The Billionaire Playboy's Regret (Lark and Max)

Monday morning Lark stood next to her father outside the offices of his ex-best friend and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Grady looked at Max, "you keep your mouth shut in there no matter how much the fucker shoots his off. I don't care what he says about Lark. Now he knows the minute he starts talking about her, he gets a rise out of you. He's looking to cash out. I don't want to give him any more ammunition against you."

"He actually thought he would convince her to go back to him and then get half of her settlement from the firm," Max growled angrily.

Their evidence from the investigators not only were able to get several witness statements to this effect but they had video of him bragging about exactly this in a bar near the firm the lawyers frequented after work.

"And he called her naïve and he called her insipid," Grady didn't hold back, "but none of it matters right now. What matters is you keep your mouth shut. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Max sighed.

"We have a decent angle of the security from home where it shows the way he lifted his hand right before Lark fell to the ground which will support her claim she was worried he'd hit her. We also can argue there is no way on earth after three years of dating he didn't know her family was close to the Villeneuves. He went looking for a paycheck."

Ollie came up with the idea he knew all along who she was, and any internet search of Lark, Max and Ollie together would have brought up any of the stories which used to make headlines when they were in high school. The billionaire's oldest children were often targets of paparazzi and Lark and Johan were always caught in the crossfire.

"I hate we have to come to his turf," Lark frowned at the sight of Sawyer's law firm. "He's hoping to put Dad off his game." "It's only making me more focused," Grady patted her shoulder.

"Lark," Doug's voice called out from the edge of the parking and the quartet of Grady, Lark, Bobbie, and

Max all turned to face him. He looked at her and nobody else, "you look good."

"I know," she nodded earning a snicker from Max and a smirk from her father. She looked to her

entourage, "shall we. I have better things to do today and want to get this over with."

"I can make this all go away," Doug called out again approaching her. "Just come home. I miss you."

"Save it, son," Grady spoke purposefully condescendingly. "You're not good enough for her and now she's away from you and your manipulative and abusive behavior, we're going to make sure she never goes back."

"Abusive behavior?" Doug chased after them into the lobby of the small office. "I never once hurt her." "Watch me prove it to your lawyer." Grady's blue eyes flicked over the man. "Let's see how much he thinks you can get in mediation once I present all the evidence I collected. For the record, Doug, your old law firm hates you and they cooperated fully with me. I can prove you set Lark up to catch you f*****g your secretary. I also have a slew of instant messages taken from the work network between you and the secretary which talk about how you were hoping to get to keep the condo once you and Lark broke up." "That's not true!" he was pale now.

Lark shook her head at him, "and yet they were found on the back up server at the firm."

"Douglas, before you say another word," an incredibly attractive older man stepped into the space, "how about we take this into a meeting room.

Lark looked the man who must be Sawyer over and then looked at Bobbie who also seemed surprised. The man had not aged poorly at all. Despite the blustering of her father about him the week prior, the man didn't have an ounce of fat on him, he still sported all his hair, unlike her father and he boasted the complexion of a man who spent a great deal of time out of doors without any of the aging associated with too much sunshine. Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on Jo b ni b.c om. She looked to her father and then the other man and while her father appeared outwardly relaxed, she could see the tiny twitch of his pinky finger and knew he was struggling not to punch the guy out.

"Grady, bald looks good on you." Sawyer said with a glint in his eye. "This must be your eldest daughter, Lark. I'm sorry we're meeting under such circumstances."

"No, you're not." Lark shook her head at the man while accepting his handshake. "You are actually reveling in it thinking you have us off-kilter. You don't know any of us other than what you can find in your very thin file."

"I bet your father told you all about me." He motioned for them to precede him into a room.

"Actually," she met his gaze bluntly while her father and Bobbie exchanged knowing grins. "He has never mentioned you to me in my entire life until you reached out last week. Imagine my surprise to find out about an ex-wife who married his ex-best friend."

"You lie. He must have mentioned me." Sawyer's smile slipped as he looked at Grady with confusion. "Not even a single time. Not once. We've been to Houston many times growing up and not once in all the time we were here did your name ever come up. I imagine it's like when you have a cancer cut from your body. Even speaking it about feels like bad karma waiting to happen." She looked to Doug, "speaking of bad karma. Let's get this over with."

Sawyer was staring at Grady incredulously, "you simply forgot about thirty years of friendship?"

"It really wasn't as hard as you think it was." Grady said as he took a seat at the far end of the table beside Max. "How do you want to play this, Sawyer? Do you want all my evidence up front, or would you like me to build the suspense for you? Either way, we're walking out of here by the end of the day not paying a damn thing to your client and he will be paying my legal fees on behalf of Mr. Villeneuve." "Never going to happen," Doug shook his head as he sat beside Grady across from them. "Lark's behavior got me fired. The big goon over there jumped me. The wealthy and entitled shouldn't get away with such things."

"Wealthy and entitled?" Bobbie asked curiously. "You think Lark is wealthy and entitled?" She made a show of writing a note on a pad. "Good to know."

"What do you have?" Sawyer asked Grady putting his hand on Doug as if warning him not to speak. "How about proof Doug and the secretary he was engaged in an affair with colluded to make Lark lose her temper which would force her to behave inappropriately in the office. His goal was to make her quit and leave town but it was still intentional.'

Sawyer lifted an eyebrow and accepted the document slid across the table.

"I can prove Doug knew she would immediately come to thank him for the flowers based on past experiences. He left her bed after making love to her," Bobbie relayed the information with a sneer, "lulling her into a sense of security and love the way he always did before he dropped bombs on her making her vulnerable, intending she would come running to him when she saw the flowers. Did he mention to you it was their anniversary, Sawyer?"

"She overreacted and her behavior cost them their jobs. He's incapable of being rehired."

"You can hire him." Lark grinned across the table knowing her smirk matched her father's. "You think he's so wonderful." "His reputation is tarnished, Lark," Sawyer said glibly. "Because you outed him." "Makes me wonder if it wasn't his game plan all along."

"He's not smart enough." Sawyer rebutted.

Doug protested, "hey!"

"Doug let's be real. I've spent fifteen hours in the last ten days in your company and I know for a fact you don't have the brain power to win a slam dunk case even if you paid off the judge. There is no way I believe these," Sawyer lifted the documents in his hand, "are legit."

"Timestamped from the firm's server. They are. Your client is stupid. We agree on this and he's stupid enough to have plotted with a conniving secretary and leave it all for us to find." Grady spoke up, his eyes narrowing on the way Sawyer was speaking.

No lawyer worth his grain of salt would antagonize his own client in front of him and opposing counsel. Lark knew her father was noting the same thing. Something was off.

"We also were able to secure private messages from the secretary's iPad. Her husband purchased it for her as a gift, but she rarely used it. He asked her if she wanted it back and she declined. He offered it to Lark because it synced all the messages from his wife's cloud. A very loving text exchange between the woman and your client highlighting how Doug wanted to keep the condo and needed Lark to leave on her own is in black and white." Grady eyed the younger man across the table, "you really messed up Doug." "Lies!" Doug's fists were clenched on the table. "None of this happened."

Lark knew his outrage was merited given Ollie friends in really low places who, according to Ollie worked for forensic teams in the federal government, made it virtually impossible to discount the exchanges which were planted as anything other than factual.

"We also have multiple statements from various colleagues in the office who were aware of the affair. In fact, one of the senior partners knew of the affair and it is why Lark got the settlement she did," Bobbie smiled at Doug with victory," because he allowed s****I harassment to occur in the workplace. Creating an atmosphere which would allow my client," she motioned to Lark, "to feel belittled and violated in the workplace once this came to light because they felt Doug wasn't bright enough to keep it under wraps very well and would expose himself. He violated HR laws by engaging with his staff and senior partners ignored the blatant s****I harassment. Lark was their victim, not him being hers."

Sawyer exhaled and then sighed, "one million for her getting him fired."

"Ten thousand," Bobbie countered, "and only because the entire office saw his tiny p***s and Lark feels she needs to compensate him for the fake orgasms."

"It's not tiny." Doug was struggling to stand up against Sawyer's restraint.

"I beg to differ," Lark shot back unable to stop herself but sat back when Bobbie touched her hand.

"Fifty thousand." Sawyer argued again.

"Ten and not a penny more. It's enough to pay what your fees are worth and we're not giving him a penny more on Lark's behalf." Bobbie belittled Sawyer's value without a second thought.

"I don't agree." Doug argued with Sawyer.

Sawyer shot him a sideways glance, "this isn't the hill you want to die on. Take it. We have bigger fish to fry." He shot a look at Max with a gleam in his eye.

"Fine," Doug slapped his hands frustratedly.

Lark leaned back and waited for the real show to start. She wished she brought popcorn.