Briggs asked, “So, my Little Riley’s contract with Rita is as bad as I’m thinking it is?”
He wasn’t sure he truly wanted to know the answer. He’d been holding out hope that she’d have a legal way out of this mess. Their answer was probably going to dash that. But it was better to have all the facts rather than living in a fantasy world.
It was Penny who answered. “Yes and no. The contract is ironclad but also unrealistic. A perpetual contract that extends even past the signer’s death could most likely be fought. But Rita was smart enough to make it hard. It would take more than a little time and a whole lot of money.”
Damn. It was exactly as he’d feared. Though he was willing to find a way if there was even the slimmest chance Riley could break free of that burdensome contract.
“I’m confident,” Chelsea chimed in, “that we could win this thing in court. We’re even willing to work pro-bono. But we’re not licensed to practice law in California. And by the time we went through the process and then fought all the ways Rita’s legal team tried to jam us up, well… it’s easier just to go through with Operation Brat.”
“And it’s a lot more fun,” Riley told them.
While the crowd laughed, Briggs just held his cutie tight and gave her a kiss on the side of her head. “Just be careful,” he finally said. “I think Rita is the type who’ll fight dirty. But heaven help her if she ever hurts you.”
“I’ll be fine, Daddy. I promise,” Riley said.
“Don’t worry,” Eli added. “I’m really good at being naughty. And by the time we’re done with this plan, Rita won’t want any part of Riley or her friends ever again.”
Briggs nodded.
Something told him that was true.
Those Littles smacked of naughtiness! Even his Little Riley.
And she sure was cute.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The next morning, Riley met Briggs for breakfast before he went to work on Auntie Athena’s.
Sitting at a table in a charming little café on Beachwood and Westshire, she cut into her veggie omelet and said, “Today is going to be a lot of fun.”
“What’s on the agenda?” Daddy asked after taking a bite of his blueberry pancakes.
“Being a brat,” she replied.
Wiping a dab of maple syrup from the corner of his mouth, Briggs said, “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Riley’s face lit up. “I am. And I’ll have even more fun when I’m out from under Rita.”
“Just don’t think you can keep up these naughty ways once this is all over,” he told her.
“Yes, Sir,” she said before giving him a mock salute.
Briggs laughed, but she could tell he was worried about something.
“All jokes aside, I won’t continue my bratty ways,” she reassured him.
“Thank you. But it’s not that, honey. Littles are supposed to get into a bit of trouble. Just nothing extreme.”
“Then what’s on your mind?”
She waited for the answer while Briggs finished the bite of pancakes he’d popped in his mouth. In the meantime, she ate some of her omelet.
“That private detective guy. He told us he wasn’t working alone. Do you think they’d do anything to hurt you? At Rita’s behest?”
Riley took a moment to think it over. “I’ve never thought about that. But surely not. I mean, Rita is shrewd, but I don’t think she’d resort to violence.”
Daddy leveled a pointed stare across the table. “Not even if you drive her to the brink of madness with your brattiness and she’s worried she’s losing her grip on you?”