Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,328

please come in,” my father’s lawyer said. “Sit. I’m so glad that you could make it on such short notice. We have just a few things to go over and then you can enjoy the rest of your day.”

Harper sat while sending glances toward her parents. Her mother had her hand on her father’s knee. A sign of solidarity. Maybe something she said had sunk in. Maybe they were going to tell her that her father was going to do the right thing and drop the countersuit. Or that he was going to admit his guilt and accept responsibility for what he’d done.

“A trial date has been set and we want to make sure we have everything in order with your testimony,” the lawyer said. “The prosecution will open with statements about how Mr. Matheson was embezzling money from his clients and that it was obvious by his large expenditures made in cash to cover his tracks.”

Which ironically was exactly what he did. Harper remembered the large sums of money that her father used to pay for extravagant trips and shopping trips and she even had her suspicions about the house he bought in Europe.

“What does that have to do with me, exactly?” She was pleased at how steady her voice came out.

“What we need from you is your sworn testimony that you never saw any indication of you father using cash to pay for any luxurious expenditures. That will shed doubt on the allegations that he laundered client money and then used the cash on family trips, etc.”

All at once she realized why she’d been called here. It wasn’t to try and make things right, with her or with the dozens of people her father had screwed over. It was because they needed her to lie for him.

“I already told you I was done with this,” she ground out, looking her father in the eye. Not once had either of them reached out to her, even after the news of her and Ethan broke. But now, suddenly, they needed her?

No, they needed her words, not her. They needed to use her.

“Your testimony will go a long way in giving credibility to your father. After all, who better to know what was going on than his daughter,” the lawyer said. He sounded so sure of himself, like he already knew that Harper would do it.

“No.”

It took a moment for three sets of eyes to rest on her. Two surprised. One very angry.

“You will do this Harper. You are a part of this family and family sticks together,” her father commanded.

A bitter laugh burst from her lips. “You don’t know the first thing about family. A real family loves and protects and doesn’t ask their daughter to lie under oath to cover up the fact that they stole millions of dollars from innocent people. You make me sick.” Her gaze swung to her mother who was staring at Harper with her mouth open. “And you. How can you sit there and support a man like that? He’s a thief. He’s guilty and you know it.”

The lawyer cleared his throat. “Ms. Matheson, I’m going to have to ask you to stop making unsubstantiated allegations, even within the protection of client attorney privilege.”

“Unsubstantiated?” Her voice rose sharply. They all stared at her like she was in the wrong. Angry tears burned her eyes. The room was too small, too stuffy.

The lawyer stayed calm. “Whatever may or may not be true, he is your father. Can you really live with yourself if you’re the one who could have stopped him from going to prison? That’s the question you need to ask yourself, Harper.” The lawyer sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

Did he think that playing the family loyalty card would make her change her mind?

She was so incredibly speechless that it took her several minutes to form an answer. In that time she could see her father’s shoulders relax. Could see the way the lawyer met his gaze and nodded. They thought they had her testimony in the bag.

“I’m not the one sending him to jail,” she finally said.

The lawyer broke out in a huge grin. “Good. You made the right choice…”

Even her mother was beaming at her. Harper stood, clutching her purse against her twisting stomach.

“He’s the one whole stole millions and millions of dollars and I will be glad to see justice served. So no, I won’t be the one sending him to prison. He did that himself when