Chapter 25 · Tear It Down

"You sent Whitmore my daughter's file."

Cade's voice hit me before I even had the door all the way open. I hadn't even seen his hand yet — just heard it, flat and low, the kind of voice he used on boardrooms right before he gutted them.

"Get out of my hallway," I said.

He didn't move. He held up a folder, edges bent like he'd been gripping it the whole elevator ride up. "Kessler faxed this to opposing counsel two hours ago. My custody psych eval. My financials. Maya's school records. All of it, Avery. And guess whose referral letter is stapled to the front."

My stomach dropped, but I kept my face flat. Lawyer face. Twenty-nine years of practice for exactly this. "I referred Whitmore a business client. Real estate. Nothing to do with you."

"Funny." He stepped into the doorway, close enough that I had to tip my head back to keep looking at him. "Because Whitmore's associate just told my attorney you two had lunch last Thursday. Same day my ex-fiancée's people started leaking to the tabloids that I've got an illegitimate kid."

"Illegitimate." I laughed, and it came out uglier than I meant it to.