"Where are we with this case? Come on people, the clock is ticking."
I left the question pending as I walked to the table with a bounce in my step.
Sephora was right. Getting my back blown out worked like pouring oil on a squeaky door, I got greased up in all the right places. The sun shined brighter, the oxygen felt purer, and every sip from my steamy beverage nearly had me moaning as if the creamy aroma somehow revived the lasting pleasure bestowed upon me last night.
When at last it dawned upon me that my team had been replaced by crickets, I turned around. Instantly, my mood turned serious. Bruce didn't seem ready with a snarky remark about my chirpy entrance, and for the first time, Akira looked something other than pissed or utterly annoyed.
"What's going on?"
An even longer silence drew an extended breath. Their eyes were either on the floor or on the ceiling. Bruce threw a sneaky glance to Miki before he stepped forward, sighing in exasperation.
"Ella's husband made a statement."
Of all the ways I'd expected my day to turn sour, Mr. Smith speaking up was the last thing I would've anticipated.
Manon approached us, her Ipad in hand. Without a word, I stared a the screen, watching the video play. In it, the couple is seen exiting a restaurant. Ella's head is bowed as reporters swarm them, the distinct clicks of the cameras a cacophony that grew all the more chaotic when they begin to blast their questions at them. Mr. Smith pushes through the crowd, freeing a passageway for Ella who followed close behind him.
"Ella! Ella over here!"
"Ella, when will you be back in court?"
"Ella, how has your family taken the news?"
They ignored them. Ella was practically hiding in her cardigan by the time they reached their car. Mr. Smith helped her in and shut the door behind her.
"Sir, is your wife planning to drop the charges against Nickolai Pavelka?"
"Absolutely not," Mr. Smith said over his shoulder.
He took a few more steps before turning around. A microphone was shoved in his face and he held on to it as he began to speak, "This man... this monster will pay for what he did to her. Justice exists in this country and I refuse to let him get away with ruining her."
I don't move even when Manon takes a takes the Ipad away.
Things just went from bad to fucking horrendous. If this case wasn't already the topic of mainstream media, it sure would be now. The blow of the massive bombshell dropped upon me went against the way I felt just a few minutes prior, the clash of emotions made my head spin, but I brushed it off by taking a few steps back and forth, searching for an angle.
On my third lap around the room, I stopped and took the iPad to review this with a closer look.
Playing it back, I scrolled to the beginning. Ella looks in shock when she first steps out, which is to expect since she was clearly ambushed. A second later, her husband steps out and he doesn't miss a beat, grabbing her forearm and pulling her along with him. I pause it again, this time to focus on the restaurant. The display window doesn't allow anyone to see what's going on inside. The press must've been tipped off. That or they followed them, but even that's not possible. Paparazzi don't alert competition when they have a scoop, the only way that they could've known where to find them therefore is the latter.
"Is this all?"
Manon nodded and I sighed as I handed her back the Ipad.
"Figure out what restaurant this is. I need to know its popularity and clientele. Figure out if there's any more footage if they were filmed going in or getting out from different angles."
"What about the other stuff we found?" Akira asked.
"Hold on to that. Right now we need to focus on this."
They all hesitated.
They knew as well as I that things were not looking good, but I couldn't allow that to weigh us down.
Akira was the first one to move. She pulled Miki with her and Bruce then went back to his desk.
In front of me, Manon still stood, gently nibbling on her bottom lip. She might as well have put up a banner that read "I wanna say something but how 'bout I bled myself to death by biting my tongue."
"What's your take on this?"
She blinked in surprise, clutching the tablet harder against her chest.
She stared at me quizzically, almost shocked that I was asking for her opinion. With a single nod, I motioned for her to go ahead. She took in a calming breath and moved closer.
"This case has been going on for nearly three weeks now. Ella's public appearances were already limited before but since all this, they're pretty much nonexistent. Now she goes out for the first time in forever and paparazzi magically show up?"
"Sounds like the perfect setup," I whisper, as I complete her thoughts.
Slowly, she nods and I cross my arms over my chest.
It cant be a coincidence. Mr. Smith has been silent this whole time, yet barely a week since we began to suspect him, suddenly he's a furious husband eager to get his wife justice. Seems pretty clear that the press may have not been the only one tipped off.
"Focus on her husband," I tell her and then turn my attention to the rest of the group.
It's no surprise when I find them all staring in our direction.
"We're not letting her off the hook. Keep looking. I'll check whatever you found later, but now more than ever, y'all gotta start putting in that over time. This isn't just about discrediting her, Mr. Pavelka took a major hit to his public image. The only way to come back from that is to have irrefutable reason to claim she had probable cause."
I paused to make sure they got the message.
"Things are about to get heated. If he hasn't seen it yet, expect him to be breathing down our necks the moment he does."
I was actually shocked to not have run into my client when I came in this morning.
Satan must've thought I didn't have enough stress on me as of five minutes ago because just as my mind wandered to his pain in the best friend, the door was flung open. Dressed to the nines, Colton seemed to sniff the air as if searching for something. When his eyes stelled in my direction, he pointed at me, "We need to talk."
And just like that, a bright summer day was turned into a heavy rainstorm, with the winds of blame and thunderbolts of entitlement.
"We need to talk, now!"
Everybody has an act. Some of us are blessed with the ability to comfortably present ourselves to the world and be accepted as they come. I played many characters in my lifetime. A shy orphan girl with underlying autophobia, a troubled teen with trust issues, a naive young woman who didn't know her worth, and a single mother with obstacles on all sides yet someway, somehow, she must overcome them all.
I always knew when it was time to drop the act and switch it up for a different role. My favorite so far's the silent attorney that single-handedly gets the defense railed up by performing the art of nonverbal intimidation to the T.
Colton obviously wasn't a fan of that tactic.
"For fuck's sake, Kim! Are you even listening to me?!" he shouted and I winced at his tone, grimacing from the ringing in my ear his barks had started.
"Would you mind toning it down? This is a workplace, not a tavern."
"Did you hear a single word of what I just said?" he said, clearly frustrated.
I got up from the couch and walked to my desk, leaving him standing by the door.
"Something about this case, which I assume you should probably know that I'm aware of."
"Then what do you plan to do about it?"
"My client is a well-known public figure that I am sure can afford a publicist. If he wants my input, he'll contact me for any legal queries."
I reach my desk and turn back to him.
He's trying hard to keep his composure but he's practically melting his suit off his body.
"Now my line has been free all morning aaaand, watch this," I chirp, pressing the intercom.
"Destiny, do I have any missed calls or messages from Mr. Pavelka?"
I look back at him, smirking as I wait for her to answer. A few seconds later, her voice comes through the line, "No, you haven't had any calls or messages all morning. Mrs. Solas sent you a package though, I kept it with me since I noticed you were busy."
"Thank you, Destiny. Keep up the good work."
I turn around and smile at him, "Look at that! I'm up to date on my own case. Bet you didn't think that was possible, did you?"
"That's not funny, Kim."
"No, you wanna know what's not funny? You barging into my office in the middle of the god damned day to yell at me about things I already knew."
"I didn't think..."
"Of course you didn't," I snap, shaking my head, "What exactly do you think I'm being paid for?"
He looked away from me. Only now did the full force of his berating hit me. Who the hell did he think he was? Why assume that I wouldn't know something as groundbreaking as the husband of the plaintiff making such a damning statement against my client.
I watched him pass around. His suit jacket was open and he had one hand on his hip while the other ran over his face. Then he stopped, head still low.
"I'm sorry."
I was glad he wasn't looking at me because I probably looked like I swallowed my tongue.
"Jarred helped me when I didn't have anyone. I just hate that he has to go through that kind of shit."
His jaw twitched as he remembered the past. Guilt wanted to tear down the barricade around my walls but I didn't let it.
When he looked at me, it was clear in his eyes that he knew he'd fucked up. There he was vulnerable, staring at me like a pup who just got reprimanded. As authentic as the act is though, I know better than to fall for it. I happen to know what lingers behind the mask.
"Thank you for stopping, Mr. Luther. If I am needed, Mr. Pavelka knows where to find me."
My words were brief, disconnected. He seemed to have understood that there was no further conversation to be had because he curtly nodded and walked began to walk away.
He stopped halfway to the door. His body was stiff as if pondering hard what to do next.
"Did you forget how to walk?" I said a minute later.
From where I stood I couldn't see his face, but the small jerk of his ear let me know that he was smiling, or maybe smirking.
He looked back at me. The second guess for the win.
"I'll let him know that you're working on it."
"Next time, save yourself the trip. Give me a call."
At that, he smiled and walked away.
In less than two hours I went from stargazing on cloud nine to turning off a wildfire. That fire wasn't even off yet. We needed more resources for this case and that meant I needed to talk to Dellana.
Not wasting any more of my precious time, I made my way to her office.
It became obvious to me that there was a lot of tension within the staff the second I came out.
I raised a curious eyebrow, trying to figure out what was happening when I heard angry voices coming from Dellana's office.
"They're at it again," someone said beside me.
I looked to my left and wasn't impressed when I saw Jackson.
"Well, we all knew that'd happen."
"It must be hard. Sharing your empire with your ex can't be easy."
"He's the only reason why this place is still running. She could be a bit more grateful."
I grimaced at his words and turned to him.
"Excuse you?"
"Relax, Kim, I'm joking. I can be an asshole but that shit was a low blow."
"Yeah well, you're not known for aiming that high either."
"Ouch! So that's what's been on your mind all this time?"
I scoffed, now focusing my attention on the double doors, hoping that they'd stop soon.
When nothing happened after about ten minutes, I decided to get back to my office.
"Can you ring me when she's available?" I asked Destiny and she nodded while picking up a few files.
While I stepped into my office intending to get work done, I now wished I'd locked the door when Jackson invited himself in.
"Haven't you heard of knocking?"
"My bad, the door was open."
I rolled my eyes. Taking a seat in my chair, I opened up the file that I was working on for Mr. Pavelka.
"Big case you've got going on. Do you feel up for it?"
"When have I ever backed out of a case?"
He smirked and shook his head. Putting his leg over his knee while his arms were now stretched out wide.
Jackson was the embodiment of the privileged rich kid stereotype. If his name wasn't enough to spell out his personality, he was the kind of guy that expected all to fall to their knees when he said he went to Harvard. His grandfather was a senator, so that meant he prided himself on his good looks and talents as a defense attorney, which I put to the test by being impressed by neither and on top of that competing for the same position.
"Don't you have work to get back to?" I sass, growing annoyed by his presence.
"Nop. I'm done for the day."
"So you decided to come to annoy me?"
He chuckled.
"I'm sorry. I thought we were just hanging out."
"No. I'm working. You're doing whatever it is that you're doing."
"I just wanted to stop by. Check up on you. How's the kid?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"I asked, didn't I?"
He stared at me, smugly.
How I wish I'd never made out with him at that office party. We probably would've gone further if I hadn't stopped it. It's obvious to everyone that he still wants me, and I would too if he wasn't so full of himself and a loudmouth. He could only keep what happened between us a secret for two days and then everyone knew.
I sighed and put my work aside before giving him a forced smile.
"Sam is great. I am great and would be even better if you would let me finish this."
"What about your friend? What's her name again? Sephora, right?"
He waited for me to answer but I just blinked, now getting irritated by his voice.
"Right, that's it. How is she?"
"Not interested."
"How would you know?"
"She's my friend, I know what kind of guys she's into and you don't make the cut."
"I never thought you were possessive."
"And I never realized you were so annoying. I'm up to date now. Can you leave?"
"I'm not done with you."
"Oh my god," I wanted to shout but it came out as a tired whisper as he now began to ramble on and on about... I don't even know.
I did the next best thing and started to ignore him.
Before long, he was gone and I once again had my peace of mind.
I did what I usually did with every case. Drawing my van diagram and writing down my information.
Miki stopped by to hand me some other copies and I thanked him before getting back to work.
The hours came and went.
In a flash, it was already time to get Sam.
On my way out of the office, I noticed Bruce walking through the hallway in my direction with a grin.
Curious, I squinted as he got closer.
"What is it?"
"Where are you going right now?"
"To pick up Sam. Why?"
"When you come back we'll be waiting for you. This case is one crazy mess. You'll get it later."
I watched as he walked away.
I'd begun to convince myself that there was nothing about this case that could surprise me more than I already was. But the expression on Bruce's face made me doubt that. There's always room for interpretation, and for now, I was facing a blank wall, yet where the cover had didn't give anything away, the texture provided all intricate detail that warned me that we all might have spoken too soon.
~Thank you for reading this chapter.~
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