Page 17 of Just Like That

Nine days.

Nine days of feeling like my home was a prison and watching from a distance as Hazel and Teddy slowly acclimated to life in Outtatowner. I kept my distance, not wanting to insert myself, unsure ofhowto even do that—not that I wanted to.

Every morning I drank my coffee black and watched them through a slit in the curtains. They played on my private beach, lay in the grass and pointed at the clouds, giggled, and came home with bags of produce from the farmers’ market—all while I stood on the outskirts trying to figure out what Hazel’s true intentions were.

Maybe it really is as simple as wanting money in the midst of the King Equities chaos.

While she was staying on my property, I pulled every string I could find to get Hazel and me in front of a judge and get them out of my hair for good. Small-town courts were notoriously slow, and we needed a resolution as quickly as possible.

I stared at the clock on the wall in my office as seconds crawled forward. I needed to leave if I was going to make it to the Remington County courthouse on time.

“I thought you said the meeting was at four?” Veda asked without looking at me.

I glanced at her. She was standing with her back to me, barefoot with hands on her hips in front of hermurder board.

“Can I ask you something?” I didn’t want to think about anything but work. I needed to keep my head down.

Focus.

Veda turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

I plopped the newspaper in my hand onto my desk, ignoring the grainy black-and-white photo of my father splashed across the front page. “What happens if we fold?”

Her eyes narrowed on me before she exhaled. “The sharks are circling, there’s no denying that. Selling the company now would get you fractions of pennies on the dollar—which, given the fact King Equities and its assets are worth close to abillion,would still be more money than any of you would ever need.”

My jaw flexed. “And if we tough it out?”

Veda crossed her arms. “We weather the storm, hope that our current investors don’t pull their funds. We stand by our firm. We prove that King Equities is more than the black mark your father created. We do that, and King Equities will no longer simply be a mergers-and-acquisitions boutique—we could be serious contenders on a global scale.”

The corner of my mouth ticced up. I liked the sound of that. “World domination?”

Veda scoffed before turning back to her board. “You’re damn right.”

I smiled at her back. I wouldn’t let it show, but I needed Veda’s pep talk. More and more I’d been questioning what the hell I had worked my whole life for. Since childhood I’d been groomed to take over my father’s business, and for what? To find out that he’d used the company as an elaborate shell game to hide what he’d done to my mother?

But, damn it, I was tired.

I swiped my keys from the desk. “I’m out of here. Try making yourself useful and working on that global domination while I’m gone.”

She offered a salute over her shoulder as I walked toward the door. “On it.”

Attorney Joss Kellerlooked almost as good in a suit as I did.

Almost.

I walked down the quiet corridor at the Remington County courthouse and sized him up as he stood across from Hazel and Teddy. She was dressed in ripped jeans and a faded Rolling Stones T-shirt tied in a knot at her belly button. Over it was a long gold jacket that seemed to be velvet and fell to her knees. Her hair was haphazardly tied up with a scarf.

Her choice of clothing should have appeared disheveled and out of place, but for her it somehow worked despite the sterile, buttoned-up atmosphere of the courthouse. Teddy fit right in with another short-sleeved checkered shirt. This time he was wearing a slim blue necktie. His sneakers were the only reminder that he was a little kid and not a tiny CEO.

Hazel was laughing softly at something Joss had said, but when I approached, her soft laugh faded.

Without a smile to greet him, I walked up to Joss, placed my hand in his, and shook. “Keller.”

“King.” Joss squeezed back.

“Hey, kid,” I said to Teddy with a nod.

His chin dipped to mirror my greeting. “Hi, Dad.”

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