Chapter 35
My lips are still tingling from earlier when I sit in my eleven o’clock meeting, already counting down the minutes until I meet Finn for lunch in an hour.
After the shower that lasted long enough for the water to run cold, he sat on my bed and watched me get ready for work.
And I mean literally watched. He didn’t go on his phone or turn a show on the TV hung on the wall across from my bed, even after I told him he could.
Instead, he took inventory of every piece of makeup I picked up, how I used them, and then asked to help curl the few pieces of hair behind my head that I was struggling to reach.
If I wasn’t already falling in love with him before, I would be after that.
There’s no denying that’s what’s happening. If I’m not already in love with him, it won’t be long before that changes. I could dig into that, but I’m choosing not to. What we’re doing is too new to be pushing it like that.
Victor’s polished, hard voice carries across the sleek conference table in the centre of the room, but he’s too busy arguing with Rowena to notice that I’m not paying much attention to what he’s said thus far.
He’s been up her ass about my demand for the crypto disclosure and why he wasn’t consulted before it was sent off.
It’s my fault that we didn’t tell him beforehand.
I haven’t worked directly with Victor since I first started here, and I suppose I’ve grown accustomed to simply corresponding with Rowena regarding our clients.
She’s just as in control as he is, but she’s not constantly trailed by a demon spawn with a habit of running his mouth to the Devil.
A.k.a., the same asshole who’s sitting on Victor’s right with his chin lifted in a way that tells me he’s the real reason behind this meeting.
“What concerns me is that a disclosure motion was filed without my knowledge,” Victor says, his hands folded on the conference table.
The glittering watch on his wrist surely costs more than my car.
He’s flashy like that. The type of man who wants the world to know how successful he is and doesn’t settle for mere career accolades.
Even at his big age, with his name on the door of a well-respected law firm, he has the confidence of an up-and-coming Soundcloud rapper who posts videos of himself online, counting fat stacks of money.
Rowena doesn’t so much as blink beside me. She keeps her legs crossed beneath the table and hands laid on her lap. “Yet it wasn’t filed without approval. I knew all about it. I’m not sure why your knowledge is more important than mine when you chose to sit back on this case.”
It’s only a small lie.
She knew about the motion after I finished filing.
“It exposed the firm to the risk of being seen as overly aggressive,” he counters, not touching the rest of her argument.
Across from me, Spencer shifts in his seat. I can feel his slimy gaze on me, heavy and unwanted. It’s only when he speaks that I look at him, teeth almost bared.
“With all due respect, Rowena, motions like this should go through all of the managing partners on the case before being filed. Especially when they’re based on speculative assets.”
Speculative?
Stiffening in my chair, I lick my lips and pin him beneath my narrowed eyes. He’s cut through the good mood I came into work with this morning, and that’s pissing me off more than his ridiculous argument. I can feel Rowena’s attention flicking briefly to me before disappearing.
Finn’s voice drifts through my head, and I focus on the steady warmth of it before zoning back into the room.
“Aubrey identified inconsistencies. She brought them to me, I reviewed them. Then we acted. End of story,” she tells Spencer, somehow keeping from reaching across the table and slapping him silly.
Victor exhales heavily. “And you excluded me.”
“No. You were spared an unnecessary interruption for something that we handled perfectly on our own.”
“Still, that paints the image that the firm allows associates to act independently with sensitive matters,” Spencer says, leaning forward.
My voice snaps through the room before I can hold myself back. “The only associate here is you. And I don’t remember you getting the authority to speak down to a woman so far above your pay grade.”
Rowena clears her throat, and I close my mouth, feeling hot. The curling of Spencer’s fingers on the table pisses me off even more. The watch on his wrist is far too rich for his blood, which means it must have been a gift from the same man who called this meeting just to reprimand me over nothing.
I’d say I was surprised to see a man in power making a show of whipping his dick around in the faces of the two successful women, but I’d be lying.
Victor’s dark eyes focus on me. I meet them, refusing to bend the knee. “Did you believe without a doubt that disclosure was being withheld?”
“Yes,” I answer instantly.
“You’re that confident?”
“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have moved forward.”
Silence falls heavily over us. It stretches and stretches as Victor stares at me for longer than I’m comfortable with. While he may be handsome for a near fifty-year-old, he’s so not my type. Even if he is absolutely loaded and very successful.
With each beat that passes and his eyes remain on me, trying to peel back the skin from my face, I actually fidget. My neck prickles with unease as I uncross my legs beneath the table, only to cross them again. I grit my teeth when I lose the unwritten battle I’ve been tossed into.
Finally, he nods and glances away from me to Rowena. “I don’t object to the protection of our clients. It’s the process I’m unimpressed by.”
“Then we can revisit communication protocols at a later date. But I’m not going to punish a junior partner for acting when client assets were at risk.”
My phone vibrates on the polished table. I glance down and read the name.
“I need to take this,” I announce shakily, pushing to my feet.
Rowena nods once. “Go.”
Spencer’s weasel eyes follow me as I rush from the room with the reminder that I chose the right person to guide me through my career. While Rowena would never throw me or anyone she views as important to her under the bus, she didn’t need to protect me so fiercely.
She did that because she believes in me, and that means more than I’ll ever be able to tell her.
“Are you okay? Come in,” I say, fighting to keep my voice steady as I usher Lydia and Nathan into my office an hour after receiving the phone call from the supervision centre.
Lydia’s shaking when she uses the hand on the back of her nephew’s head to guide him over to the couch.
Her eyes are swollen and red, with fresh tears still running down the tracks on her cheeks.
The boy doesn’t even look at me as he tightens his hold on his backpack and looks around the room, taking it in.
His discomfort is obvious, just like his unease with being here after what happened earlier.
I close the blinds to keep some distance between us, giving them some more room to breathe and get as comfortable as possible.
“I’m sorry to show up here. I could have . . . we could have just gone home, but I didn’t know if he’d be there,” she whispers, wiping her eyes.
“Don’t apologize. Just take a seat, and we can talk.
Here.” I take the box of Kleenex from the shelf by the door and offer it to her.
My phone buzzes on my desk for the third time, and I ignore it again, hating that I know it’s Finn asking where I am.
“I’ve already spoken with the supervisor and been informed on what happened. ”
She takes a tissue and dabs her cheeks, sniffling.
I perch on the edge of the coffee table in front of them and lean over my knees, trying not to reveal how antsy I am.
Adrenaline pumps through me at too fast a pace for me to reject it.
I’m already thinking of every next step that needs to be taken.
“He hasn’t ever shown up to a visitation like that. Not so angry. So incoherent. I knew he was drunk the moment I heard his voice in the hall, but to see him like that, Aubrey. It was so terrifying,” she explains while wrapping an arm around Nathan and pulling him flush to her side.
“I’m sorry, Lydia. I can’t imagine how scary that was.
” Looking at a closed-off Nathan, I chew the inside of my lip before standing and opening the top drawer in my desk.
Once I’ve grabbed what I need, I return to my previous spot.
“Which do you like best, Nathan? Personally, I’m a Smarties fan, but there’s something about Reese’s Pieces that wins me over. ”
He blinks at the two chocolate options I’m holding out before saying, “I like Reese’s more, too.”
I smile and offer him the orange-and-yellow pouch. Once he’s taken it, I set the Smarties down beside me and focus on Lydia. The watery, grateful smile on her face relaxes me a smidge. The water bottles I’ve taken out of the mini-fridge are handed over next.
While she cracks the lid off Nathan’s, I start speaking. “Nothing you did today was wrong, Lydia. Neither of you are responsible for his actions.”
“He was yelling at me,” Nathan whispers, pinching a piece of chocolate between his fingers. “And he smelled really bad.”
My chest tightens to the point of pain. “I know. And you did everything you were supposed to do, Nathan.”
“What do we do now?” Lydia asks, stroking his hair.
“I need you to tell me everything that happened from the moment he arrived to when the supervisors escorted him out.”
My notebook is a heavy weight that I grab from the table and bring to my lap. I click my pen and nod at Lydia, encouraging her to get started. She nods once and clears her throat, opening up.
I write everything down. Times, movements, the words she remembers him saying.
The way he leered at her when he told her that this was her fault and that she was setting him up.
His snarled voice using my name to try and scare her.
Nathan’s flinching when Kevin flipped his attention to him and accused him of being in on it.
How it took three supervisors to haul him out of the supervision centre because of how hard he was fighting.
I’ve already learned as much as I can from my call with the woman handling their case at the centre, including his recorded blood alcohol level and the language he used while he was being hauled outside. Once the full report comes in, I’ll know every detail.
Then the judge will.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Lydia,” I say once she’s finished, closing my notebook. “Kevin’s access is officially frozen until we’re back in front of a judge. I’ll be requesting stricter conditions, including suspension of all visitation.”
I don’t include how I’m hopeful this will be enough to nail him to the wall.
His patterns of alcoholism and now instilling fear into his son should, in a perfect world, be enough to win us this case.
I’m not going to tell her that yet, though.
Not until I can meet with Rowena, get all of the paperwork drawn up and our next court date moved up.
I expect I’ll be contacted by Kevin’s lawyer any minute now as well with a long list of excuses.
Lydia swallows thickly. “He’s going to be furious.”
“Let him be. He’s not going to scare you into rolling over.”
“I don’t want to see him again,” Nathan says, staring at me almost pleadingly. “I’m happy with my auntie.”
My nose burns. I straighten and shove my emotions into the drawer I file them into during times like this. It’s not going to do me any good to get distracted by how badly I want to find Kevin and run him over with my car.
I force myself to stare at Lydia. “If Kevin contacts you, do not respond. You forward everything to me. I mean it.”
She jerks her head in a forced nod and grips her knee.
“I’ve got you, Lydia,” I promise.