soon, and that meant a chance in legal counsel would cause untold delays.

The court would tear Foster a new one for this.

I opened the motion and read through it quickly. The motion was short and to the point. Foster was withdrawing as legal counsel after uncovering information about the client that made it “unconscionable for me to continue as counsel.”

No facts were included due to client confidentiality requirements, but I knew Foster was referring to the discrimination. He’d done it. He’d dropped his biggest client, and had done so at the worst possible time for them.

Bryan had been right. Foster deserved a second chance. The court might not give him one, but I sure as hell would.