Page 20 of My Bossy Billionaire Attorney

I sigh when I see it’s my father.

“I’m at work,” I say before he can speak.

“I’m sure you can spare an hour,” he says. “I’m close to your office. Meet me.”

Then he ends the call.

I rub my fingers through my hair in exasperation, wishing I had ignored the call. But I know he would have sent someone instead. It’s better to attend to him than to have him resort to other measures.

If only he would read the room—the man never had the insight to get what I was trying to tell him. He walked into a room expecting everyone there to like him or want to grant him favors.

I mean, it worked while he was still one of the best attorneys in the country, but he’s been out of the game and retired for a long time now that nobody turns when he walks into a room anymore.

So, he’s taken it out on me—demanding my attention when I don’t have the time.

In a way, I relate to Savannah. We could both do without our fathers.

***

“No,” I say the second I approach the table and I see the woman seated next to my father. “I’m not doing this. Sorry,” I say to her, “but whatever he told you, it’s not happening.”

“He—” she starts and ends up flustered.

I give her a polite smile.

“I know. He probably said many nice things about me, and you had the impression that I’m a nice person. I’m sorry, but I’m not. I’m not looking for someone to date either. That is the furthest thing from my mind.”

With a glare at my father and a huff, she gets up and storms off. I take her seat.

“You could have been nice,” he says.

“And feed the seeds of delusion you planted? No,” I shake my head. “I will not do that. Maybe you’ll run out of women at some point, and the ones who already know I’m not interested will begin to avoid you.”

My father frowns.

“Michael, you’re not getting any younger. I told you to pursue your dreams and stay focused, but you’ve already accomplished everything. You’re a partner with one of the top firms in the city, and they rake in a cumulative revenue that amounts to billions annually.”

“At this point, you should be thinking about settling down. Getting a wife. Having kids. So that you can retire early like I did.”

It is on the tip of my tongue to point out that he did, in fact, get married and have a kid while racing to the peak of his career. He threw his responsibilities aside to focus on that career and, when he finally decided to retire, it was then he wanted to build a relationship with his son.

But it is an argument we’ve had one too many times, so I let it go.

“How’s your mom? Do you still talk to her these days?”

As expected. When I'm not interested, he goes to my mother. My mother left him when he announced his retirement and then he went on to marry another woman.

I nod. “Yeah. I do. She’s happily married and on a trip around Europe. You should try that. Get on a yacht, find another country, and settle there.”

He shakes his head.

“I want to be close to my family. I did think about retiring to the Maldives, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to make the trip back and forth once you get married and have kids. I’ll need to see my grandchildren as often as possible.”

“You’re not going to get them from me,” I say.

He frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I meant what I said.”

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