Chapter 4
Chapter four
Looking into it apparently meant setting up another meeting with Erika.
“She needs to know the circumstances have changed,” Aya insisted.
Baz begged to differ. Companies constantly changed representation. If Erika were made to sign off on that every single time, she wouldn’t get around to doing anything else.
One day, Baz’s opinion would matter. Today, Aya’s decision to “keep Erika on our side because it’s dumb to go behind her back on a case this public” was final. The implication that he had only been entrusted with the case under certain, easier conditions stung.
Bzzz bzzz bzzz.
Eevee’s photo popped up on his screen. Fuck. He had been meaning to call her back, but so much had happened in the last twenty-four hours. He shot Aya a pleading look.
“You have two minutes,” she said and stepped out of his office. Baz turned toward the windows and watched the buildings reaching for the crisp blue sky as he pressed the green icon.
“Hey, Eve.”
“Finally! I’ve been calling you all night.”
Baz’s chest tightened. Yeah, he deserved that. Though, technically, he hadn’t broken his promise to come by after work, given that he hadn’t clocked out yet.
“I’m sorry. I got this huge case yesterday, and I never went home and… Sorry.”
“I know. Nothing gets between you and your work.” Her sigh was loaded with something Baz’s brain didn’t have the capacity to question. “Are you free to talk now?”
“Actually, I need to go to a meeting. But I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Baz.”
What was he supposed to do, stop time? Quit his job to make small talk with his sister? They could celebrate after he had convinced Erika he was still the best person for the job.
“Later. I promise.”
“Yeah. You really need to learn to take breaks, you know that?”
Big words from someone who had been working a minimum of two jobs since her junior year in high school. Neither of them was experienced in taking breaks.
“I know,” he said anyway and checked his watch. Thirty seconds left of that two-minute deadline.
“I still got your sandwich from yesterday. You better get over here today before it gets soggy and disgusting.”
Baz smiled. As if Joel the Master Chef would ever let him eat a day-old sandwich, but message received. “Thank you. I promise we’ll talk.”
“We better. Love you, you workaholic.”
“You too.”
He hung up. The moment he turned, Aya started walking toward the stairs. He jogged to catch up with her.
Aya looked him up and down. “Okay?”
“I got bribed with one of Joel’s sandwiches to come visit.”
“Wish I got bribed with sandwiches.”
“Find yourself in-laws who can cook.”
Apparently, her ex-husband had been a real disappointment in that matter and Aya, despite insisting she made excellent koshari, had expressed her hatred for cooking on multiple occasions.
However, being an only child, and with her many cousins scattered across Egypt, and, really, the entire world, she couldn’t outsource that task to family like Baz did.
“Can I just adopt your sister instead?”
“Sure. If you adopt me too.”
About time they had a parental figure of actual worth in their lives.
“Eh.” She scoffed as if that caveat was the deal-breaker.
“Hey! I’m a dream.”
“Sure. A nightmare.”
Please. They both knew Aya would have pawned him off on another partner years ago if she meant that.
“Hilarious.”
“When aren’t I?” Smirking in that too-pleased-with-herself way, she turned onto the black marble path toward the lion’s den.
Baz braced himself for impact.
All he had to do was convince Erika nothing had changed.
He was still the associate who had scored a fifteen-million-dollar win yesterday.
He had dealt with Ian before and had come out on the other side with nothing more than a black eye, and his skillset had advanced considerably since then.
There was no reason to rip his big chance away from him mere moments after he got it.
His hope was in Aya. She had never let him down, and she and Erika were friends.
Sort of. It was hard to tell. One moment, they were laughing over coffee, the other, the piercing glares they exchanged would kill anyone caught in the crossfire.
But Baz had overheard Aya being invited to dinner with Erika and her husband, an assistant to the Cook County State’s Attorney.
That classed as a friendship in his books.
Erika greeted them with the same cool demeanor as last time—had that only been yesterday?—and motioned for them to sit. She crossed her legs as she leaned back in her chair.
“I hear Captain Green got new representation.”
A so what? burned on the tip of Baz’s tongue. He swallowed it in favor of his best smile. “Nothing out of the norm. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“I understand you have a tense history with Ian Terell. That won’t get in the way, will it?”
Everyone had a tense history with Ian Terell. That guy sucked. Baz didn’t need a reason to take this case seriously, but if he did, there was none better than defeating Ian.
“Of course not. This will only drive me harder.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. I will not have a dick measuring contest in my firm.” Razorblades stuck to her every word. Baz straightened in his seat.
“That won’t happen.”
No one wanted to see Ian’s junk, least of all him. It might ruin dicks for him altogether, and that was a risk he wouldn’t take.
Sami, on the other hand… must be every bit as heartless to buddy up with Ian, and that, too, made him utterly unattractive.
“Are you on track to settle?”
“Uh, actually.” He twirled his wrists. “Ian revoked their current offer.”
And Baz couldn’t possibly be blamed for Ian being an immature, petty assface who got a kick out of bullying others to appease the tumor that was his despicable ego.
“I see.” Erika swiveled her chair toward Aya. “This is your case now.”
“What?“ Baz slid to the edge of his seat. She couldn’t do that! When was the last time Erika had familiarized herself with forty-two clients overnight? “No! I’ve only just started! Give me a chance to prove myself.”
“The circumstances have changed. Ian Terell is a bloodhound.”
“So am I. I didn’t lose to him last time. I won’t now.”
Erika sighed. “Sebastian. I cannot, in good faith, let an associate take the lead on a case with this much public interest when the opposition is out to get you. You’ll be Aya’s second chair.”
“No!” This wasn’t his fault! He had done nothing to deserve the demotion!
Aya’s side-eye was a bucket of cold water hitting him square in the face. What was he doing, throwing a tantrum in the managing partner’s office?
He drew a steadying breath. “I meant, you can still trust me with this. I worked on the cosmetic class action two years ago, with more plaintiffs. And the cat food one, while I was still in law school.”
“Assisting isn’t the same as leading. This is bigger than anything you have done before.”
“So was the TechNova case until I won that. I can do this justice too, I guarantee it.”
Erika rested her forearms on the desk as she leaned forward. “It would be unheard of for an associate to lead a potential class action of this size.”
“Maybe that’s a sign that I’ve outgrown that title.” He didn’t shy away from meeting her piercing gaze. He was the best person for the job, he knew it. A chance like this was all he had wanted for years.
“Aya. Do you think Sebastian can handle this?”
He caught Aya’s eye and issued a hundred silent pleas, praying Aya would read his mind as she so often did. Everything he knew about running a case, he had learned from her. That had to count for something. She must trust her own teachings. Right?
“If any associate can do it, it’s him,” Aya said. Okay. Not exactly the glowing endorsement Baz needed here, but she wasn’t one for grand displays.
“And you’d be fine second-chairing him?” Erika’s tone suggested she didn’t think so, for good reason. Aya was every bit as competitive as he was.
Once, at a summer event the firm hosted to boost morale, they had spent all day glued to the Can Knockdown station.
It was supposed to be for the employees’ kids—they had turned it into a battlefield, hosting an epic showdown to determine, once and for all, who the better pitcher was (it was Baz).
But she’d already made partner, she didn’t need this like he did.
A ticking of a clock counted the seconds of silence. Baz’s ass clenched.
“Yes,” Aya said. A muscle feathered across her jaw.
Baz squeezed his lips shut to keep his excitement inside. Oh, he could kiss her.
Erika’s face remained a stone-cold, unreadable mask as she nodded. “All right, then. Congratulations, Sebastian. The case is yours.”
A tantalizing warmth exploded in Baz’s chest, racing all the way down to his toes. He had to tense his legs to stop himself from bouncing in his seat. “Thank you. You won’t regret it.”
“I better not.”
Baz did not want to find out what the ‘or else’ swinging in her words alluded to.
“I promise you, there is no one else who will take this more seriously than I will.”
“Good. If you prove yourself on this, I’d be inclined to agree that the title associate doesn’t do your value to the firm justice anymore.”
He really could make partner? This was it, the final nail in Ian’s coffin. He and his lapdog would go down.
“Dismissed.”
Baz jumped to his feet. His knees wobbled, but his body was so weightless, it floated without their support.
He held the door open for a silent Aya before Erika could change her mind.
“Thank you so much. I owe you,” he gushed, hot on Aya’s heels.
“Agreed.”
“I’ll buy you all the dinners on this case.”
A smile warmed her face. “I’ll be eating steak every night.”
Fine with Baz. Hell, he’d throw in the odd lobster if this case really got him promoted. Was lobster halal? He’d look it up before extending the invitation verbally. “Seriously, if there’s anything I can do—”
“There is. I need you to not mess this up.” Even though she barely reached his shoulders, under her stern glare, Baz felt like he was a schoolboy again.