Page 57 of Until You

Britt started to protest, but Lanie rushed over to the table Randy had already moved to.

“You know she’ll break you down,” he said with a grin. “Resistance is futile.”

“She’ll truly be disappointed. He’s just a friend.”

The look he gave her suggested that he didn’t believe her. “Hey, what you do with your personal life is your own business, but I suspect you didn’t ask me over here to talk about your love life.” He took a deep breath then looked uncomfortable. “I meant to talk to you Friday night, but things got a little chaotic, and I didn’t want to tell you on the phone.”

Her heart sank. “You have bad news.”

“Not really…More like a good news, bad news scenario.” His mouth twisted to the side. “First I have to make it very clear that everything you and I discuss is purely unofficial. Just me talking to my fiancée’s cousin. You are not my client.”

Why was he acting so weird? “I don’t have any qualms about paying you, Randy.”

“No.” He paused. “No. You can’t pay me…The company that filed the injunction hired my firm.”

“What?” She realized she’d nearly shouted the word, then turned her back to the group.

He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I didn’t have anything to do with it, another attorney in the firm is handling the case, but me officially consulting with you could be seen as a conflict of interest. As far as I’m concerned, we never met in my office, and I’d prefer you keep it to yourself.”

“Britt—”

“Britt knows that our discussion wasn’t official, and I’ve reminded her the whole thing is confidential.”

“But does she know about your firm filing the injunction?”

“No, and I prefer to keep it that way.”

Lanie was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that his firm was helping try to shut down her store, let alone the fact that he didn’t want his fiancée to know. “Are they going to try something else?”

“Lanie, even if I knew I couldn’t tell you.”

She pushed out a frustrated breath. “They’re screwing with my job, Randy.”

“That’s the good news.”

“It’s good news they’re screwing with my job?” she asked in disbelief.

“No, but I’ve looked over your contract, and as long as you’ve had exemplary conduct during the course of your employment, you’ll receive a significant bonus when you leave. Have you had any disciplinary demerits in the past?”

“No…But if anything stops this opening, I’ll get fired. That’s a pretty big demerit.”

“The contract states that you’re required to give three weeks’ notice. Your bonus becomes structured after that. If you get a disciplinary reprimand during that time, your bonus will go down.”

Her eyes widened. “How is that good news?”

“They can’t give you a reprimand for a delay caused by an outside force. It’s in the contract. Only if it doesn’t open on time.”

“So I can get a million delays, but as long as I open on time, I still get my bonus?”

“A fifty-thousand-dollar bonus. So injunctions might still get filed against the store, but as long as the Margo Benson legal team keeps overturning them, you should be fine.”

She sucked in a breath. “You figured out I’m opening a Margo Benson?”

He leaned closer and cast a sideways glance toward the group. “It spread like wildfire once a paralegal told an assistant. But the firm thinks it’s contained.”

“Thinks.” If word got out…just one more thing to worry about. “You realize you’re giving me advice that’s in conflict with your firm?”

“Now you know why we never met in my office about your contract. You were there helping me figure out a wedding gift for Britt.” He hesitated. “So are you going to give your notice?”

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