screech made them stumble to a swift halt. His dad put out an arm to stop Arnie from moving forward. He then turned his head, looked at him, and put a finger to his lips. “Shh.”
Positioned in a corner of the butler’s pantry, they didn’t have a view of the escalating confrontation, but they could hear most of it.
Another voice belonging to Giselle’s lawyer-on-a-leash answered in a tone best described as glacial.
“I told you what would happen if you tried to play me.”
“This has nothing to do with you, Bruce. Back off.”
“Nothing?” The lawyer snorted derisively. “Get real. It won’t matter to a jury that you went rogue behind my back. I’m implicated, and you know it.”
“I’ll kill you if you get in my way.”
Arnie’s dad gasped. His face was ashen as he mouthed, “What the fuck?”
Surprisingly, the lawyer sounded unimpressed by Giselle’s threat.
“Your villainy ends here. I told you from the start where the line was. Blaming others because you went too far is pathetic.”
Giselle’s comeback was a blatant attempt to bring her lawyer back on board. “There’s a lot of money at stake. If my plan works, I’ll be the one holding all the cards.”
The lawyer’s caustic laugh was very telling. “You fool. When he finds out, you’ll be holding nothing but the bars on your prison cell.”
“Are you threatening me?” Giselle asked in an ominous tone.
“Threatening you? Pfft. Lady, I’m warning you. The things you’ve set in motion are insane. I don’t need to do anything except step back and watch you self-destruct. You can’t pay me enough to go down with you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Giselle sputtered. “Well, you’re fired.”
“Fuck you. I quit.”
The sound of a slap made Arnie and his dad flinch. If she was assaulting her lawyer, shit must be off the hook for Giselle. He’d laugh except cornered animals were the most dangerous. Whatever she was up to was far enough over the legal-ethical line to make her lawyer quit. He’d been wishing for the woman’s downfall for a long, long time but had never considered what a death spiral would lead to. The evil bitch was capable of anything.
Footsteps got them hastily scrambling behind the pantry door before their presence was discovered. The lawyer stomped by, and Giselle’s heels tapped out her retreat in the opposite direction.
This time, it was Arnie saying, “Shh,” with a finger to his mouth. He pushed past his dad and gestured to let him know he was going to follow the lawyer and see what he did next.
Slipping stealthily into the butler’s pantry, Arnie stalked after the retreating lawyer. The guy avoided the family gathering in the formal dining room and headed for the front porch. Right before he stepped outside, the dude stopped, pulled out his phone, and placed a call.
“Mr. Wanamaker? This is Bruce Wells.” After a short pause, he said, “Yes, Mrs. Wanamaker’s former lawyer. I think we should talk.”
Dammit. He couldn’t follow him outside. Frustrated at being cut off, he pulled together what he knew.
Giselle was up to something nefarious—her lawyer wasn’t having it and quit. Threats were thrown. So was a face slap. Not having any names limited the scope of the information. The lawyer mentioned a “he” and then made a call to Mr. Wanamaker. The only person he was absolutely sure hadn’t been on the other end of the call was him.
“Bridge pose,” the YouTube instructor called out. “Slowly lift and tighten that butt.”
Summer followed along without any idea if she was doing the poses correctly. Since going to the gym or taking a workout class wasn’t possible, she substituted with free online stuff, which was great and all until guidance from an actual in-person instructor would be helpful.
“This isn’t working.”
Rolling off the dollar store yoga mat, she squatted to roll it up and stashed it in the front closet.
“What this situation needs is music.” She looked toward the bedroom where the baby was snoozing. “Hmm. I need a plan B.”
Her eyes glanced around looking for inspiration. It hit her like a thunderbolt.
“Oh, wait! Santa’s AirPods!”
Scurrying to an antique buffet she converted into a TV stand, Summer found the cordless technology every parent with a baby on a schedule needed. Sometimes, she liked to crank up the jams to get her blood pumping but not when the baby was asleep. The ear pods had already saved her sanity a dozen times since Christmas.
With the pods in her ears, she spun the music wheel in her phone and went with the first song