Page 70 of Wicked Takeover
“You told me not to.”
That he had. “I said as much about your bra, too.”
“I won’t have it on for long.”
She ditched her remaining clothes and toed off her sandals. In the yellowish light, her pale skin took on a golden hue, except for her rosy nipples. Her areolas were tight as hell, the tips rigid.
His hunger for her kicked in big-time.
Lauren dragged a deck chair to the grill, turned it away from the waterway to face him, and sank down to its plump cushions. She parted her legs widely and folded her arms over her head to display her breasts. “There. I’m showing you mine. Please show me yours.”
His smile died, taking his lust with it. He pulled a bag of mesquite chips from a drawer beneath the grill, mixed the chips and water in a large aluminum bowl, and stirred the concoction with his hand. “When I first started law, I had no illusions about making the world a better place. I can’t remember a time when my parents didn’t struggle to feed all of us. I didn’t want that for myself, them, or any of my brothers and sisters.”
He faced her. “I wanted money. Hell, I worshipped it. Well before I passed the bar, I knew product liability was the way to go as long as I was on the corporate side. I was as greedy as they come.”
Lauren lowered her arms. “I don’t believe that. You were tired of struggling. Who wouldn’t be?”
“I could have been a better man. I knew exactly what I was doing when I twisted the law in favor of the businesses I fought for. Don’t get me wrong; I never did anything illegal. I simply pushed the envelope. For a lot of the plaintiffs, that made sense. Everyone knew they were trying to stiff the companies. The bigger the business, the better the payoff. To the ones suing, a suit was their way of getting rich. I was simply keeping them from fucking others who’d worked for their money. Soon, I looked at all plantiffs that way, even if they had legitimate complaints.”
His belly cramped at how judgmental and arrogant he’d been. “I got to the point where the truth didn’t matter anymore. I dragged everyone through endless depositions, delayed their day in court as much as I could, wearing them down until they were willing to settle for practically nothing and were grateful to be getting that. At the time, I told myself it was all right because I wanted to pay off my parents’ mortage, send my brothers and sisters to college, buy this place. If not for my last case, I’d probably still be doing it.”
Lauren clasped her hands and leaned forward, listening, not judging.
Dante wasn’t certain he deserved her support. Until now, he’d been fairly certain he’d forgiven himself, yet the shame edged close again, making him physically ill. Meeting her gaze was the hardest thing he’d ever done. If she found him wanting in any way…if she thought less of him because of what he was about to confess…
Too late now to go back. She deserved to know the kind of man he’d been. He cleared his throat, prepared to lay out everything. “On my last case, a toy manufacturer retained the firm to fight a class-action suit filed by a group of parents. Their children were injured by a tricycle the company sold. Two kids died.”
Lauren’s eyes widened.
Dante should have stopped there but couldn’t. He wanted her to know. “The kids had been riding the trikes without direct parental supervision, meaning the kids were with their siblings rather than an adult at all times. Even if the parents were around, they were busy with other stuff, barbecuing, doing yard work, you name it. Just like countless other people every day. But that’s what I honed in on. The fact that the parents hadn’t watched their kids every minute they were on the trikes. Not that it would have mattered if they had.”
He leaned against the grill and took a deep breath. “The turn radius on the trikes was off, which made them tip over if the kid got a little rambunctious. What child doesn’t? One little girl went over the handlebars and landed on her head. She died of brain injuries on the way to the hospital. A boy fell sideways. He was near a curb and injured his spine. He won’t walk again. He’d just turned three. The trike was a birthday present.”
Lauren pressed her hand to her mouth.
“Do you need me to stop?” He didn’t want to cause her pain and hated himself for not having considered that. “I will. I don’t have to tell you this.”
“Please. I want to hear everything.”
He fought his guilt in order to continue. His mouth was so dry he could barely speak. “The company knew there were problems and could have fixed them easily, but they counted on nothing more than a few scraped knees and elbows, even though their engineers had warned them it could be worse. They refused to budge because it would have cost them a few pennies in profit. I knew that, yet I still fought for them.
“I argued that it was the parents’ responsibility to rein in their kids and see that they used the trike properly. They should have insisted their children wear headgear. Everything in life carries risk. You can’t put a company out of business just because a few kids get hurt because the parents were too lazy to supervise. The jurors believed my argument more than they did Scott’s and refused to award anything to the parents. These were people who didn’t have a lot to begin with; many were minorities or immigrants struggling to pay their child’s medical bills. I shouldn’t have won. It was wrong. I knew it at the time, but I wanted this.”
He gestured to the house and backyard.
Lauren didn’t comment.
He dropped his arm and risked looking at her, afraid she’d have nothing to give him except disdain.
Tears sparkled in her eyes. Not for him, he didn’t deserve such kindness. She empathized with the families and kids.
“I tried to live with myself after that…” His words caught. He pressed on. “I couldn’t. It ate at me. Finally, I left the firm and sold this place to Scott. I set up trusts for Eduardo, the toddler who was paralyzed, and two other kids who needed prolonged medical care. I liquidated everything that was left and gave it to my family.” He laughed sadly. “They’re a lot like you when it comes to money. They didn’t want any from me, either. Said I had nothing to be ashamed of.” He couldn’t begin to make amends for what he’d done. “I begged them to keep it so they wouldn’t have to worry about making ends meet. Money doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I don’t want it. There, that’s my story. I’ve shown everything to you.”
Lauren rushed from her chair. She slipped her arms around his torso and rested her head against his chest.
…
“I’m so sorry.” No apology could convey how awful she felt. She shouldn’t have talked to him as she had that day at the parlor. If she’d only known about this.
