Free Gimme an O! by Kayla Perrin Page B

so fast,” Zack said. He leaned forward in his pleather chair. “One more thing to discuss.”
    Ginger swallowed. “Oh?”
    “My fee. Twenty-five percent.”
    “Twenty-five!”
    “Ten thousand when you agree for me to represent you, the rest once the deal is worked out.”
    “But twenty-five percent—that’s more than a million bucks!” And from the look of the wood-paneled walls and dollar store ornaments on his desk, it didn’t look like Zack had ever seen that kind of money in his life.
    “Fifteen, then,” he quickly said. “But that’s as low as I’ll go. I have things to consider—like extra safety precautions. You say your husband has a violent temper. I don’t want him coming after me.”
    She had already promised Sha-Shana fifty grand. Another fifteen was a huge chunk of her change.
    But fifteen percent of five million was a helluva lot better than fifteen percent of nothing.
    “All right,” she told him. “But I pay you when I get paid. My money’s tied up, so I can’t afford the ten grand right now.”
    Zack frowned ever so slightly but finally said, “Okay.”
    “Hopefully this will be resolved sooner rather than later, and neither of us will have to wait on the money.”
    “Don’t worry. You’ll see the money very soon. I’m certain of that.”

Nine
    Hours later, Anthony had fielded calls from reporter after reporter, and was wary about answering his phone. But when it rang late in the afternoon, he snatched up the receiver nonetheless. “Yo.”
    “Anthony, hi. It’s Keith Alabaster.”
    His lawyer. Thank God. Hopefully, he had some good news. “Hey, Keith. What’s the word?”
    “I have some news. Ginger’s switched lawyers.”
    “What?”
    “It’s true. Her first one dropped her. He finally returned my call this morning to explain what’s going on. He said he didn’t feel Ginger was being reasonable regarding the settlement and he wasn’t the lawyer for her.”
    “She no longer has legal representation?”
    “No, she’s got a new lawyer. I heard from him just minutes ago. You’ll never believe who. That slimy character, Zack Mulroney.”
    “Wait a minute—that guy you see all over the TV?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “I thought he did personal injury.”
    “He’s the kind of lawyer who bends to your specifications.”
    “Great. So what do you think this means?”
    “That she knows she doesn’t have a good case. She’s pulling out all the stops.”
    “And?”
    “Now we wait and see. Her new lawyer said he wants a meeting as soon as possible. Tomorrow’s good for me, so we’re going to get together and go over the case.”
    “Just you and him?”
    “Yeah. I’ll see if I can’t convince him that Ginger’ll lose everything if she decides to see this case taken to court.”
    “Whoa—what about setting up a meeting with all of us?”
    “I’m going to suggest that once we’ve gone over the facts. We’ll see what happens.”
    “All right. Thanks, man.”
    “Hang in there. We’ll get this resolved one way or another.”
    If the gods were on his side, Anthony thought, Ginger would see reason. And by this time next week he would be moving back into his house, getting his life back on track with the woman who had sworn to love him for better or for worse.
     
    So much for wishful thinking.
    It was clear that Ginger wasn’t about to see reason any time soon, and even more clear that his life as he had known it would not soon return to normal.
    “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, bro.”
    Anthony stared up at Kahari with a dumbfounded expression. “What is her game? I mean, she won’t talk to me, wants me to pay her five million, and now she goes and does this?”
    Anthony’s gaze went to the tabloid, the Daily Blab. Though as far as he was concerned, it should have been called the“Daily Rag,” considering the pathetic lengths their writers went to verify any truth to their alleged stories.
    Ginger’s picture took up the bottom right of the