He paused in the kitchen area and poured himself a cup of coffee when Jared Wilson joined him, leaning against the doorframe.
“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Jared asked.
“Good. Keeping busy.” Austin took a sip of the coffee, made in the Keurig machine that Dan splurged on for the team. “What about you?” he asked his friend.
“Same. Busy.” He shrugged. “We miss you around the office, though I don’t blame you for wanting more time at home with your daughter.”
“It was the right choice.”
“You don’t miss the field work?” Jared asked.
Austin shook his head. “Surprisingly, no.” His new work-from-home situation suited him fine.
“Austin?” Lara, the longtime receptionist at Alpha Security, looked past Jared, who moved aside to let her into the room. “You have a visitor,” she said.
He narrowed his gaze. “I’m not expecting anyone. Who is it? An old client?”
She shook her head, concern etching her features. “She says she’s your wife.”
He flinched and cringed at the same time. Everyone here knew he was single and had had problems with his ex, so Kayla’s attempted power play with Lara held no sway.
“Son of a bitch. I don’t suppose you could tell her I’m not here?”
“I’d be more than happy to tangle with her if that’s what you want,” the ever-loyal Lara said. “But she’s determined. I already told her you were busy and she said she would wait.”
“Fine,” he muttered. “Is the conference room cleared out?”
Lara nodded. “I’ll bring her in there to wait.”
“Everything okay?” Jared asked.
Austin slammed a frustrated hand against the counter. “The bitch showed up at my house demanding money or else she threatened to go after custody.”
Jared let out a low whistle. “What’d you do?”
“Threw her out and called my attorney. My lawyer says we have a strong case based on Kayla’s history, but we both know I have no proof of what a shitty mother she was. Aside from me and my parents, and we’re all biased.”
“Fuck.”
Austin ran a hand through his hair. “You can say that again. I don’t want to go through a legal battle or put Bailey through one, either. I don’t trust Kayla not to bring my little girl into court just to push me against the wall. And there’s no way in hell I’m paying her to go away. She’ll just come back next time she runs out of cash again,” he said, listing all the problems that kept him up nights. “I’ve been waiting for her next move. Guess this is it.”
“Want backup when you face her?” Jared offered.
“Thanks but I can handle her.” He hoped.
He left his coffee in the kitchen and headed to the conference room, where his ex was pacing back and forth behind the large table. She was dressed similarly to the last time he’d seen her, a tight dress, high heels, overdone makeup, and hair teased full. Compared to Mia’s natural beauty, Kayla was plastic and fake, inside and out.
What had he seen in her the first time? It was too late to wonder now.
“Kayla,” he said, stepping inside the room but leaving the door behind him open. “What are you doing here?” he asked, remaining on the far side of the conference table, away from his ex.
She met his gaze with a cool stare of her own. “I haven’t heard from you and I’ve given you plenty of time to consider my offer.”
He frowned at that. “It wasn’t an offer, it was blackmail using your child as leverage. I told you I’m not paying you again. You received your settlement.”
She let out a prolonged sigh. “Leave it to you to make this difficult.” She pulled out a folded piece of paper from her purse. “This is notice of a hearing. I warned you I’d go for custody and I meant it.”
“You bitch.” Austin stared at the offending paper without touching it, rage filling him at the thought of Kayla getting anywhere near his daughter.
“Fine, don’t take it.” She slammed the sheet down onto the table. “It doesn’t change the fact that you have to show up in court… Or you can pay me and this entire problem goes away. Poof. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers in the air in a dismissive action.
The irony was she didn’t want custody. She was counting on Austin caving into her demands out of fear she might win.
He curled his fingers into fists at his sides, breathing hard, trying to find a way to harness his anger. “In your eyes, Bailey’s either a pawn in your bid for cash or a problem you don’t want to deal with. That’s how you see her, isn’t it? Well, let me tell you something. You’ll get my money or my daughter over my dead body.”