Page 55 of Under My Skin

“It is.” Glenn opened his briefcase and removed several documents. “As I’m sure you’re aware, shortly after signing with the Dragons and obtaining representation with this firm, Mr. Hicks elected to get a new phone number, as he had started to get several calls from newspapers, radio stations, and television stations requesting sound bites and interviews. At that time, he chose to forward calls on his old phone number to Ms. Preston so she would be able to field requests for interviews. He informed her that some personal calls might come through to this number by mistake and requested that she either provide those callers with his new phone number or take a message and pass it on to him.”

He slid four copies of the same document – my full contract with Garman and Garman, including the addendum where all parties had agreed to the call forwarding – across the table, one in front of each of the people across from us. They all started thumbing through the pages with knitted brows, like they were trying to figure out how they’d been derelict in their duties.

“That is a full copy of Mr. Hicks’s contract with Garman and Garman, including an addendum which outlines provisions for this service,” he continued. “It has come to his attention that there have been several instances where she did not carry out those responsibilities.”

“It wasonephone call, Braden,” Vicki whined like a small child who had missed naptime. “I told you how sorry I was, honey.”

I raised my eyes from the table, pinning her with a deadly glare. If looks could kill, she would have been incinerated on the spot.

“Call me ‘honey’one more time,” I gritted out through clenched teeth while clutching the arms of the most uncomfortable office chair on the planet in a death grip, using a kind of restraint I never knew I was capable of. “And as unacceptable as that bullshit with my cousin was, youknowit’s not what he’s referring to.”

“Wh-what?” she stammered with wide eyes, trying harder than normal to appear like a dumb bimbo. “I-I have no idea… What are you talking about, sweetie?”

A growl rumbled in my chest as I started to press my fists against the table and rise from my chair. Malachi gripped my arm tightly, yanking me back down.

“Let it go, B,” he said quietly. “She’s not worth it.”

But that was just it. Vicki might not have been worth a fucking millisecond of my time…but there was someone in my life whowasworth it. Who was wortheverything. And theWicked Witch of the Southeast in front of me had done every conceivable thing possible to destroy any chance I had of ever having a relationship with that woman and the child she was caring for.Mychild.

And now that same vile, despicable excuse for a human being was sitting across a table from me, calling me by cutesy pet names and trying to act like she was completely blameless.

“As Ms. Preston has already admitted, one such instance was a phone call from Mr. Hicks’s cousin, Jameson, attempting to inform him that his uncle, whom he was very close with, had passed away,” Glenn said. “Due to not receiving this information, Mr. Hicks was unable to book a flight to travel to his hometown in Kansas and attend funeral services.”

Lloyd and his younger brother, Louis, both turned to Vicki with narrowed eyes, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

“I…I…” she stammered, then heaved out an annoyed sigh. “How is thatmyfault? His cousin should have tried harder to reach him. And if Braden was really so close with his uncle, why was the only phone number his cousin had for him an old number? I’m sorry he missed the funeral, but that’s not on me.”

Breathing in through my nose, I held it for a count of four seconds, then exhaled for a count of four. And then I did it again. And again. Until I felt in control enough to be able to respond professionally rather than giving in to the anger that hadn’t left my system for the past three days, ever since my entire world as I knew it had come crumbling down at my feet.

“It’s your fault because I paid you additional money on top of my normal contract for a service, which you failed to provide,” I clipped out. “And like I said, the incident with my cousin is theleastof my concerns right now.”

Glenn put a hand on my shoulder, which made me look in his direction. He gave me a slight shake of his head, reminding me to let him handle what was coming next. And I wasgrateful, because I wasn’t capable of staying levelheaded enough to keep my words about what she’d done to Amara and Dani professional right now. It was too soon. I was too raw and angry and heartbroken for logic to enter this equation.

“Mr. Hicks was also made aware over the weekend that a young woman he had a brief romantic relationship with last summer attempted to call his old phone number several times to inform him that she was pregnant. When that young woman tragically passed away in the hospital from a postpartum infection, leaving her sister to raise the child alone, one final attempt was made to inform Mr. Hicks of the situation. Not only did Ms. Preston fail to notify Mr. Hicks of evenoneof the six separate phone calls, but she actually took it upon herself to attempt to pay this young woman off to terminate the pregnancy, and when that didn’t produce the desired results, to threaten to have her arrested for stalking and harassment and sue her for defamation.”

Louis looked over at Vicki, his eyes as hard and black as stone. I could tell he knew where this was heading already. To the place I hadn’t wanted to go, but Glenn had talked me into: a lawsuit. Something that could destroy the entire credibility and reputation of this company.

“Vicki, what the?—”

“He’s…he’s lying! I never got any calls! I…I didn’t…” Her voice was panicked, like she was trying to find any possible loophole to slither her way out of this. Just like the snake she was.

Glenn pulled the next documents out of his briefcase: screenshots that Dani had provided of Amara’s call logs going back seven months, and records of the two calls she’d made on her phone. Complete with the length of each call.

“These are records of calls that were made to Mr. Hicks’s old phone number, complete with time and date stamps and thelength of each phone call. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you keep recordings of calls taken on office phones, do you not?”

“We do. Allow me a minute…” Bob, the in-house attorney for the company, looked at the call logs and then started clicking and typing on his laptop.

Not even ten seconds later, a loud electronic beep sounded from the laptop, followed by a recording of Vicki’s high-pitched voice.

“Garman and Garman, Vicki Preston speaking.”

“Um, hi,” came Dani’s hoarse voice, like she’d been crying her eyes out. “My name’s Daniela Ramos. My sister, Amara Ramos?—”

My throat closed up so tight that I could barely take a breath as I realized what I was listening to. This was Dani’s final attempt to reach me. Mere days after she’d lost her sister, when she was still trying to wrap her mind around the enormous responsibility of caring for a baby who had been less than a week old at the time.

Mybaby, who Vicki had robbed me of the chance to bond with during the first month of his life.

“Oh, my God. What iswithyou people?!” Vicki screamed at the top of her lungs. “What part ofharassment chargesdon’t you understand?”

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