Darker Nights Read Free Page A

divorce was finalized, her father told her that he’d left the country. She never saw him again.

Chapter Two
     
     
     
    Present day
     
    At the end of the day, Henry was in her office, flashing his thousand-watt grin.
    “Delia, doll, can you do me a favor?”
    She barely glanced up from the file she was reviewing. “No.”
    The unequivocal answer did not deter him. “I’ve got to head out if I’m going to catch a lift to Montreal for the weekend. Paolo’s taking us in his private jet. You should see this thing.” Here he segued into a long description of Paolo’s wealth and lifestyle, his enthusiasm only partly dimmed by his obvious jealousy.
    Delia finally lost patience after ten minutes. “Enough, Henry. What’s all this got to do with me? I’ve got my own plans for the weekend, you know.”
    Henry’s smile contracted. “Visiting your dad again? Shit, I’m sorry. I should have asked about him.”
    He paused, giving her the chance to update him, but she failed to comply. Instead she tried to push down the futile anger that filled her. Generations of the Darker family had built this firm and her father had sacrificed his leisure, his marriage and his health on its altar. Delia was the last Darker left and she knew that she wasn’t up to the challenge.
    Everything her ancestors had worked for was slipping away. Once the clientele got word of the true state of her father’s health, they would start deserting. Yet Darker Law was the only one who truly understood and catered to them. Once the firm was gone, something precious and unique would be lost.
    It all fell on her shoulders to continue it. To hold on. To fight the drowning tide. To survive.
    It was all so overwhelming.
    “I’m sorry,” Henry said again, making a pained face.
    Delia was suddenly tired. “What’s the favor you want me to do for you?”
    “I have two clients coming in at six to sign a contract for the sale of their company. Music company. Big dollars involved.”
    “And you’re not going to be there?” Delia wondered. Hardly anything attracted Henry more than dollar signs paired with zeroes—except for the chance to hang around the cool crowd.
    Henry’s shrug was accompanied by a sheepish smile. “They didn’t like me. Thought the deal took too long.”
    “What?” All of her attention was now on him. “What happened? Did they complain?”
    Henry was finding the view out of the window behind her very interesting. “A few times.”
    “About what?”
    He shifted his gaze to his shoes. “About how long it took me to respond to emails. Stuff like that.” He saw the expression on her face. “Hey, I was busy!”
    “We’re always busy,” Delia reminded him.
    “Not all of us,” he said, then quickly added, “I know. It’s a slow season. Summer usually is, but let’s face it, without anyone doing the rainmaking around here, I thought I could step into the breach.”
    Delia covered her eyes with her fingers. She could see it all perfectly. While Henry was busy socializing and calling it ‘rainmaking’, his existing clients were suffering from his lack of attentiveness.
    She tried to recall the solutions her father had offered in situations such as this.
    “Did you offer them a discount on their bill? Are they willing to try another lawyer from the firm the next time?”
    “They’re already gone,” Henry told her. He made a show of checking his watch. The sunlight filtering through the window made the diamonds on his watch’s face dance. “And I should be gone too if I’m going to catch this plane. So you’ll take the contract meeting for me?”
    At this point, it didn’t look like she had an option.
    “Go,” she told him.
    Yet, once he had her agreement, he hesitated in the doorway. “You know, you could come up and join us for the weekend. It’ll be fun.”
    “Fun,” she repeated, pronouncing the word as if it was foreign.
    He stared at her. “Did you ever have any, doll? University, law school, the