Page 31 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

A knock on the door interrupted my efforts. “Come in."

Henry walked in. "I see things went well down at the network today."

"The team there understood my assessment and my recommendations. In fact, they had already been thinking about implementing them. You have a good team there." A part of me wanted to tell him that he didn't have a good team in Alan, but I didn't want to ruin the man's career, especially since I didn't plan to be here for the long term.

He nodded. “I try to hire only the best." He sat in the chair in front of my desk. "Alan Sprout is good."

I shrugged.

"I think he's afraid that I'm setting you up to take his job. Did he say anything to you today?"

I vacillated on what to say, if anything. "You hired him to be in charge of all marketing, and so I think it's a little upsetting to him that he’s left out of the loop."

Henry nodded. "It's probably disrespectful, isn’t it? Alan is really good at the overall big picture and leading people."

I couldn't help it. I arched a brow in disbelief. "I haven't seen that aspect of him yet."

Henry’s eyes narrowed. "Maybe it's time I redo his employee assessment. See if he’s still as good as when I hired him."

I shook my head. "Whatever you do, Henry, it shouldn't be anything related to me or what I'm doing."

He nodded. "I understand." He rose from his chair. "It's a little bit before five, but I won't tell your boss if you'd like to leave early. I'm heading out now if you’d like a ride."

I remained seated. "That's okay. I can make my way home."

He tilted his head in question. "Is there a problem?"

I shook my head. "No, I just have other plans." Inwardly, I winced because I didn't like lying. My conscience disputed that considering I'd been lying to Henry for the last five years.

"Oh?"

I scanned my brain for a reason to have something else to do other than leave with Henry. "I have a meeting with Lucas."

Henry tensed and his friendly expression waned. "I see. Has he found more information about your mother's will?"

"That's what I hope to find out."

"Well, I hope it all works out." And with that, Henry left my office.

I blew out a breath, wondering how I was becoming the type of person I didn't want to be. The only way to keep me from being a liar was to call Lucas and invite him for dinner.

I’d have much rather beenat home with Pax than sitting in the intimate Italian restaurant across from Lucas. I knew Pax was in good hands with Marie, but since the day Pax was born, I had done my best to spend as much time with him as possible when I wasn't working. I should've come up with a better excuse to avoid Henry, but because I hadn’t, I was now having dinner with Lucas.

He was a nice enough man, but he seemed to want to talk about anything and everything except for my case against my father. That told me he saw this as a date. Under different circumstances, I might have been interested. Lucas was handsome and smart and dedicated to his work. But I didn't have the time or energy to put into dating. My goal now was to deal with my mother's estate and then for Pax and me to go on with our lives. I was pretty sure we would leave New York, although I wasn't sure that we'd return to Seattle. If I could get my business up and running, it was possible I could work from home, which would be ideal in caring for Pax. It would also mean we could live anywhere. Heck, we could travel.

When dinner was finished and coffee was served, I asked Lucas directly about my case. "What sort of chance do I have in taking my father to court over my mom's estate?"

Lucas smiled, but I saw a flash of irritation in his eyes. "I'll be honest, Samantha, I've been through all the documents and there isn't anything there that supports your suspicions or that a judge would take seriously."

My heart sank. “What about the paralegal? What about everyone who knew my mother and knew she would never hand everything over to my father?"

He shrugged. "Everyone who knew your mother could support your case, but it doesn’t make your case. As far as the paralegal, we have no way of reaching her. And even if we could, there's no guarantee that she could help. Right now, it's just conjecture that she was a part of getting your mother to sign these documents." He gave me a sympathetic smile. "While we can see some irregularities there, there's nothing that conclusively points to fraud or coercion on your father's part."

I shook my head, reining in my frustration. I knew it hadn't been very long since I had asked for Lucas's help, but it seemed like we were no closer to finding the truth. Surely, something would've popped up by now.

"Are you sure there's nothing else we can do?" I felt like Lucas was my last hope and that it was quickly slipping away. I knew I couldn't give up, but at the same time, if I couldn't legally challenge my father, there was little I could do.

“We could file paperwork, but like I said, your father would seek to have it dismissed and it probably would be. I wish I had better news for you, Samantha." He reached across the table, taking my hand and squeezing it in reassurance. "But don't give up. I'm not giving up."

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