Heart Breaker in Manhattan (H.S)

Chapter 23

Liv's POV

I woke up, tangled up in Harry and a mess of sheets; I don't think I'd ever been this content with life. At least not recently. Except I had this lingering feeling in the back of my mind. The feeling that all of this would be ending soon; that I'd be hurting the curly haired sweetheart that had changed my life. And not just hurting him, breaking him, ruining him.
It should be simple, I was falling for him and he was falling for me. But it wasn't and I was the one to blame. That stupid contract with Modest; this shouldn't be how our love story was supposed to go. But I'd signed that stupid contract out of need for money; since my stupid bitch of a mother cut us off. I was glad Jess was looking into the legalities of the contract, but the lawyers were taking their sweet ass time to get back to us about it.
If our mum wasn't able to cut us off, then I could refuse payment from Modest and send the money they'd already paid me, and refuse to take the rest of the payment. That would be a good start, but then I'd still have signed the damned thing in the first place. I looked over to my right and saw that Harry was still asleep. There was only one thing I could do, and that was read through the contract given to me by Modest, the one that caused it all. I was hoping that what was expected of me next wasn't written in the contract. Because I had a feeling it wasn't.
I slowly untangled my self from Harry, in hopes not to wake him; success. I slowly got off the bed; put on my robe, walked over to my desk. The memories from the other night flooding my mind. I opened the drawer where I knew I left the contract, grabbed my phone off the bedside table; I noticed I still had about forty percent battery left; I took it to the couch and sat down and began reading through the fifteen pages. I then had a thought, if it wasn't written in the contract that I had to stop seeing them when asked, they could very well send another contract over for me to sign; I'm pretty sure I could refuse to sign it, but I wanted to make sure. I picked my phone up realising it was four pm back home in Melbourne, the perfect time to call the Law Firm that Jess used to work for.
I dialled the number and it rang, "welcome to Blake and Wilson, you're speaking with Amanda how can I help you?" The perky receptionist answered
"Hi Amanda, my names Olivia Reynolds, my sister Jessica used to work there; I was wondering if I could speak to some one who deals with Contractual Law," I asked
"Oh yes, I remember Jess I spoke with her the other day, is it regarding the same reason she called about?" Amanda asked
"No it's not, it's something else, is there someone who can help me?"
"Yes there is, I'll just put you through to Josh," she said, "one moment please," and then there was a dial tone
"Josh Ryker's office, you're speaking with Alison how may I help you?" Oh good Alison was still his receptionist. I went to high school with her
"Hi Ali," I said, "it's Liv Reynolds, we went to Carey together,"
"Oh my gosh! Liv, hi how are you?"
"I'm good thanks, I was wondering if Josh was in?"
"Yes he is, he just finished with a client, I'll just put you through," she said, "we should get lunch or drinks soon," she was always the kind of girl that wanted to be in with the popular crowd, and clearly she still never paid attention to the latest celebrity gossip. I never really did either, I usually just liked looking at the fashion section in the papers and everything
"Oh darling, I would but I'm actually not in the country, I live in New York now," I told her
"Oh right, I'm pretty sure someone mentioned that at the reunion last month, hold on a second, I'll put you through to Josh," and then there was another dial tone
"Josh Ryker," he answered
"Josh, hi, it's Liv Reynolds. My sister use to work for you,"
"Oh yes, I remember, how are you? I hear you're living in The Big Apple now,"
"Yes that's it," I told him, "now I don't have a lot of time," I started, "I was just wondering what would happen, if I signed a contract, but the people who I signed the contract with left something out of the contract, and then sent another one over for me to sign, with the missing parts added," I continued, "could I refuse to sign the contract?"
"Was what they left out in the contract discussed or mentioned when you initially sat down and signed the contract?" He asked, bloody lawyers
"No it wasn't, what was discussed, was what I was doing, how much I would be getting and how long I was contracted for," I explained, "I'm ninety nine percent sure that the company that approached me was the second party,"
"Do you have the contract in front of you?"
"I do,"
"Can you tell me what is on each page of the contract?" He asked
"I can, page one to four, is literally just explaining my role, page five to seven is explaining 'client two' and what the issue is, page eight to ten is payment, and eleven to thirteen is explaining what is expected of me in the length of time I'm contracted, fourteen is causes of breaching and what will happen if I breach the contract and page fifteen is the whole I understand bullshit with signatures," I explained
"Okay, so read through what is expected of you and summarise to me what it says,"
I quickly read through and explained, "is what they want you to do now, mentioned?" He asked
"No, it's not, it's not in here at all," I smiled
"What about breaching?" I quickly summarised the section on breaching the contract, and what will happen if I breach
"Am I breaching the contract by contacting you?" I asked concerned
"No because you are allowed to seek legal council in law binding contracts, I'm assuming the company that you signed this with had their lawyers write up the contract?"
"I'd say so," I told him
"And you also haven't told me who you signed with and who the second client is," he said, "so unless you have feelings for said second client, you are in no way breaching the contract,"
"Okay, so can I refuse to sign the second contract?" I asked
"Yes you can, as it was never previously discussed, and they have to discuss the entire contract with you again, either in person or over the phone for you to sign it, so under any circumstances are you to contact the company, can I ask who approached you?" He asked
"Yes, Modest Management in the United Kingdom," I said, "have you heard of them?"
"Yes I have, my daughter is a fan of one of their clients, and she hard what they are doing, so I believe I know what your situation is,"
"You do?"
"Yes, I have seen you in the magazines my daughter looks through at the news agency and the supermarkets,"
"Okay,"
"So don't contact them unless they contact you, and contact me as soon as they have done so," he said, "what's going to happen if you don't do what they ask?"
"If I don't do what they ask, they will tell the second client, about the whole contract and my role in it all," I explained
"How did they discuss this with you?"
"Phone call the other night, and just said that, they basically demanded it,"
"Okay it's your choice whether or not you sign it, my advice don't sign it," he said, "and contact me as soon as they send you the second contract, and we will go from there, I'm actually going to be in New York in mid August, so if we can put it off until then I will be able to help you more. I have to go now though I have another client coming in," he said, "I'll be hearing from you soon,"
"No worries and thanks for this Josh,"
"You're welcome Miss Reynolds," and he hung up the phone, and just as I hung up Harry walked into the lounge room. So before he noticed I shoved the Manila folder under one of the couch cushions hoping to remember that it was there when he left
"Everything okay babe?" He asked
"Yeah just couldn't sleep," I told him, "so I decided to call a friend from home,"
"Come back to bed?" He asked, "I woke up lonely,"
"Sure I was coming back any way," I told him, I quickly opened messages and sent a quick text to Jess

To Jess: modest contract under middle couch cushion on the couch facing the TV, can you please take it to your room and I'll grab it back off you when harry leaves unless you're still asleep then. We have things to discuss about it xx

A/N- hope you like this update! I'm not 100% sure if what I wrote about Liv refusing to sign the second contract is accurate but this is fiction so I guess it doesn't matter! Hope
You're enjoying! Much love xx