Fraud

The man drops the papers on the desk. “Have a nice day, sir.”

“Paternity?”

Ta

My head falls back as Ta

“What in the actually fuck is going on? I don’t even know this woman. Triplets? These aren’t my fucking kids!”

I’m dying.

Right here.

Right now.

Someone needs to write my eulogy.

Ta

Angrily swiping at the egg yolk that only smears his shirt more, his head snaps up when Ezra calls out to us from the doorway.

“Goldman’s here. Everyone is in the conference room.”

“Cancel it,” Ta

Pursing his lips, Ezra laughs. “I always thought Jase would be the idiot who accidentally knocked someone up first. Guess I owe Damon and Shane fifty bucks for losing that bet.”

Leaning forward, I bite my lip and school my expression. Holding in the laughter is nearly impossible.

Blowing out a breath, I straighten my posture and push to my feet.

“You can’t cancel the meeting. It’s just a quick presentation, and then we can get back to solving your problem. Or...three problems, I guess.”

He stabs a finger at me. “If I hear you laugh once about this, I’m going to strangle you, bury you, and piss on your grave.”

Rolling my lips, I take another deep breath. “Let’s just get the meeting over with.”

Ta

“The entire damn world has lost its mind,” he mumbles, his stride quick as we walk to the conference room.

Stepping inside, I scan the room to see all the Inferno are in attendance, Steven Goldman sitting between Sawyer and Mason. He smiles at me, his posture relaxed, his suit jacket missing because he’s not as stuffy as our regular clients.

I take my seat as Ta

After ten minutes of talking, he grabs a remote to the screen on the wall behind him.

“We prepared a visual presentation to further illustrate the delicate steps that will need to be taken in order to successfully complete the merger with as few problems as possible.”

Ta

“Uh...”

His voice trails off as Sawyer laughs from the other side of the table. “Oh, shit. Taylor uploaded the wrong file.”

Steven chuckles and leans back in his seat. “While I appreciate the entertainment, I’m not sure tits and ass will help us much in the merger.”

Ta

I’m biting the inside of my cheek so hard that I taste blood. Tears threaten to leak from my eyes.

“Son of a bitch,” Ta

The entire room busts out in laughter, Ta

It’s the last straw, Ta

“Fuck this day! I’m done!”

Ta

I grin at Steven. “Thanks for playing along. You’re a good sport.”

Smiling back at me, he answers, “It was worth it to see the look on his face.”

Taylor waves the universal remote he coded to the television to fuck with Ta

We’re still laughing when a crash sounds from down the hall, Ta

Shoving to my feet, I run down the hall to see Ta

“I’m leaving. And you can tell your little girlfriend that she’s on my shitlist. She seriously needs to watch her back.”

He knocks his shoulder against mine on his way to the elevator, the door dinging open before he steps in, turns around and levels a death glare on me.

“I mean it, Gabe. Today is not the day for her shit!”

The doors close and I watch the red numbers climb down to the underground garage as Ivy steps up next to me.

“Did he actually believe the paternity papers were real?”

Laughing, I wipe a tear from my cheek.

“Yes. He didn’t even bother to look at the last page where I signed my name as an attorney for Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. I even listed the phone number as 555-867-5309.”

Ivy cracks up and tangles her fingers with mine. “I paid Alice. She already took off.”

“Her acting skills were impeccable. Hiring her so we could pretend Lacey quit was a good call.”

I’ve never had more fun pranking a person in my life. And with Ivy helping me, it’s never been easier.

We really do make an excellent team. And I was an idiot for taking eighteen years to figure it out.

“Did you fill his car with feathers?”

“All the way to the top,” she says. “I had to open his sunroof to pack the last ones in.”

We both fall silent as the elevator reaches the garage, the numbers stopping for several minutes.

“What do you think he’ll do when he figures out you did all this?”

Chuckling at that, I turn and plant a chaste kiss on her lips. “He’ll learn that payback is a bitch and not to fuck with us again.”

The numbers start moving again, the elevator making its fast ascent back up to our floor.

“That’s our cue. Time to get out of here.”

Both of us head in the direction of a set of stairs that lead down to the floor below us.  From there, we’ll take another elevator to escape the office before Ta

As we pass the conference room, Ivy peeks her head in.

“Ezra, you have somewhere to be, remember? Get moving.”

He nods his head at that, and I tug her along. Slamming  my hand on the handle to the stairwell door, I extend an arm for her to go ahead of me.

“Ladies first,” I whisper.

Her eyes glimmer, that sinful mouth of hers opening on an inside joke that will always be ours.

“Such a gentleman.”

From down the hall, the other elevator dings just before Ta

“Where the fuck are Gabriel and Ivy?”

Kissing Ivy quickly, I murmur, “Only for you.”

My hand slaps her ass because we’re out of time.

“Now get the fuck moving before he finds us.”