Things Lost In The Fire (34 page)

Brody grinned. “She’s got your stupid smile. Good job.”

“Right? I love that kid.” Chase laughed as he replaced the picture on his desk. He eyed it fondly before facing his brother again. “So what’s the not-so-good stuff? You in some legal trouble?”

“Nope. Look, I don’t even know if you can help me, but I need to talk to someone rational who can look at this from an outside point of view.” Brody brushed strands of hair from his forehead, debating where to even begin. “My friend is being stalked by some creep. First he followed her in his car, then he showed up at night to walk around her backyard, and last night he tailed her on Sunset when she had dinner with her friend. I’ve checked around with my contacts and if it’s paparazzi, he’s not fessing up to it. So I’m thinking it’s a bonafide stalker.”

“Geez,” Chase murmured. “I’m assuming this friend of yours is some kind of celebrity?”

“It’s Sadie, Chase,” Brody said, all that anger and pain rising up within him just at the mention of her name.

Chase blinked, taken aback. “Wait, Sadie McRae?”

Brody nodded.

“You’re seeing her?”

“What? No,” Brody countered, scratching his chin and shifting his right leg to the floor. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and focusing on his hands. “Okay, I don’t really know what we’re doing, but I
am
trying to help her out. She needs protection.”

A slow grin lifted Chase’s features. “You guys were really close. I didn’t know you were still talking to her.”

“I ran into her when she came back to L.A. a few weeks ago,” Brody admitted. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that she’s in danger.”

Chase swiped a hand through his hair with a sigh. “She’s also being sued.”

“Wait,
what
?” Brody’s brow creased as his eyes lifted. “By who?”

“Her mother.” Chase shuffled through some papers on his desk, locating the one he needed. His eyes perused the page quickly, then met Brody’s again. “She claims Sadie infringed on her stage persona without permission.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Brody muttered. He sat back against the chair, rubbing his face in his hands. “That psycho bit—”

“I’m actually supposed to send out a subpoena to her today,” Chase interrupted, earning a disgusted look from Brody.

“She hired Dad,” Brody stated flatly, a cynical laugh escaping his throat. “Why does that not surprise me?”

Chase shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “She really doesn’t have much of a case. I’m sure it won’t go very far.”

“That’s not the point, Chase,” Brody shot back, rising to his feet to pace the room. “She’s suing her own
daughter
out of spite. What kind of sick, twisted person does that?”

“Some people take these things very seriously.” Chase shrugged. “If I remember right, Sadie and her mother never really got along, anyway.”

“Sadie came back to L.A. to take care of her, and this is the thanks she gets? And worst of all, our greedy bastard of a father is the one who’s going to help her.”

“Valerie’s been a client of ours for some time—”

“I don’t care. This is bullshit,” Brody growled. He stormed from the room, not waiting for Chase to respond. He went straight for his father’s large, corner office. Not bothering to knock, he threw open the door uninvited instead.

When his father saw him, the subtlest hint of anger flashed in his cool, composed eyes.

“Brody,” Max Odell greeted, sitting back in his oversized black leather armchair to face his oldest son.

Brody grunted as he slammed the office door shut and approached his father’s mahogany desk. He planted his hands down upon its surface and leveled his gaze with the old man’s. “Tell Valerie Ryan to call off her stupid fucking lawsuit.”

One of Max’s sculpted white eyebrows slid up. “Why?”

“Because it’s wrong, that’s why.” Brody pushed off the desk and crossed his arms instead, shaking with raw energy and rage. “Sadie doesn’t deserve this, especially not from that woman.”

For a long moment, Max said nothing. He eyed his son with a kind of curious disdain, one that only made Brody more irritated by the second. When he did speak, his deep voice held a hint of snide humor. “How is it that you are always somehow involved in the cases of this firm? What goes on here is none of your business.”

“Sadie is my business,” Brody snapped. “You know this lawsuit won’t go anywhere. So tell Valerie to drop it.”

“Until I’ve examined all the angles of a case, I won’t tell a long-standing client to ‘back off’ on anything,” Max replied, immune to Brody’s anger.

Brody shook his head. “I guess that’s exactly what I expected you to say. Points for consistency, Dad, but a big fat penalty for lack of humanity.”

He stalked out of the office, leaving the door wide open just because it was rude. He called Sadie on his way out of the building, hating that he had to bring her even more bad news.

When she answered, he was crossing Wilshire Boulevard on the way to his car. “Hey, we need to talk. Where are you?”

“
At Le Petit Four getting lunch with Mom. Mind if I call you when we’re done?
”

“It can’t wait. Trust me, you’ll want to hear this. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

SADIE TUCKED her phone away, an anxious chill creeping down her spine. Brody sounded pretty upset. With a deep breath, she willed the thoughts away and focused back on her mother.

“How are the treatments going?”

Valerie let out a long exhale as she perused the menu, her eyes shielded by bug-eyed, tortoiseshell sunglasses. They were seated on the outdoor patio, within arm’s reach of Sunset Boulevard and protected by a large yellow canopy. The wind caught pieces of her thinning hair, which she brushed back impatiently. “Just awful. They poke me with needles and run all these tests…I can hardly eat anything anymore. It’s making me sicker, I’m convinced. Those bastards are trying to kill me.”

Sadie pursed her lips, wishing she knew what to say. “I know it’s not easy…”

“You don’t know,” Valerie simpered, folding up the menu and taking a long sip from her glass of Perrier. “But at least you’re home now. I can rest easy knowing you’re back where you belong.”

Sadie closed her own menu and sat back in her chair, ignoring her mother’s statement. She didn’t know what to say to that, anyway. The instant the new security system was in, she’d be going back to her father’s house. Nothing could change that, not even one of her mother’s manipulative guilt trips.

A couple of Albatross fans shyly came by the table to wish Valerie a speedy recovery, bringing a bold and brilliant smile to her mother’s face. Sadie only felt embarrassed, wishing her mother didn’t insist on eating out so often. Valerie loved the attention. Even the cancer hadn’t changed that.

But when she spotted a familiar face coming toward her from the restaurant, Sadie panicked.

Oh, great. Not again.

“Sadie! How great to run into you again,” Drew greeted, stopping beside their table. His blue eyes went from Sadie to Valerie and widened. “Valerie Ryan. Wow. It’s an honor.”

Valerie beamed up at him, removing her sunglasses to get a better look. She eyed him up and down curiously. “Thank you.”

When both of them turned to her expectantly, Sadie realized she should probably do introductions. “Mom, this is Drew. I met him at a coffee shop last week.”

“How interesting!” Valerie preened, eyeing Drew again with fascination. “Why don’t you sit with us? If you’re not too busy, that is.”

“Thank you.” Drew pulled out the chair beside Sadie and sat down. “I was supposed to meet someone here but they never showed.”

“That’s too bad,” Valerie replied with a sympathetic pout. “Such a handsome young man, how could anybody stand you up?”

Drew looked embarrassed and ran a hand through his length of brown hair, turning to Sadie. “I’ve been waiting on a phone call that never came, too.”

Sadie winced, mortified he’d bring that up. She opened her menu and pretended to be busy so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

Valerie must have read the signals, bringing a delighted grin to her face. “So, tell me all about yourself, Drew.”

He chuckled, glancing at Sadie who refused to give him any attention. “Well, I’m something of an artist. And I love Sadie’s music. Isn’t she the best?”

Sadie flushed, feeling his eyes burning a hole right through her. When she felt his hand touch her knee under the table, she jumped and shifted away from him.

“She learned all she knows from me,” Valerie proclaimed, false pride in her voice.

Sadie looked up then, one eyebrow cocked. She wanted to say something, but Drew cut her off.

“You two look so much alike, wow.” He smiled at both of them, intending it to be a compliment.

Instead, both women fumed.

“Well, she’s still young. She has a lot to learn about the big bad world,” Valerie simpered, casting a knowing look at Sadie. She then launched into a detailed discussion with Drew about life in the music business, giving Sadie a much needed break from the conversation. The waiter came by to take their orders, then left them alone.

Sadie rested her chin in her palm, gazing out at the busy street full of cars and people. She would’ve given anything to be one of them, anonymous and carefree.

Her heart jumped when she spotted Brody walking down the sidewalk, making a beeline for the restaurant. She waved, catching his attention.

He came up to her, his gaze falling on Drew. Suspicion hardened his face. “Who’s this?”

Sadie rolled her eyes as she rose to her feet. “It’s not important.”

Valerie sniffed, prepared to say something. Sadie cut her off with a warning look before leaving the outdoor patio and meeting Brody off to the side where they could have some privacy. She could feel the fury vibrating off of him. “What is it?”

Brody glared at the back of Valerie’s head, then faced Sadie. “She’s filed a lawsuit against you.”

“What?” Sadie’s brow furrowed as she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“She hired my dad to make the case that you stole her stage persona when you performed with Albatross,” he explained, shoving his hands into his pockets. A dark, morbid thought occurred to him. “I wonder if he’s been having you followed by a P.I. That could explain the black car.”

Sadie paled. “Do you think…
really?
”

His jaw clenched as he gave it some thought. “Then again, the ‘whore’ note doesn’t play into that theory.”

Wrapping her arms over her torso, Sadie tried to come to terms with this new information. Through all her inner reasoning, all she could find was anger. “I can’t believe this.”

She took off before Brody could stop her, approaching her mother with fire in her eyes. “How
could
you?” she snapped, not even bothering to keep her voice low.

Valerie glanced up at her in shock. “Excuse me?”

Drew watched Sadie intently, eyebrows raised.

Sadie ignored the looks they were getting, letting her anger fuel her. “You’re
suing
me?”

Valerie bristled, sitting up taller in her chair in an attempt to regain some dignity. Her lips spread in a placating smile. “I’m just protecting my interests, darling. You understand.”

“Um, no, I don’t,” Sadie retorted, shaking with disbelief. “I can’t believe you could be this…this
petty
.”

Valerie started to reply, but Sadie cut her off. “No. Don’t. Find your own way home, I’m done.”

She turned on her heel and left the restaurant, not even caring who saw or where she was going. Brody caught up with her, his hand finding her elbow.

“You did the right thing,” he told her, glancing back at the restaurant. Valerie hadn’t bothered to follow them.

Sadie felt tears brimming in her eyes and sniffed. “She really doesn’t care about anybody but herself.”

“That surprises you?” He laughed, though it fell short. He urged her to stop walking and pulled her into his arms, giving her a moment to breathe. “I’m sorry, Sadie.”