Page 4 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

Samantha

No! No, no, no, no, no. This was impossible. "This is wrong." I looked helplessly at my mother's attorney, Lucas Thompson.

His expression was apologetic, highlighted with a shrug. "This was your mother's wish."

I shook my head. "No, it wasn’t." I turned my head, looking at my father, who appeared to be doing his best to look nonchalant, but I didn't miss the subtle smirk.

"What did you do?" I demanded. I wasn’t normally an aggressive or assertive person, but I’d grown up a lot in the last five years and I’d learned to speak up when it was necessary. Right now, it was beyond necessary. I’d just been told my deceased mother was giving everything she had to my father.

He turned to look at me, trying to have the same apologetic expression that Lucas had, but he wasn't fooling me. "Your mother and I were still married, Samantha. It's not unusual for the husband to be the beneficiary of their spouse’s assets."

"But that's not automatic. She updated her will. I was there when she did it." I returned my gaze to Lucas. "You were there as well."

He nodded. "Yes, but then she had a change of heart. She indicated that she hoped that the relationship between you and your father would be improved this way."

I gave a humorless laugh. "That's ridiculous. That assumes that my father cared about me. That he would share what my mother had given him. But we all know that he won't. She, more than anyone, knew that he wouldn't."

My father started to pat my arm, but I jerked it away. "Now, now, Samantha, let's not get greedy and hysterical."

"If I’m greedy, I inherited it from you."

He brushed my comments away like they were a pesky gnat. "It's your mother who spoiled you."

I turned my attention back to Lucas. "I don't know what you have there in front of you, Mr. Thompson, but I assure you, it’s not a legitimate will."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Everything is in order. The court is going to see it as such."

"I want to contest it."

My father scowled. "You’ll just be wasting a lot of time and money. Money, I'll point out, you don't seem to have."

I wasn't a violent person. And I had never wished to hurt anyone. But at this moment, I wanted to throttle my father. “I don’t know what you did, but I’ll find out.”

“By fighting this, you’ll be going against your mother's wishes. That gives me every right to withhold the money from you. And while we’re at it, I want to move back into my house again. So, you and that bastard of yours have a week to vacate."

Yes, for the first time in my life, I wanted to kill someone. But it wasn't because my father had stolen my inheritance. It was his referring to my son, Pax, as a bastard. God, if he only knew the truth. My father was one of those men who, on the outside, acted all big, but on the inside, he had an ego the size of a peanut. Because of that, he liked to schmooze with the most important people of New York to make himself feel big. And the one man he’d love to be best buddies with was Henry Banion.

Unable to help myself, I said, “My son comes from better, and richer, stock than you."

My father frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It doesn't matter." I stood up and gave Mr. Thompson a serious look. "This is wrong. And you know it is."

He flinched and opened his mouth to say something, but I had already turned away, exiting his office.

It took me a few minutes to navigate the labyrinth of the law offices Mr. Thompson worked in, but I finally reached the elevator, jamming my finger into theDownbutton. I had to wait several minutes before the elevator arrived. As the doors opened, Mr. Thompson called my name. I didn't bother waiting and instead stepped into the elevator.

He rushed toward me, slipping in just as the doors were closing. “Whew. I made it.”

"I wouldn’t leave your office unattended. Who knows what my father will steal?"

He leaned casually against the back wall, his hands resting on the rail behind him. "I know this is a shitty deal. I tried to talk your mother out of it. Or at the very least, to leave you and Pax something."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you a party to this, Mr. Thompson?"

His eyes rounded and he straightened. "Of course not."

"You have to be. Because there's no way my mother would've done this."

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