Perfect Partners(50)
Author: Carly Phillips

“I can handle it.”

“We’ll see. Just stand behind me and keep your mouth shut.”

Ryan frowned. “Yeah. I never should have agreed.”

“But you did.” His friend wouldn’t be here otherwise. Griff would have liked to handle Jeff Sutton on his own, but Ryan’s persistence couldn’t be ignored. Besides, the backup would shore up his points with Chelsie’s ex and ensure the outcome. Two men would intimidate Sutton much more than one, but Ryan’s temper tended to get in the way of common sense.

Griff needed cool heads and clear thinking for his plan to work. He was counting on the self-serving side of Jeff Sutton’s personality to swing things their way. He could at least give Chelsie back her life before truly placing his trust in her hands.

The receptionist took one look at Griff in his three-piece suit and Ryan in his favorite jeans and leather jacket and led them back to Jeff Sutton’s office without argument.

The young woman raised her hand to knock on the office door. “We can take it from here,” Ryan said.

“He prefers to be notified when he has unexpected company,” she said.

“Then we wouldn’t be unexpected, would we?” Griff asked. “It’s okay. We’re old friends.”

The woman looked uncertain.

“I’ll say you were indisposed and we walked ourselves in.” Ryan gave her a wink that had been charming women throughout the years.

She blushed, looking flustered. “Go ahead.” They waited until the receptionist disappeared down the hall and around the corner.

“After you,” Ryan said with a grin. “I’ll just hold up the wall and keep my mouth shut. For as long as I can stand it,” he muttered under his breath.

Griff rapped once with his knuckles. Without waiting for a reply, he walked inside. Jeff Sutton sat behind a large wooden desk, looking every inch the self-important attorney.

“What the hell?” His gaze shifted from the documents in his hand to his visitors. He pushed himself to his feet. “Who let you in?”

Griff stepped inside. Ryan followed and slammed the door shut behind him. “Consider this a pre-trial hearing,” Griff said.

Sutton reached for the phone. Ryan swerved behind Griff and slammed his hand down on the receiver.

So much for holding up the wall, Griff thought “I hear you like deals, so I’ve got one for you,” he said to Chelsie’s ex. Reaching beneath his jacket to the inside pocket, he withdrew a small manila envelope.

Chelsie’s ex-husband paled at the sight. “I’m listening.”

“You’re a smart man.” Griff opened the envelope and began laying out pictures, face up on the desk. Some photos were of Amanda, others of Chelsie. None were pretty. “I call this evidence. I have copies, by the way. You’re a partner.” Griff glanced around the man’s office. “Nice digs. I assume you want to keep them as well as your clients and your good name.”

Ryan coughed in blatant disgust.

Griff ignored him, concentrating on Jeff Sutton. “Here are the terms. Fly to the Caribbean and obtain a quick divorce, agree to twice-weekly counseling, and stay the hell away from your ex-wives and women in general until you get your act together. You don’t, and these go public.”

Sutton flicked the photos with his one free hand. “Blackmail. I don’t have to take this crap from you.”

Griff shook his head. “Look, buddy, do you want to go to trial and make things public?” He shrugged. “My pleasure. I’m just giving you an option we can all live with. I can’t get disbarred for offering you a settlement. You, on the other hand, can do jail time if you don’t accept. I can live with either option.”

Which wasn’t exactly true. Griff had done his homework. The family courts were clogged with cases like these. Statistically, a man like Jeff Sutton would be slapped with a continued restraining order at best, and maybe some court-ordered counseling, nothing as intense as what Griff and Ryan had in mind. Keeping him away from Chelsie and Amanda was of paramount importance. Preventing him from harming other women was also a consideration.

“By the way,” Ryan said, removing his hand from atop Sutton’s. “Did I mention I’m a private investigator? I’m an expert at tailing people. I’ll know your every move, buddy. One missed counseling session and you’re ours.” He punched his hand into his other palm for emphasis.

Griff stifled a groan. Ryan had often gone overboard, even as a kid. The threat to this man’s career would have been enough to keep him toeing the line. It was all that truly mattered to him in his pathetic life.

Sutton glared at Ryan and shook his hand out as if he’d been injured. The man didn’t even understand the irony. Griff would like to kick his teeth down his throat for what he’d done to Chelsie, but refrained. He was taking the best route for everyone involved.

“Well?” Griff asked.

“What about my son?”

About time the man got around to what was truly important in life, Griff thought. He shrugged. “For now, you sign away custody. A few years from now, if the psychiatrist tells me you’re a fit human being, we’ll consider renegotiating the deal.”

“This is extortion,” he yelled.

Griff shook his head. “It’s a fair offer. You like this corner office and your so-called reputation. I suggest you accept. The papers will be here by four this afternoon. Sign them by tomorrow.” He gathered the pictures together in his hand.

The other man’s face flushed an angry shade of red. “Just like a woman to send you two to do her dirty work,” Sutton muttered. “Chelsie should have taken me at my word.”

“Excuse me?” If Chelsie had been in contact with her ex-husband, this was the first Griff had heard about it. If it was true, he’d throttle her himself. His stomach churned at the very notion. At least she had the eastern seaboard separating her from her violent past, he thought. But the protective feeling he’d begun to accept as normal when it came to Chelsie remained with him.

Sutton sat back in his seat hopefully beginning to accept defeat “She called the other day to broker this same deal.”

“You figured you could weasel your way out.”

“I don’t answer to her. Besides, she didn’t mention surveillance or you and your bouncer buddy here.” He gestured to Ryan.

Griff bent down over the desk, making sure he towered over the man who had no compulsion about hurting women, but who cowered before men his own size. “Listen well. You so much as breathe in her direction, you answer to me.” Griff made a show of lining the pictures up and placing them back in his pocket.