his personal lawyer. He could use the company lawyer, but this was a personal issue. Janus kept his business and private affairs completely separate, guarding each with an intensity that bordered on reclusiveness.
“Absolutely,” Mary replied already turning on her heel.
“Tom,” Janus greeted when Mary put him through. “I need your help on a couple of issues.”
“What’s up?”
“First of all, I just had a visit with a private investigator claiming to work for my father, Edward Meyers.”
Tom groaned. “You knew that your father would find you, eventually. What does he want?”
Janus shook his head. “I haven’t spoken to my father, nor do I plan to. But my father has discovered that I have two children. Twins. They’re about four years old.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone and Janus knew that Tom was doing the math in his head. “Four year old twins. But…that would mean that…Five years ago?”
“Exactly. Their birthday is June fourth.” Again, Janus paused while his lawyer mentally went back in time.
“But that would mean that…were they conceived right before your…accident?”
“That was no accident,” Janus growled. “It was an attack.”
Tom sighed. “Yeah, sorry. Bad choice of words. If it’s any consolation, Rockwell was convicted of beating a guy in a bar fight three months ago. He’s been on a downward spiral ever since being kicked out of the league. I think he’s finally reached rock bottom.”
“I don’t give a damn about that ass. What’s on my mind now is protecting my kids.” Janus picked up the paper that showed the DNA tests. Sure enough, there was the evidence. He was a father. A father! Damn it, what the hell had Stevie done?!
“I’m sending over a voice recording of a conversation I just had with the private investigator, Jerry something or other. I’ll get you his full name. But the recording is proof that he is trying to blackmail me. If I don’t pay him a million dollars, he’s going to release pictures of my kids to the press as well as their contact information.’
Tom hissed. “The media will go nuts over a story like that!”
“I know. Especially since I’ve refused interviews for so long. The press salivates over anything about me that they can get their hands on lately.”
Tom laughed. “Yeah, you’re a good target.” He sighed. “Okay, send me the recording and I’ll get the police involved. I have some contacts that can keep this quiet. You’re still a legend in this town and you’ve always contributed heavily to the police fund raising efforts.”
Janus didn’t correct his friend’s assumption that his contributions had been altruistic and not a way to earn points with the police. He just wanted the task accomplished and knew that Tom would get results quickly.
“What’s the other issue?” Tom prompted.
Janus glanced down at the pictures. “I need to file for custody of my children.”
Another silence, this one longer. “Um…I…that’s going to take time, Janus. There’s groundwork that needs to be laid before a custody hearing. I didn’t know that you even had children before five minutes ago.”
“I didn’t either. Until about ten minutes ago.”
Janus heard Tom shift in his chair, getting serious now. “Okay, so give me the details. I can draw up the paperwork and have it hand delivered. But…is this really what you want to do? I mean, is the mother a bad guardian?”
“I have no idea,” he growled out. “Her name is Stevie Hunt. I met her a few weeks before the start of the season. She was sweet at first, but as soon as I was injured, she dropped me like a hot potato.”
Janus could picture Tom nodding. “That name sounds familiar, for some reason.” There was some typing on his keyboard. “Right.” More typing. “We sent Ms. Hunt a letter about four months after your injury. She was calling and showing up at your office, wanting to speak to you.”
Oh hell! Janus closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Well, I guess I know why now, huh?” He asked, smothering a bark of horrified laughter. But he wasn’t amused. “Okay, so she did try to tell me. But she obviously didn’t try very hard. I still want–”
Tom interrupted him again. “Let me gather more information on this before you move forward, Janus. Maybe there’s more to this story than we know.”
Janus thought about that, and nodded. “Fine. Get your people on it. But I want to know what’s going on, so get me something fast.”
“Will do.”
After the phone call, Janus picked