Christian Ivanov and Alexander Hamilton have finally found each other.
But it wouldn't be love, if every universal force imaginable wasn't hell bent on breaking these two up before their romance has even really begun.
Among the lies, the family sec...
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"Where's mum?" I asked Slav as soon as he entered the kitchen.
"She's just running errands." My father replied casually. He glanced over at Derek who was actively powering through the last few bites of his meal. "Good. Good." Slav nodded to him.
"Errands?" I continued, before he could try and steer us onto a different topic. "What kind of errands? Because Alex just told me mum stopped by to have him sign a nondisclosure agreement. That doesn't sound like a casual errand to me. Sounds more like a strategic attack on mother's part."
My father hesitated a moment. I could tell he was thinking hard on what to say next.
"It's just- we were advised that it would be best-"
"Advised by who?" Brad cut in. "Because I'm your lawyer, and I didn't advise jack shit."
There was an immediate shift in tension throughout the room. Derek was looking back and forth between Brad and my father as he finished off the last of his food.
"We thought it would be best to hire on a different legal team. I mean, you must admit that this is all a little too close to home. We don't want you to be anymore involved than you already are." Slav explained.
Oddly enough, I understood that. I just didn't appreciate the way my parents were going about it. Clearly, keeping secrets had benefited no one up until this point. Brad deserved transparency.
"Dad, that's shit you don't keep from me." Brad snapped, as he slammed his water bottle on the kitchen island with a loud thud. It wasn't that Brad never got mad, but he wasn't one to openly express his irritation. Especially not physically. The sound of the aluminum bottle colliding with the marble countertop made me jump.
Slav took another moment to collect his thoughts before he replied.
"Everything we've done. Everything we do... and everything we'll continue to do, will always be in your best interest." He settled on.
"I think it's been established that I don't need you to protect me. I don't need either of you guys to protect me." Brad was quick to reply. "So stop treating me like I'm ten. If you want me to continue to represent this company legally, you'll hire me on this case. If you decide not to, then consider this my two weeks notice."
My head whipped around to Brad so quick, I thought I gave myself whiplash.
"Hey- now hold the fuck on a second here. You're also my lawyer, remember?" I reminded Brad. He gave me a careless shrug.
"You can get yourself any lawyer. You have the resources."
My eyes peered over at him. Brad and I both knew that wasn't true. I could barely keep an assistant for more than a few weeks, and he wanted me to get a new lawyer? He was literally the only person who could effectively help me stay out of legal trouble.
