Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Camille
Mr. Alexander finally got his wish—Mrs. Alexander showed up to sign the agreement that Camille and Freddy had hashed out with input from Mr. Alexander.
As Freddy had told her, Mrs. Alexander had been perfectly happy to relinquish rights to Mr. Alexander’s company.
She wanted nothing to do with it or him. She just wanted out.
He'd finally agreed to things as long as they both signed in person together, so he could watch her do it.
At some point in the time since they’d been separated, Mrs. Alexander had gotten her backbone.
She met his gaze evenly, perfectly serene, no matter how hard he glared at her.
If he wasn’t Camille’s client, she would have been amused.
Thankfully, he kept things civil without her having to come down on him.
It was as if he’d finally realized he’d lost.
When everything was done, Mrs. Alexander and Freddy got to their feet. Mr. Alexander sat next to Camille, still pouting, as she got to her feet as well. She pushed away the urge to kick him. If his momma never taught him manners, it wasn’t her job to take up the slack.
For a moment, it looked like Mrs. Alexander was going to say something, then she shook her head and turned her back. Maybe it was Camille’s imagination, but it looked like the woman’s steps were lighter and her head higher than when she’d come in.
“Thank you very much,” Freddy said, giving Camille a head nod. He didn’t offer the same courtesy to Mr. Alexander, not that it mattered. The man was sitting with his arms crossed, glaring at the wall as if it had personally offended him. “Have a good rest of the day.”
“Thank you, you, too.” She couldn’t help watching as he left, sighing inwardly. It felt like any lightness in the room was sucked out the door with him, leaving her with a pouty manchild.
“I shouldn’t have signed that,” Mr. Alexander grumbled, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into signing.”
“I ‘talked you into it’ because it was the best possible option,” Camille replied, not bothering to sit down as she gathered her papers.
“You get to keep your company’s shares, as you wanted, and you’re only paying half of what you might have had to out of your current assets, which was a major concession.
If you’d dragged it out further, we would have ended up in front of a judge, and you could have lost on both the shares and the payments. ”
He huffed, but apparently didn’t have anything further to say. Thank goodness.
“Okay then, I’ll be in touch. It’s been nice working with you, Mr. Alexander. If you have any further questions, you can email or call me, as always.” She pasted a smile on her face as she lied through her teeth. He huffed again, and she retreated.
Chances were, as soon as he’d had a few minutes to think, he was going to be off to complain to the partners.
However, there was nothing to be done unless they flat-out lied to him about what they might be able to do for him…
in which case she was going to hand over everything to them and wash her hands of it.
No matter what they said. Even if she had to quit.
She’d already had a promising phone interview with Everly Murdoch from Murdoch Family Solutions, and she was meeting with her next week for an in-person interview.
While she couldn’t be sure she would get the job, she had another phone interview with a different firm tomorrow and two others that had emailed her back.
All of them had flat-out told her they didn’t need references from her current firm.
They were aware of her and her work and didn’t trust what any of the Donaldson partners might say about her. She could have cried with relief.
So, that was one small upside to Donaldson’s reputation. She hadn’t realized they were well-known for taking promising lawyers and either grinding them into dust or turning them into the same kind of ‘gives a bad name to lawyers’ practitioners as the senior partners.
She hadn’t been back at her desk for ten minutes before her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Camille, what’s this about you forcing Nicholas to sign an agreement he didn’t want?” Donaldson Senior sounded upset but not accusatory, thankfully. Unlike his son, he knew how unlikely it was Mr. Alexander’s accusations were untrue. Still, she had to roll her eyes.
Since Junior hadn’t gotten him what he wanted the last time, Mr. Alexander had decided to go running to Daddy.
Straightening, Camille pushed her shoulders back. It was time to end this.
Freddy
“How does it feel to be a free woman?”
“Like I could walk on air.” Brittany grinned, then threw her arms around Freddy, causing several passersby to give them odd glances. “I can’t thank you enough. I would have conceded on everything to him if it hadn’t been for you, but I’m so glad I didn’t.”
Despite the biting cold of the winter air, Freddy felt warm from the inside out. This was exactly why he did what he did.
“You deserved everything you got and more, just for putting up with him for so long,” he said baldly.
“You’re right,” she admitted, one of the first times she’d done so instead of prevaricating. She looked up at the big office building looming over them. “I feel kind of bad for his lawyer, though. She seemed nice.”
“She’s doing her job, and sometimes, asshole clients are part of the job. You, however, have been a delight.”
“You have been, too.” She tightened her hold on him again before releasing him and stepping back. “I really can’t thank you enough.”
“You can thank me by following through with your plan—move to New York to be closer to your parents and find happiness,” he said gently. “That’s all I want for you.”
“You’re a great guy, Freddy. I hope you find some happiness too.”
“Oh, I will.” He didn’t think about the effect of his words before they slipped out.
“Oh?” Brittany’s eyes lit up with interest. “Have you met someone?”
Freddy tended to be friendly with his clients, though he did his best to maintain necessary boundaries, but he had told Brittany he was single when he’d first started working on her case, when they were getting to know each other.
She’d been at a loss, making conversation and bemoaning how hard it was to be single at her age.
Since she was only a few years older than him, he’d sympathized and told her he was in the same boat.
“Yes, I have, though nothing official yet,” he admitted.
“Oh, I’m so happy for you… That gives me hope.”
“Good. You should have hope because you, Brittany Adams, are a catch.” He deliberately used her maiden name, which she’d told him she planned to go back to.
“God, it feels good to hear myself called that again.” Happy tears sparked in her eyes.
Impulsively, she reached out and grabbed him for another hug, which he was happy to reciprocate.
She’d really come into her own once the asshole had stopped harassing her, and he was so proud of the way she’d handled herself today.
“Knowing I never have to see him again. I’m leaving this weekend for New York, and I’m not coming back except to visit my sister. ”
“Good for you. Though I hope you’ll occasionally send me an email to let me know how you’re doing.” Freddy always said that to his clients. Some of them did, some of them didn’t, but he loved hearing the good updates.
“Of course, I will. Thank you again.” She released him for a second time, and he could tell this was the final time. “Have a good one.”
“You, too.” He waved, watching her get into her car and head off before walking to the corner to grab a taxi and head back to work.
It had been a good morning. Even better now that Camille would be free to see him… he hoped. There was always the chance Mr. Alexander might change his mind about today. He couldn’t see her tolerating that, but on the other hand, she might not have a choice.
Restraining the impulse to call her and find out how she was doing, Freddy sent a text. After a few minutes of waiting for a response, he tucked his phone into his pocket with a sigh. She’d get back to him when she could.
Camille
“If Mr. Alexander tries to claim that he was coerced or otherwise pressured, I will not only have to recuse myself from taking his case. I will stand in court and testify that he signed of his own free will.” She’d even enjoy it. Though, of course, she didn’t say that part out loud.
She was so sick of Alexander Assholery. It was a damn good deal. He’d gotten more than he’d deserved. Then the second he signed it over, he started having second thoughts, maligning her in the process.
“Now, Camille—”
“No.” She shook her head. “I will not support his claim, not in any way. He and I had multiple long discussions about what he was and wasn’t willing to concede.
He ended up with quite a bit more than he would have if we’d had to take it to court for a judge to decide.
Mrs. Alexander wanted to be done with him.
All he wants to do is drag it out because he’s upset that she dared to initiate the divorce.
I am not going to perjure myself because of his pride.
If he wants to fight it, you’ll need to find someone else at the firm to represent him because I got him the best deal possible. ”
There was a long moment of silence, and Donaldson Senior seemed to be at a bit of a loss.
He’d come in expecting her to bow down to whatever he said.
Camille knew she would have never lied for Mr. Alexander, but she also knew that a year ago, heck even two months ago, she would have been much more circumspect in how she was speaking to Donaldson Sr. Not anymore.
She didn’t care enough to keep herself in line.
Behold my field of fucks, for it is barren.
“Well, I’ll have to talk to Nicholas.” Donaldson Sr. sighed. “If you say he made the decision on his own, then I have to believe you. He’s been known to go back and forth on decisions. I know he can be a lot to handle, but he’s a good guy.”
“I’m sure he is.”
Sure, he was, but she didn’t contradict Donaldson Senior. People like him were always full of excuses for their friends, no matter how badly behaved. It didn’t seem to occur to them that making those excuses only enabled the bad behavior.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
She was very hopeful to never have to deal with Nicholas Alexander III again other than if he visited the partners here at the firm. He’d never done so before, so she couldn’t see why that would change now.
“Okay, well. I’ll go let him know that we won’t be pursuing the matter further.” Donaldson Senior paused as if waiting for her to refute him, then let out another sigh when she didn’t. He hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
“Thank you for all your hard work, Camille,” she muttered, setting the phone down on its cradle. “Thank you for putting up with my asshole friend, Camille, and doing your best for him, despite him being a complete asshole.”
The urge to leave this job was growing stronger with every passing hour. At least it was almost the weekend. Sighing, she checked her cell phone on impulse, anything to distract her from her actual job, and was startled to see a text from Freddy.
Freddy: Is the Alexander case considered over enough for us to go to Happy Hour? Or maybe dinner?
Her sheer relief and sense of anticipation told her what her answer had to be.
Camille: Absolutely. Let’s do Happy Hour. Marquis at five?
After dealing with Nicholas Alexander III and Jared Donaldson Sr, she deserved a Happy Hour drink. Besides, she’d cleared her afternoon in case things went sideways with the Alexanders, which meant she didn’t have anything left to do.
Freddy: See you there.
It would be like a little celebration. Suddenly, feeling much better, Camille unlocked her computer.
Since she’d cleared her afternoon, she now had a chance to get ahead on some of her caseload.
Despite Donaldson’s reputation for the kind of clientele they took on, they also had completely normal people who came without the entitlement, who were going through one of the hardest things in their lives and needed help.
Camille didn’t mind helping them. Having the Alexanders finished was like having a massive weight lifted off her shoulders.
Now she and Freddy were free to see each other socially.
If the issue came up again, she could let the partners know, and they would decide whether she would continue representing that client.
Too bad she couldn’t arrange that he’d be on the other side of the table every time she got a client like Mr. Alexander. That would be like a Get Out of Jail Free card, and she would use it so fast…
If wishes were fishes.