Oops! My Secret Baby Is Caught By His Top-Lawyer Daddy! Novel

---- Chapter 76: Every Second Together Is Precious On Monday, Ariella returned to the firm. The moment she powered on her work computer, an email notification popped up about a personnel transfer. She was being ordered to leave Greystone immediately and report back to headquarters. What hit her the hardest wasn't the relocation-it was the demotion. She'd been bumped from Administrative Manager down to Administrative Assistant, the same position she'd held when she first joined the company. Ariella buried her face in her hands and sobbed. She knew exactly what this was-Aaron's warning shot.

And now she was starting to regret that little outburst she had on Christmas Eve. Maybe being a "good ex" meant acting like you were dead and gone. ---- Meanwhile, Aaron had also been thinking about Ariella. As far as he was concerned, that whole situation with Clara was water under the bridge. But Ariella texting Clara just to stir the pot? That crossed a line. So he made a quick call to Mr. Blackstone over at Blackstone & Associates. All it took was one heads-up, and Ariella got served with a wake-up call-leave Greystone, now. Out of sight, out of mind. Aaron felt no guilt about any of it.

During that relationship, they'd spent their youth side by side. If Ariella had just stayed quiet and faded into memory, he'd have chalked it all up to a chapter in his growth as a person. He didn't owe her anything-not even the breakup. She was the one who ended it. She was the one who'd traded up-and now she was the one who couldn't let go? They'd let go so easily back then because, at the end of the day, they just didn't love each other ---- enough. Aaron remembered thinking that breaking up felt no different from closing a case-clean, final.

He'd simply said, "Okay," sealed the file, and moved on. That was it. Women, he thought, were complicated. Thankfully, he was too busy burying himself in work to rack up any other romantic baggage. Otherwise, his life would be a minefield by now. Leaning back in his chair, Aaron combed through his past relationships in his head one last time. Once he was certain there were no lingering messes, he finally relaxed. That argument with Clara had rattled him. He prayed they'd never have a repeat of it. Just thinking about Clara brought a smile to his face. That woman-why was she always crying?

Her tears flowed like a broken faucet! And that temper of hers? Whoa. After all these years of searching, he'd finally found the one who stole his heart. Every single ---- second with her was priceless. How could he let any of it go to waste on fighting? He'd never cared about anyone this deeply before. He couldn't stand to see her cry, couldn't bear her anger. All he wanted was to give her everything he had-just to coax one smile from her. Just then, Derek barged in without knocking and tossed two invitation cards on Aaron's desk-the receptionist had just handed them to him.

Aaron snapped out of his thoughts and shot him a sideways look. "Seriously, when are you gonna fix that bad habit of yours and knock?" Derek huffed. "We grew up sharing the same damn pair of pants. What are you hiding from me? What, was I interrupting your little daydream about your girl?" Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Were we really that poor growing up that we had to share one pair of pants?" Instead of answering, Derek pointed at Aaron's ---- neck, eyes going wide like he'd discovered buried treasure. He let out a loud gasp. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's one hell of a love bite!

Damn, man, things got intense, huh? You better take it easy-you might scare your little wife away!" There was a scabbed-over bite mark on Aaron's neck-still red and totally visible. His shirt collar only covered about half of it. Aaron ignored him and picked up one of the invitations. It was for Austin Reid's company's opening party tomorrow night. This one was non-negotiable. Clara would definitely be there. He waved the card toward Derek. "You going?" Derek didn't even blink. "If Scarlett's going, I'm going." Aaron grinned. "Wow, whipped much?" Derek just shrugged. "Damn right.

I do whatever she says."