Jackson Montgomery was sat at his desk. He sighed contentedly. He had been stuck at home as he recovered from his injuries, being pampered by Erica and worried over by his son. Now he was back where belonged… even if the hospital insisted he only carry out light duties.

This morning he sat in on a client meeting with the new corporate lawyer, Henry Miller, who was a replacement for Marissa. He seemed like a young man with a good head on his shoulders and Jackson found his presence wasn't really required. The next three hours he spent checking through depositions and catching up on the case histories of new clients the firm was managing.

In fact Jackson was rather irritated by how well things had been going in his absence.

…

Jackson put aside a particularly unchallenging document covering the legal status of an animal beauty parlour, Kitty Queen, which was being sued by a newly successful rap artist with the same name.

There was a knock on the office door and his secretary popped a head in.

"There is a Mr Adam Chandler, who wishes a meeting."

Jackson frowned, what did Adam want?

"Show him in." said Jackson, quickly straightening the papers on his desk.

He stood up and shook Adam by the hand in welcome before gesturing for him to take a seat.

"How can I help you?" Jackson asked.

"I need to talk to you about my son." said Adam. He looked uncomfortable and unhappy.

"JR?" said Jackson.

"I understand you were the defence attorney at the hearing a few months back." said Adam. "I don't know if you have heard that they are releasing JR from Oak Haven and he is going to trial in three weeks for the attempted murder of his ex-wife."

"Three weeks?" gasped Jackson surprised that he had gotten a court date so fast.

"JR is being represented by Carol Robinson."

"Oh." said Jackson. That name told him all he needed to know. The woman only represented high profile cases. She was a powerful and canny lawyer who spent as much time with the press as she did in the court room. She was notorious for turning every case she was involved in into a drawn out three ring circus. She was also notorious for winning by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately she won a lot!

"Who is prosecuting?" Jackson asked.

"The DA is taking the case himself."

Jackson nodded, it was a high profile case so it made sense for his old friend Derek to take charge.

"So what did you want to ask me?" Jackson asked.

"How strong is the possibility that JR will be charged for this?"

"I can't say." said Jackson, "There is plenty of evidence against him, including his own testimony, but Carol is very good at playing the angles and JR's schizophrenia gives her a good hook to build a defence of diminished responsibility… I can't say…"

Adam nodded.

"He's my son… I don't know how I feel about it. I know I'm becoming a weak old man…"

Jackson was about to protest but Adam held up hand to silence it.

"I am." He said. "And yet I have done some despicable things in my long life… I know I have… And then I look at my son… all that anger in him… My boy is someone I don't recognise anymore and I can't help but wonder if I had a hand in creating the monster he's become."

There was an uncomfortable silence and Jackson couldn't help but wonder why Adam had come to him for this.

"I don't know what you want me to say?" said Jackson eventually.

"Nothing. You don't need to say anything." said Adam with a sigh, "I'm rambling. This isn't the real reason for my visit."

There was another moment of silence as Adam pulled a hand-written document from his briefcase and handed to Jackson.

"I want to change my will." he said, "And I want to do it quietly away from my lawyers at Chandler. I trust you. We may not have seen eye to eye over the years but I know you are an honourable man and I know I can trust you to keep this just between us."

"Of course." said Jackson.

"I want to make AJ my direct heir." said Adam, "The business will pass to my nephew, Scott, but I want my estate to pass to AJ. And I want to make Marissa the executor until my grandson comes of age… I also want to make her the beneficiary of an annual endowment of twenty thousand dollars a year for the rest of her life. She has succeeding in making my grandson very happy and I want to reward that."

Adam sighed and gave Jackson a moment to look over the papers,

"Now you understand why JR can't find out about this and why this cannot leak to the press." He asked.

Jackson nodded.

"Disowned by his father in favour of his ex-wife… Something Carol Robinson would milk for all it's worth going to trial. Adam, you can trust my discretion."

"Thank you." said Adam Chandler, giving his old rival a warm smile.

…