Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 2

Ch. 22: An Uneasy Alliance

"You called Max?" I say, turning back to my grandfather.

And I'm wondering, how the hell did my grandfather even have Max's number? He didn't go through any level of screening - he got straight through the Max.

"He's at the center of all this, isn't he?" Andrew shifts his gaze to Max, who comes into the room. "And I seriously don't like the FBI showing up at my office on Monday morning, questioning my granddaughter about her relationship with you."

"As I'm sure Hadley has told you," Max says smoothly, "we no longer have a relationship. A personal relationship, at any rate. She does represent me in several business matters."

Max takes the visitor's chair next to me. My grandfather does not stand up, and the two of them don't shake hands.

"What do you plan to do about this?" Andrew demands.

"I plan to remove Hadley from my personal life, and make sure any work she does for me professionally is beyond reproach."

"Just how exactly do you propose doing that?"

The corner of Max's mouth quirks in a half-smile. "Keeping her out of my personal life? By no longer dating her or sleeping with her."

Andrews face actually turns red. "You bastard."

So my grandfather thought I was a twenty-five year old virgin? Or maybe it's that a Bennett having sex with a Reese is akin to a Montague sleeping with a Capulet.

Max continues. "And as far as our professional relationship, I'll make sure that everything I ask her to do is above-board. To the extent anything else is going on, shall we say, behind the scenes, she won't be a part of it."

"Why don't you just hire another lawyer?" Andrew asks. "Make a clean break."

Max leans forward. "Because she had the misfortune of walking in on a meeting with some unsavory characters I believe you have had dealings with in the past. Your association to Hadley was already troubling to them. I need to keep a connection with her as my lawyer in order to make sure she is protected.

"That's why it was so important that she accompany me to New York last weekend, when her presence was requested."

"Who?" Andrew asks. "If I have to watch my back - and Hadley's - I need to know what direction the trouble might be coming from."

Max nods. "I think first names will suffice for these purposes, I have specifically avoided sharing their last names with Hadley. And asked her to promise not to Google. The less she knows the better."

"Agreed."

"It's Gino and Joey D."

There's a long silence. "It would be, wouldn't it?" Andrew says.

He just shakes his head, but looks resigned.

"I don't suppose there's any point in me telling you how fucked up it is that you got her involved in all this."

It doesn't even register to me how unusual it is for grandfather to use language like this. Even in anger, he is an old school gentleman lawyer in his word choice. But not, apparently today.

What I do notice is that the two of them seem to be talking about me as if I'm not even there. As if they - and not I - have the decision-making power over my life.

"Although it's nice to see you two speaking civilly after a decades-old feud that, by the way, neither of you will discuss with me, I just want to remind you that this is my life you are talking about and neither of you has the right to tell me what I can and can't do."