All's Fair in Love and Law

BONUS CHAPTER

Because I love you guys and I couldn't resist, I just this minute wrote a bonus chapter for you all!! This is Riccardo's P.O.V. about Nate.

I added some bits in there which tells you about how Rick is as a father even though I've been giving you subtle hints in almost every chapter!!

Tell me what you think!

Love,

B. X

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All Rights Reserved

*BONUS CHAPTER*

Riccardo's P.O.V.

The boy finally looked up at me with wide eyes after several minutes of not knowing where to put his gaze.

I often had that effect on people in the courtroom and it didn't faze me one bit. But this? This was different. This...boy was after my daughter, and God knows what he was thinking he wanted to do with her. There was no way he'd get off lightly. And by the time I finished with him? He'd either run away entirely or be whimpering at my feet. And that's the way I liked it.

This was my 17 year old daughter we were talking about here. If he thought he could waltz into my house and play games with my little girl, he had another thing coming. I'd show him who was really the boss here. 

"So Nathan," I started, not leaving his gaze for a second, "What do you plan to do after senior year?"

His eyes shifted nervously.

 Yeah. Go ahead, punk. Try it.

 "Urm... I.... I... want to go into medicine. I mean, I've always been fascinated with the human body and all.... my dad wants me to go into law, I don't think it's for me though. My dad's always telling me that it's an amazing career path. He used to be quite a hotshot lawyer.... Mr Ryan Drake, before he did time. I've always wanted to be like my dad in a kind of way, but not Ryan Drake obviously, Nathan, even though I can't stand that name."

Kimberley spluttered into her glass. 

Time stood still as the sentence and then the name played over and over again in my head like a record stuck on repeat. The breath left my chest and my mind scrambled about, trying to anchor itself down, hold onto something concrete. 

Ryan Drake. Ryan Drake. Ryan Drake.

The man who had the nerve to put his hands on my wife. The man who'd caused us to lose that first baby all those years ago. The man who'd sunk a knife into my wife's skin.

Ryan Drake was this boy's father?

I composed myself as quickly as I possibly could, looking across at the worried face of my beautiful daughter. Cherri and Kimberley were the only two things that mattered to me in life. Forget the firm. Forget the riches. Forget the fame. Without them I was a shell of a man. Nothing. And if Ryan Drake thought he could try and rip my family apart again, he was sorely mistaken.

But I was jumping to conclusions. What if this boy's father was just an average Joe? After all, there must be plenty of Ryan Drakes walking around the Earth. 

I searched the boy's face for any hint of recognition of his father. None. 

"Ryan Drake, you say?" I rubbed my chin in thought,  "You don't perhaps have a picture do you? I'm completely fascinated by this 'hotshot lawyer' as you say it...."

I have to confirm this before I kick his ass out of my house.

Wouldn't want to frighten the poor kid.