The Intern (The Dalton Family #4)(18)

Together.

All cozied up.

As I zoomed in, there was a piece of her long red hair stuck to the whiskers of his beard. I certainly couldn’t ignore that her lipstick was a bit smudged. Even his lips looked red and swollen, covered in a color that was similar, if not exact, to the one Madison was wearing, like they’d just finished kissing.

That fucker.

Instead of waiting for me in the alley, he’d found her.

Maybe he’d gotten her number while they were talking at the table, and he called her the second I left him.

Maybe he’d found her inside the bar.

It didn’t even matter.

The point was, he was with her and not me.

And he’d definitely been with her all right—or things were quickly leading in that direction. Madison had a reputation for sleeping with anyone to get ahead, including two of our law professors; she’d even been with Dominick at one point last year before he started dating Kendall.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised she’d made Declan her next target.

What surprised me was him.

That he’d stoop so low. That he’d go to her after he was with me.

But should I really be surprised with a reputation like his?

No.

What should surprise me was that I’d ever thought Declan was interested in me. That we had a connection. That whatever had happened between us had potential to lead to something more.

He was as disgusting as Trevor.

I opened Instagram and pulled up the message I had sent him earlier, noticing that it was unseen.

Of course it was. He was too busy to check his phone.

I unsent the message and deleted the entire conversation.

I didn’t want that dick to have my number.

I didn’t want him to know that I’d made an effort.

I never wanted to see him again unless it was in the courtroom, where I would show him what happened when you messed with a woman as fiery as me.

“What are you going to wear?” Oaklyn yelled out from her bedroom.

I glanced up from my phone, my hands still trembling. “Something black. Tight. Short. And extremely revealing.”





FIVE





DECLAN





Dominick held out his hand, waiting for me to grasp it, a cocky-ass grin growing over the motherfucker’s face. “Welcome to The Dalton Group.”

He was the oldest.

The lead.

I knew how that worked—with age came seniority—and that was why I was shaking his hand first, why the communication, the contract negotiations, the demands I’d requested had solely been between him and me.

Not that Ford and Jenner, his younger brothers, were any less important. The two of them represented the top billionaires of the world and certainly weren’t slouches when it came to success.

But Dominick would be the man I bitched to if a problem arose.

I released his hand and moved on to Jenner and Ford. “It’s good to be here, gentlemen, especially now that you’ve agreed to my terms.”

“Your fucking terms,” Dominick barked, “were some of the most ridiculous I’d ever seen.”

He’d wanted me, so he’d had to give me everything I’d asked for—and what I’d asked for was a fast track to making partner. According to my terms, they had two years to make that happen.

He had known I wasn’t going to come easy.

But he’d agreed.

And now, I would be the firm’s top litigator, and within the next two years, I would become a partner at The Dalton Group.

With Dominick as the top entertainment lawyer in the state, Jenner a real estate lawyer, and Ford an estate lawyer, I would be representing their portfolio of clients if any of them found themselves in court—trials they were now guaranteed to win.

That was why they had been willing to get on their knees and beg me to join.

Why, when I’d asked for the goddamn moon, they had given it to me.

“Listen, you get what you pay for,” I countered. “You know there isn’t a litigator on your team who has even a tenth of my skills.” I took the contract out of my briefcase, holding it inside the folder I’d placed it in, and pushed the pile across the table toward Dominick. “You won’t be disappointed. You know that.”

“We do,” Jenner said. “That’s why you’re here and why we tried to recruit you for years.”

Dominick opened the lengthy contract, scanning each page, probably ensuring I had initialed and signed each appropriate spot. After flipping to the end, he nodded to his brothers.

“Now that we have the formalities out of the way, how the hell are you?” Ford asked. “I haven’t seen you in a couple of months. Still single, I’m assuming?”

“We’ve been out plenty,” I said, pointing to Dominick and Jenner. “You’re the one who’s been locked at home with a little one.”

A life I couldn’t fathom right now.

I didn’t even have a woman holding me down, never mind one who didn’t reach up to my waist.

“Don’t even get me started on him,” Dominick said. “It’s getting impossible to drag him out.”

“That’s going to change now that I’m here,” I told them, resting my arms on the table. “Ford will be coming out all the time and staying longer than for just one round of drinks.”