Every Good Girl Deserves a Bad Boy

Chapter 3

“Mr. Stark, do you know of a woman named Vicki Anne Montgomery?” The lawyer, Jerry, asked Tony as they sat at a big conference table, accompanied by Pepper and another lawyer he didn’t recognize.

“Nope.” He said lazily, not even trying to hold back a yawn.

Pepper, who was sitting next to him, nudged him not so gently with her elbow to wake him up.

“OW!” he mouthed to her.

“Maybe this will remind you.” Jerry pulled out a photograph from the file that was sitting on the table in front of him, and slid it over to him.

He took one glance at the picture- only a fraction of a second long. “Nope.” He repeated, sliding the picture pack across the table to them. He leaned back on his chair and put his feet up on the table.

Pepper shot him a disapproving look.

He didn’t seem to notice.

“Is this going somewhere? Because if not, I’ve got something a little less boring planned, like drowning myself.” Tony said sarcastically.

Jerry slid the picture back in the file. “Well, this woman claims to have had an intimate relationship with you some time ago, and as a result, conceived a child.

Tony groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. He didn’t want to deal with this.

“How far back are we talking?” asked Pepper.

“Around 20 years ago.” Jerry said, as he checked a piece of paper in the file, searching for the exact date. “…23 to be exact.”

“Oh, Please!” Tony burst out. “If I tried to remember every woman I had s-“

Pepper glared menacingly at him.

He corrected himself. “I had an ‘intimate relationship’ with, my head would be filled with little else.”

“It already is.” Pepper added.

“Excuse me!” Tony defended. “Who’s the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist here?” He looked around the room. “Oh, that’s right, it’s me!”

She rolled her eyes at him, before she addressed the lawyers. “Do you have any proof that this claim might actually be real?”

“Well, here is a picture of the child in question. Not so much of a child anymore though.” He dug out another photograph from the file and slid it over to them.

Pepper took the photo in her hands and stared at it. She was taken aback. This twenty-something girl looked exactly like Tony, just in female form. She was very beautiful with her dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. She even had his nose.

Tony, noticing her reaction, looked over her shoulder at the picture. He looked at it a moment.

“Please,” he scoffed. “Anyone can get plastic surgery these days.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “This proves nothing.”

“You’re right,” Jerry said. “But it sounds like this could be for real, Tony. She’s asked us to do a DNA test.”

“No!” He immediately protested. “It’s obvious that this is just some cheap scheme to get into the newspapers.” He took his feet off the table and slammed his fists down.

“Tony,” Pepper tried to calm him. “What’s the harm in one little test?” she tried putting her hands on his shoulder, but he was angry, livid, even. And maybe even a little bit afraid.

“No!” he shouted “Then everyone from my past will come looking for me, wanting the same thing. I don’t want to be reminded of my past every day, Pepper.” He looked at her with his deep brown eyes. “I only want to think about you.”