Page 138 of Fierce-Matt

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LIKE YOU NOW

“Hi, Amber,” Matt said on Friday morning. Anya moved past her mother and came to give him a kiss. They were in his office and all took a seat. He was in the chair, Amber and Anya on the couch.

“Thanks for fitting us in last minute like this,” Amber said.

“Always,” he said. “I’m glad Anya called me. And if for some reason I couldn’t meet this morning, one of my parents would have stepped in.”

He’d filled them in on what was happening last night when he got the call. All three of them had boots on the ground trying to figure out where EJ was staying and if he’d seen another attorney locally. So far, they were coming up empty.

“We appreciate it,” Amber said. “I’m not sure what we can do. I talked to Elliot this morning and he said he hadn’t seen EJ in years. He has no memory of yesterday and was annoyed I asked him. Is it possible that EJ wasn’t there and Elliot was confused?”

“No, Mom,” Anya said. “EJ signed his name on the visitors’ sheet. He wasn’t even smart enough to lie.”

“He’d be stupid to do that if he was going there to get your father’s signature on anything. Have you tried to see if they willlet you look at the camera footage there? To see if EJ entered the building again?”

“I asked this morning when I called,” Amber said. “They were going to put the request in with the security, but this isn’t an urgent matter to them.”

“You can prohibit EJ from returning,” he said. “Have you thought of that?”

“We talked about it this morning,” she said. “EJ hasn’t returned either of our calls. I’m not sure if he thinks ignoring us will make it go away.”

“If he shows up, they have orders to call us,” Amber said. “Or me. They are nice there. I’ve been bringing cookies for the staff.”

He smiled. “I remember your cookies. Anya used to bring them to our house. She wouldn’t share with me and I had to eat them when she left.”

Anya swatted his arm. “I didn’t know that.”

“You didn’t like me enough back then to share.” He winked at her.

“I like you now.”

“You two are great together,” Amber said. “I’m so glad you found each other.”

“I’m glad too, Mom. But we have to get back to this issue with EJ.”

Matt heard buzzing and Amber reached into her purse and looked at her phone. “It’s the rehab facility. Hello.” They could hear a voice on the other end but not what was being said. “Can you keep him there? I’ll be right down.”

“He’s there?” Anya asked, standing. “They opened five minutes ago. He’s a sneaky prick. He probably thinks if he can get in and out when Dad is more coherent, he can get this taken care of.”

“I don’t know what his plan is, but he’s not alone. There’s another man with him. Someone in a suit,” Amber said.

“Screams lawyer to me,” she said, looking Matt over.

“Let’s go have a chat,” he said, standing with them.

“You’re coming with us?” she asked.

“Yep.” He walked over to his desk and grabbed an envelope.

“What’s that?”

“A copy of the power of attorney. Once the sale of the building is complete, this would be on file with the court anyway, but otherwise it’s not required. Your father might not have said there was one in place, but he has to sign a new one and it needs to be in front of a notary.”

“Which could happen now,” she said.

“Your father is incapable of making a sound decision. The courts would side with you on this and not EJ.”