Daddy's Little Girl

Battle Lines

“Dad I’m fine, can you please stop babying me.” Victoria said pushing away the forkful of eggs Nick was trying to shove into her mouth.

“You have to work today, you need to eat.” He said sternly.

“I can do it myself.” She said taking the fork away from him as she rolled her eyes at him. She ate the eggs before tossing the fork down. “See? I’m a big girl I can feed myself; I don’t know why Dante called you.”

“Because he’s worried about you and so am I. When you finish eating I’ll take you to work.”

“It’s fine daddy I’ll just call my driver.”

“I’m taking you, end of discussion.” He said as he stood up from the table “I’m going to walk Heather,” he tossed over his shoulder as he walked out. Victoria sucked her teeth as she spread her food across her plate, usually she relished in the attention Nick gave her but she was just annoyed. The last thing she wanted was a babysitter but Dante insisted that Nick take her to work while he took care of assessing the damage to her car.

“What time do you get off?” Nick asked as he helped her out of the car.

“I don’t know, pretty late I guess, I have to prepare for court tomorrow.”

“Just give me or Dante a call if you need anything.” Nick said before kissing her forehead.

Nick watched his daughter walk into her office building and could only shake his head. She had no idea how much she worried him.

Victoria walked into her office and was greeted by a stack of boxes which held files from an old lawsuit against another company Jeffery had worked for. She needed to figure out how she could work the new material into her case. She had only worked her way through a quarter of the box when Owen walked into her office, souring her mood even more for the rest of the day.

“What can I do for you Mr. Lawson?” she mumbled never bothering to look up from her papers.

“I came to check on you, and we need to talk.”

“I’m fine, what do you want to talk about what?” she asked, Owen paused for a moment before speaking again.

“Are you and Dante dating?”

Victoria slowly raised her head and looked at him; if looks could kill Owen would have spontaneously combust.

“What type of question is that?”

“A valid one, now answer it.”

“It’s none of your business what goes on in my personal life.”

“It’s my business to know if you’re violating your contract.”

“I heard you had a message for me.” She said changing the subject.

“What?” he said as his eyes stretched with surprise.

“I got a call from your friend Jeffery and he said that you had a message for me.”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about.” He said as he stood up and fiddled with the bottom of his jacket nervously. Victoria raised an eyebrow as she watched him walk out of her office; she chewed on her bottom lip as she came to the realization that she could no longer trust Owen. She could see the battle line being drawn and she was all alone on her side.

****

“Yah girl okay D? Her car is pretty banged up.” Roscoe asked as he walked poked his head into Dante’s office.

“She’s a little banged up but she’s fine. She actually went in to work today.”

“Just from looking at the car I can tell it’s already totaled.”

“I wanna take a look at it anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll set it up for you.”

“Thanks,” Dante mumbled as he began to recall what Victoria had told him about the accident. Shaking his mind clear her got up and walked into the garage to start on his inspection. The first thing he checked was the breaks and he immediately noticed the buildup of grease on all of the break-pads. Dante spent the rest of the day on the car trying to figure out where the grease came from but found no answer. On his way to pick up Victoria he knew that he had to tell her what he found, and he was the least bit excited to tell her that her car was totaled.

When Dante pulled up into the building parking lot Victoria was waiting for him.

“Why are you hanging out down here?” he said as he got out of the car to greet her.

“I couldn’t stand being inside any longer.” She said as she wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he helped her into the car.

“Yeah I’m fine, why?”

“You’re acting weird.”

“How am I acting weird?”

“You just kissed me.”

“So?”

Dante stared at her for a moment before shaking his head.

“Nevermind,” he said closing her door.

Dante made small talk as he drove Victoria home; he was trying his best to avoid giving Victoria the bad news. Before taking Victoria home Dante made her go grocery shopping, he could not understand how she could live without any food in her home. After grocery shopping Dante prepared her dinner while Victoria watched.

“So are you going to tell me the bad news?” she asked as crunched on a Cheeto.

“What bad news?”

“About my car, I know you have something to tell me, so just say it. Is it going to be totaled?”

“…Yes,” he answered slowly. “I found a lot of grease build-up on your breaks which didn’t allow for the friction needed to stop the car. It’s just weird; there was no reason for there to be so much build-up like that.”

“Don’t worry about it, things happen.” She said giving him a reassuring smile. “I’m fine that’s all that matters,”

“How’s your wrist?”

“It’s fine, stop worrying about me and worry about those steaks,” she said as she gave him a pat on the back. “I’m going to walk Heather.”

Victoria let out a long sigh as she strolled down the street with Heather leading the way. She could see that Dante was struggling with her car accident, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Jeffery’s warning. For now she would put it behind her and pour all of her energy and focus into finishing up Dante’s case.

*****

“You don’t think you’re provoking her?” Melissa asked as she uncorked a bottle of wine.

“She can’t do anything, by the time I am finished with her no one will believe a word she says if she does talk.” Jeffery said as he took the bottle away from Melissa and popped out the cork. “I told you I have everything taken care of, stop worrying.”

“Yes sir,” she said with a giggle as she pushed him onto the sofa in their hotel suit and sat on his lap. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to spend some time together.” She said as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“We could spend even more time together if you would get rid of your little lap dog.”

“I can’t just get rid of Anthony like that; I worked hard luring him away from Victoria. I want to gloat a little longer.”

“It’s not good to live your life just to make one person miserable. Don’t you want to be the third Mrs. Jeffery Alexander Fox?”

A smile spread across Melissa’s face as she caressed his face.

“Of course I do and once this nonsense with Victoria is finished, we can get on with our lives.”