I opened my eyes. Something in his voice cut through the fog faster than the alarm had. Cody didn’t knock like that unless something was actually wrong. I sat up and pushed my hair back from my face. “What happened?”
“There’s a guy downstairs.” A pause. “With papers.”
I was out of bed before he finished the sentence.
I came down the stairs in my briefs and a T-shirt I’d grabbed off the floor. I didn’t have to guess what it meant. I’d been served before. I wasn’t going to dress up for him.
Cody smirked when he saw me. The man standing on the other side of the screen door looked surprised and uncomfortable. I didn’t care. He was about to ruin my day. I could wear whatever the hell I wanted to.
He looked at me. “Colt Anderson?”
“That’s me.”
He held out the envelope. I took it. He turned and walked down the stairs. I stood in the entryway and looked down at the envelope in my hand.
I carried the envelope into the kitchen and dropped it on the island. Cody poured me a cup of coffee and slid it across the counter to me.
He said nothing as I took my first sip.
“Shots fired,” Cody said.
“Yep.”
I opened the envelope and was not surprised. Judd Mathers was suing me for breach of contract, tortious interference, and defamation. The filing was not unexpected.
“How bad?” Cody asked.
“He’s going scorched earth,” I said. “And defamation. That was not something I expected.”
“Defamation.” Cody repeated the word like he was tasting it. “For the video?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Is any of it going to stick?”
“The breach of contract claim has the most teeth. I pulled out of a signed agreement. I paid the penalty but he’s arguing the penalty clause doesn’t cover consequential damages. His lawyers are going to say my withdrawal caused a cascade that cost him the whole project.”
“Did it?”
“Probably.” I pushed the papers away. “But I didn’t do anything illegal. I followed the contract. The penalty clause was negotiated and agreed to by both parties. He wants more than what we agreed to and he’s hoping a lawsuit scares me into settling.”
“Will it?”
I looked at my brother. “What do you think?”
He smiled slowly. “I think I’m calling the boys.”
I laughed. “We pulling the family card?”
“Yep.”
“Sit down and eat something. I’ll make the call. Mathers is going to learn the hard way you don’t fuck with the Anderson family. That guy thinks he’s all high and mighty. Texas boys don’t play.”
I didn’t argue. “I’m going to call the legal team. They knew this was coming.”
“How exciting,” Cody said. “Been a while since we got to play ball.”
I wasn’t sure I was as excited as he was, but I was ready to fight back because now I had real skin in the game. I called my attorney first. He was on retainer and I paid him a small fortuneto be on call. I gave him the recap while I read through the filing more carefully.