Page 10 of Royal Hacker

She might have been mad at me, but I was also hurt that she’d been keeping this a secret from me. “I was pretty sure Doug was doing something wrong and wanted to make sure before letting you know. It hurts me you didn’t feel you could confide in me. I thought we look out for each other.”

“I didn’t want you to see how I failed at my marriage when you seem to succeed at everything,” Jessica whispered.

Not sure where she got that information from.I was the one always getting us into trouble or messing everything up, which was evident last night. “Jessica, when do I not mess things up? We help each other. You helped me last night, and I will always be there for you.”

We were walking toward the lawyer’s office. I could tell something was going on in Jessica’s head, but I was lost in the hum of the city. Everyone was buzzing around, running errands.

“Are you still mad at me for what I did, or are you lost in thought?” I was hoping she was lost in thought. I didn’t like fighting with Jessica.

“Just thinking. I should’ve known we would get a divorce. Did you know if one partner in a marriage smokes, there is a seventy-five percent chance the marriage will end in divorce?”

I never had any idea where she pulled numbers from. “I think you married Doug to escape what happened ten years ago. Not because you loved him.” The statement might hurt her, but it was the truth. She’d never loved Doug.

The rest of the walk to Richardson’s law firm was quiet. We had been using Richardson’s law firm for the last ten years. It was known for being one of the top law firms and one of the most ruthless out there. The owner was also a friend of Dad’s, which was going to make things a little bit trickier. Could we ask him to keep it from Father until he came for a visit? We didn’t want Dad sending an army of people to kill Doug.

The receptionist at the front desk already knew who we were, which wasn’t surprising, because we’re Richardson’s top clients, and he has photos of us in his office with our father. She was a new blond supermodel-looking bimbo who probably didn’t even know what she was doing. Richardson liked the receptionists young. She told us to head into his office.

“Hello, ladies! If it isn’t my favorite twins.” Richardson’s voice echoed in his office. He walked over and engulfed each of us in a fatherly hug.

“We’re your favorites because you know our money’s good, and you can make a lot of it off of us,” I replied with a chuckle.

“Semantics. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he asked, sitting back down in his wingback leather chair. His office was dark with deep-red wallpaper. The furniture was a rich oak. The desk that sat between Richardson and us was double the size of a traditional desk.

I sat back and kept my mouth shut. Jessica needed to handle the meeting. I was there for support.

“I need your help with something,” Jessica said. “But before we discuss it, I want client privilege, and this cannot be discussed with my father until I feel the time is right. I will tell him.

“Damn, what did you girls do?”

“Promise you won’t tell him first.”

“I’ll give you three months to tell him. If you don’t, I will let him know what is going on.” Richardson left no room for error.

“Fine. I need a divorce from Doug. I caught him cheating on me.”

“No problem. Do you want to stand by the prenup or take Doug to the cleaners? I never cared for him, so the latter meets my needs.”

Richardson typed away on his computer, bringing up Jessica’s prenup.

“No, I will stand by the prenup. I want this completed quickly.” I could tell by the way Jessica’s shoulders were slumped that she blamed herself for the divorce. Over time, she would understand Doug was a scumbag.

I think he made out pretty good with cheating on his wife, and she’s not even going to go after him for money. As we were getting ready to go, Jessica chimed in with another one of her statistics: “Thank you for your help, Mr. Richardson. I think my next marriage will be a mail-order marriage. Mail-order marriages are less likely to end in divorce than people who marry for love in the US.”

“You can’t live your life by statistics, surveys, and studies. You need to live. Next time, you need to marry for love, not to escape your father.” Richardson leaned back in his chair. “Doug will likely sign the divorce papers as soon they are delivered. He’s probably under the impression you won’t give him anything since he cheated. When he sees you standing by the original agreement, he’ll sign.”

We said our goodbyes and headed out. Richardson let us know it would only take a few weeks. Once we were out on the street, I hugged Jessica and told her goodbye. We agreed to meet again in a couple days.

I needed to head home and start my research on all things BDSM lifestyle. I was hoping it still interested me because I really wanted to be with Sam. I wasn’t going to put myself in anything where it made me feel uncomfortable.So bring on the porn.

6

Patty

The week moved so slowly, it felt like a year. I sat down in my office chair, ready to go over the last few websites on the lifestyle. In the past few days, I had learned a lot about the BDSM lifestyle and was ready to let Sam know how I felt. Lemon lay down on my feet. Her dog bed was huge, but she always needed to lie on my feet while I worked. I had a fresh cup of hot chocolate and opened a new bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

I was supposed to be reviewing the latest program Neal had Research and Development working on. I couldn’t bring myself to work on it. Last week, before Sam kissed me senseless, he’d asked me to do more research then said he would call me in a week to see if I was interested.

I clicked on another website that was explaining blood play. I think all the blood left my body. No way was I ever taking part in blood play. I had been making a spreadsheet of pros and cons, and after clicking to get out of that website, I added a third column to the spreadsheet: Hell Fucking No.

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