Chapter 1 #3
Harry Kasoff frowned and cleared his throat before continuing with the same speech I’d heard for the last two years, since every fourth-year associate and older attended the annual partner announcements.
I was ten minutes late, yet he continued to drone on about the history of the firm for another twenty.
At least that gave me a little time to cool off, and now my forehead would be dry when they called my name.
Jonathan Faust, the second named partner of the firm, spoke after Harry finally shut up.
I recognized his speech as almost word for word from last year, too.
His bit focused on what they look for in potential partners—the qualities of leadership: integrity, drive, resilience…
blah, blah, blah. While he rattled on, I scanned the packed room.
There were probably eighty senior associates and partners crammed four rows deep around the twenty-seat conference table.
I spotted two of the associates who were a year ahead of me and I thought might be granted partnership this time around.
I’d been surprised last year when they weren’t named.
As I rounded the circle back to where the partners stood, my eyes landed on Sierra Wells.
She’d definitely put on a fresh coat of lipstick and fixed her hair before the meeting.
And was that…was that a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth?
It seemed like she was trying to hide it, but the dimple denting her cheek and the glint shining in her eyes gave her away.
She couldn’t possibly think she was going to be made a partner this year, could she?
It certainly looked like it. In fact—my eyes lowered to her outfit—even that screamed it. Normally she wore slacks and a blouse like most of us did, but today she had on a little black dress, the kind you might wear out to dinner or to some sort of a celebratory occasion.
A flicker of doubt seeped into my stomach. Could I not make partner and Sierra would? Was that remotely possible? I hadn’t thought so before this moment. But suddenly, something I believed in, something I’d been counting on, felt very fragile—like any second my world could shatter.
Jonathan finally finished his speech, and the last of the three named partners stepped forward. Rich Moore was the youngest and friendliest of the trio.
“You’ve all been waiting very patiently for my partners to shut the hell up.” He smiled and laid a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “No offense, boys. But you can really go on and on.”
Everyone laughed, and Rich took out a folded piece of paper from his pants pocket. He spoke as he opened it. “There are six names this year. I swear I know them all, but I’m going to read them from this paper just to make sure I don’t screw this up.”
He held the paper out once it was fully unfolded.
“Congratulations to the following associates who are being offered partnership this year: Tom Walker.”
Everyone clapped.
“Hunter Razaul.”
More claps.
“Malik Hayes.”
Claps and a few cheers. Malik was one of the two I thought should’ve gotten partnership last year. He deserved it.
“David Takashi.”
A quieter round of claps. David could be a real dick sometimes.
“Christian Wendell.”
Oh God. He’d named five of the six new partners and still hadn’t named Ken Bauman, the other attorney I thought should’ve been granted partnership last year. I suddenly felt sick and started to scratch at my chest.
“And last, but not least, congratulations to Sierra Wells.”
My jaw dropped open. You’ve got to be kidding me! I could see losing to Ken—don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have been happy about it—but Sierra? Sierra freaking Wells? Why the hell would they ever pick that woman over me?
I stood in shock as a murmur grew around the room and people formed a line to congratulate the newest partners.
I seriously couldn’t believe it. I’d billed eight hundred hours more than she had last year, first-chaired double the number of cases she had, and was granted the Root-Stimson Outstanding Community Service Award by the New York State Bar Association.
I didn’t have an ounce more left to give.
After some amount of time—I had no clue how much had passed while I stood there rooted in the same spot—people eventually started filing out of the room.
I heard footsteps and murmured congratulations, people talking about going to the cocktail hour that always followed the announcements, but I still couldn’t move.
I kept replaying Rich Moore saying the name Sierra Wells over and over, like a record skipping in my mind.
Attorneys had to walk around me to get to the door while I stared across the room at the partners.
My vision was a bit hazy, almost as if I was seeing everything from underwater—at least until a flash of blond hair snapped my vision back into focus.
Everything sharpened as Sierra Wells walked over to Harry Kasoff.
She leaned in and gave him a hug, kicking up one of her legs Marilyn Monroe style.
That’s when I saw it.
The So Kate black patent-leather pumps with shiny red bottoms.