Page 128 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

“How did brunch go?” Nolan asked, leaning back in his chair as I came into his office.

I collapsed in a leather club chair across from his desk, loosening the knot in my tie. “About as well as I expected. Dad thinks I’m fucking up my life and Mom can’t fathom why Thea doesn’t just move here.”

“They’ll come around. Give them a couple more grandkids. Buy them a lake house in Lark Cove. Once they spend some time there, they’ll understand. Besides, it’s not like you can’t manage the Kendrick fortune from Montana.”

I shrugged. “We’ll see.”

My parents thought abandoning the career I’d worked so hard to build was reckless. They’d been disappointed in my decision to move, especially Dad.

He wasn’t concerned about me managing logistics for the family from Lark Cove. He knew location didn’t matter when it came to handling finances, taking phone calls and returning emails. Dad was convinced that I’d never be seen as a leader if I was living thousands of miles away. He had a point.

So I’d handed over my crown.

Aubrey could take his place because I wasn’t changing my mind. Two weeks without Thea and Charlie and I was coming out of my skin.

“Any word from the firm?” Nolan asked.

“No. I don’t expect to hear from them again.”

The day I’d dropped off Thea and Charlie at the airport, I’d called for an impromptu meeting with the senior partners at the firm. I’d gotten lucky that it had been on a Monday and none of them had been out golfing. Though I’m pretty sure all three of them had wanted to take a club to my head after the first five minutes of the meeting.

“Are they still pissed?”

I shrugged. “I think they’re chagrinned that I outsmarted them. But they got the better end of the deal, so they’ll get over it as soon as they cash a few Kendrick checks.”

Nolan grinned. “Remind me to have you review any and all contracts before I sign them.”

“You got it.”

When I’d bought into the firm as a partner, I’d signed their standard partnership contract. It was fairly boilerplate, outlining the responsibilities of the partnership and the consequences if expectations weren’t met. It also included a nepotism clause, stating that no partner could be in a relationship with other employees. Immediate family members were allowed to work at the firm, but not in the chain of command with the related partner.

All standard.

Including the clause where a partner’s spouse and family members were not allowed to be clients of the firm.

That had been my loophole.

When I’d been offered a partnership, Kendrick Enterprises had been with another firm across town and it was well known that Dad was loyal to them. Since there was no shot at winning the Kendrick business, the senior partners had taken the next best thing: me. I’d become their star, bringing in clients they wouldn’t have earned without my last name.

So my proposal to Stone, Richards and Abergel was simple: they buy me out of my partnership and I bring them the Kendricks. Aubrey had been more than willing to shuck their existing firm, which was full of lawyers who continually double-checked her directives with my father. It was in her authority to change firms, and after I’d asked her to consider it, she’d agreed immediately.

I was letting her deal with Dad’s reaction to the change.

The senior partners had put on a good show, hemming and hawing for at least five minutes before agreeing. They’d even held back their excitement until after I’d left the conference room.

I’d spent two weeks on the phone and in meetings, notifying clients and getting the other partners up to speed on my former portfolio. Finally, yesterday, I’d packed up my office and handed in my keys.

“What do you have left to do?” Nolan asked.

“Not much. Sean has my personal belongings all packed up and ready for shipment to Lark Cove. Most everything else is staying since I’m keeping the penthouse. Now all I have left to do is step down as chair and I’m free.”

“I think this is a mistake.” Nolan frowned. “You can do this job from Montana.”

I chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were going to miss me.”

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“You’re trained. If you leave, I’ll have to break in someone new.”