Lord of Rain (The Dragon Demigods #5) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,73

Shaw looks taken aback at my outburst.

“I didn’t ask for this to be in here.” I have to work to keep my voice even. I want to break something. I hear my teeth grind.

“Right, and I’m expected to believe that.” She shakes her head, looking disappointed.

“I would never!” I snap. “Never ask for something like this to be included. Not a fuck!”

I pull my phone out of my inside breast pocket. I see three missed calls from Lyre and several messages. I will deal with him later. “I’ll call my lawyer right now,” I say. “I’ll put the call onto speaker. I didn’t ask for that clause at all. It was never in the original document. I also never asked for changes to the allowance clause. I’m going to call him and I want you to hear this. Is that okay?”

She nods once.

I push to dial him and put the phone onto speaker. Then I hold the phone out towards her so that she will hear everything. A dialing tone sounds. It doesn’t take long, and he answers.

“Bolt, hi. Is there something I can help you with? Did your PA sign the agreement? If not, I really think we need to remove the clause—”

“You changed a clause,” I say before he can go on. “You added to the one concerning her weekly allowance.”

He takes a deep breath. “I thought it would be important to specify what types of items she could spend the cash on. It’s a lot of money. If you’re going to give an allowance, then—”

“Also,” I interrupt him, “you added a clause. The last one.”

“Yes…definitely. You don’t want any illegitimate children running around.”

“There are clauses in the agreement pertaining to birth control and precautions. It was already covered.”

“There are always risks of unwanted pregnancy, Bolt. Don’t be naïve here.”

“You added a clause stipulating that Miss Shaw will have an abortion should she accidentally become pregnant with my child.”

I see her chew on her bottom lip.

“Absolutely, back to my original—”

“Adrian!” I growl. “You didn’t feel the need to run this by me first?”

“I know that in the standard NDA for the women you date, there is a clause pertaining to birth control and preventative measures.” There’s a part of me that wants to cut him off. I don’t want Miss Shaw to hear all of this, but it’s too late. Besides, I never lied. I’ve told her that I always have women I date sign an NDA. I never wanted her privy to the particulars, however. “You’re always very precise in your outline when it comes to birth control. You expect that these women should be on some form of contraception and that there will be no sex without a condom.”

“We put the same clause into this contract,” I point out.

“Yes, but this contract goes into greater detail about everything else. I assumed you would want something a little more comprehensive in this case, since the whole agreement—”

“You assumed.” I’m fuming.

“Yes…I—”

“You’re fired, Adrian.”

“You can’t be serious! I was looking out for your interests. I was—”

“How many times have you done this? You handle all my legal documents. I should be able to give you a directive and have you follow it to the letter. To the fucking letter and every time. How often have you done this?” I will have to have someone else go through every document this bozo ever handled for Zeus Group. Thankfully, I use several lawyers, not just Adrian.

“No, never I—” he splutters.

“I can’t trust you, and therefore you’re out.”

He starts to say something, but I put the phone down. Fuck him! I put the device back in my pocket. I expect it’s going to blow up with more calls from both his firm and Lyre, and I’m busy right now. “I didn’t ask for that clause. I would never make anyone abort a child. I would never tell a woman what to do with her own body, and that includes waxing. You need to know that. I don’t want to buy sex from you, and I don’t think you’re a commodity. You’re an intelligent, attractive woman. I don’t know anyone else quite like you. This could work very well for both of us. I’ll appoint another lawyer, as a matter of urgency, and we can fix the contract. If there are other clauses you don’t agree with, we’ll discuss them. Think about it. Take a couple of days before—”

“I don’t have to think about it.” She shakes her head, looking…disappointed. Is she still