Chapter 29
The hospital visit had gone better than she could have hoped, and Marina went to the office feeling better about life than she had in a while.
She’d managed Black Pinnacle with the kind of imagination and aplomb that Montgomery had required, she’d had amazing sex with River, and things with her family just might be able to heal so she could have a relationship with them again.
Her mom felt a million times better now that the infected organ was gone, and she’d made Marina promise to come for dinner the following week.
It had been a request she’d been happy to accept.
Cari was in an equally good mood when Marina came in, and they started the day by getting a list of offers and contracts in motion. She felt focused and at the very top of her game.
After lunch, Marina looked up, bleary-eyed from editing contracts, when Sheila stormed into her office and tried to shove the door closed behind her. The soft-close glass refused her indignation and closed slowly with barely a click.
“What is this?” Sheila dropped a stack of paper on her desk.
Marina rubbed at her eyes. “I don’t know.
What is it?” After watching the nightly news and seeing River sitting between two well-known, intelligent, and beautiful reporters, she’d avoided calling River, thanks to pride alone.
Nothing River had said was out of line, malicious, or even directed at Black Pinnacle specifically.
The reporters, of course, had no such compunction and had detailed Black Pinnacle’s way of doing things, lumping them in with other developers who used even shadier tactics.
Montgomery wasn’t happy about it, and Rob had given Marina all kinds of shit about her hot situationship looking good on camera, but Marina had stayed focused on the work at hand.
She hadn’t given Sheila herself a second thought.
She blinked, refocusing on Sheila, who was standing in front of her desk, hands on hips, eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Don’t toy with me, Marina.”
Marina picked up the stack of papers, deciding to hold her tongue for the moment.
It took more than a second for what she was seeing to make sense.
Her and River walking in the park. Her and River talking outside River’s shop.
Her and River getting onto River’s motorcycle.
River on top of her as a gazebo flew overhead, their faces only inches apart.
Her and River sitting on a rooftop garden, in a private pod, laughing…
“You’re having me followed?” Marina’s hand shook as she set the pictures down and pressed her palm against them.
“I shouldn’t have needed to. Explain, if you will, why you’re having any kind of relationship with the person leading the opposition against me. Me, your most important client in many ways.” Sheila finally sat on the sofa, legs crossed, arms folded.
Courtroom mask firmly in place, Marina stood from behind her desk.
Her mind whirled and spun, indignation, fury, and a sudden desperation to keep her job colliding mid-air.
She moved to the couch and sat sideways to face Sheila.
“I’ve been doing my job. The one you hired me to do.
” When Sheila started to speak, Marina held up her hand to stop her and ignored the raised eyebrow.
“No. You were wrong to have me followed. But I can tell you that River Rigel is the voice of her community. You’ve seen her on the news segments.
You saw her interview last night. Why shouldn’t I be in her ear?
Why shouldn’t I be having conversations about her community that I can then use to inform my work?
If someone on the other side of the table is willing to have open discussions with me that work to the betterment of my client, shouldn’t that be what I’m doing?
” The words felt oily on her lips, but she kept her expression neutral.
Sheila’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Keep your enemies closer, is that it?”
“Enemy suggests she’s in the wrong. We both know she isn’t, no matter what wording we use. But she is an opponent, and one I’ve been able to talk to.” Marina crossed her arms. “Now please explain why you had me followed.”
Sheila’s lips pursed, and she had the decency to look away.
“I’ve been burned before and had no intention of having it happen again.
You know I have a certain affection for you, and I believed you’d come around once you understood it was in your best interest to do so.
” She looked back at Marina, and her eyes were hard.
“If you say you were working on my behalf, I have no way to gainsay that. However, I’m neither blind nor stupid.
The way you look at each other is clearly unprofessional.
” She swallowed hard, and it looked like she might actually be upset.
“We could have been good together, Marina. But you chose that…ridiculous heathen over someone with class who could have given you the world, if you’d just known your place. ”
“Are you seriously questioning my client loyalty when I’ve worked so hard to help you save face in light of the allegations being slung at you?
” Marina stood, her hands on her hips, her desire to whack Sheila upside the head with a law book too near the surface.
She couldn’t even dignify the other things with a response.
“I am.” Sheila stood slowly and pulled a last photo from her jacket pocket, dropping it at Marina’s feet.
“As of now, you’re no longer my attorney.
Nor will I have anything to do with your firm.
I’ll be going ahead with my original plans, except that I’m going to move the timeline up substantially.
I’m fairly certain Rigel’s building doesn’t meet code and will need to be torn down. ”
Marina looked at the photo sitting on the toe of her high heel. She was coming out of River’s house, just before sunrise. Her stomach lurched and bile filled her mouth. Before she could turn to the wastebasket, she vomited.
Directly onto Sheila’s shoes.
It splattered up her pant legs too, and she screeched like she’d been…well, like she’d been thrown up on. She jumped backward, but it was far too late.
Marina held her stomach and put the other hand over her mouth. Cari came rushing in and stopped abruptly, staring at the grotesque tableau in front of her.
“You are done,” Sheila hissed, seeming to want to step out of her body. Her steps squelched as she strode out of the office and turned left, toward the elevator. Probably heading to Montgomery’s office.
“Come on,” Cari said, gently guiding Marina out of the office to the bathroom. She placed wet paper towels on Marina’s neck as Marina continued to empty the contents of her lunch, and her ambitions, into the toilet.
Eventually, exhausted, she slumped against the stall wall. “What have I done?” she whispered, but she refused to cry. Not here. Not now. Later, though, for sure.
Cari giggled and handed Marina a wet paper towel to wipe her face with. “You barfed on a billionaire. I think it’s amazing.”
Marina wished she could find the humor in it. “I’ve just thrown away my whole career, Cari. I bet my walking papers are on my desk when we get back. I thought this was my ticket to the top, but I’ve fucking blown it to pieces. And all for a woman I’m not even with.”
Cari frowned. “Tell me what happened.”
Marina struggled to her feet with Cari’s help, then swished water to rinse out her mouth. “Let’s do it in my office—”
“Nooo.” Cari shook her head vehemently. “Your office is a masticated crime scene. I need to call maintenance to come clean it before you go in there again. I’ll go get your coat and bag, and we’ll head back to your place.
I’ll let the other PA know we’ll be out of the office for the rest of the day. Wait here.”
Marina accepted the plan without argument.
She leaned against the wall, and her eyes filled.
She might have been able to get away with the thing about keeping an eye on the opposition with Montgomery.
But vomiting on their most important client, and his friend, wouldn’t be acceptable.
And the photos… She groaned and dropped her face into her hands.
How had she not considered the possibility that Sheila would have someone watching her?
Especially given her romantic interest. Because I’m not a psycho who would do that kind of thing.
Cari came in loaded down with their coats and bags. “Hurry. Sheila is shouting the place down, and Monty is hiding behind his desk. We don’t want to get stuck in the elevator with her.”
Marina’s phone buzzed in her coat pocket, and she pulled it out. “Montgomery.”
Cari winced. “You could say you didn’t have reception?”
Marina tucked the phone back in her pocket. “Sounds good to me. Maybe he’ll cool down enough to fire me without yelling.”
Cari opened the door, looked both ways, then motioned Marina out.
They headed down a flight of stairs before catching the elevator.
That way, they wouldn’t be seen waiting for the elevator on their own floor, which would scupper their escape.
Cari’s hand on her shoulder was a grounding influence that kept Marina in motion.
Cari took her car keys, and Marina slumped into the passenger seat without a word.
She hit the Home button on the GPS, and Cari pulled out of the parking lot.
Marina’s phone buzzed and buzzed again, and she pulled it out and turned it off. She was already as good as fired, so why not piss him off right to the end?
She barely registered it when Cari parked in her space at her apartment. Numb, she let Cari take the lead until they were at her front door. She dug out her keys, dropped them when her hand was shaking too much to hold them, and Cari took over again.
Inside, she chucked her jacket on the floor, kicked off her heels, and flung herself face down on her couch. Then the tears came.
It was only when she’d cried herself out that she uncurled from the fetal position and forced herself to sit up. Cari nodded at the glass of water on the table, and Marina drank gratefully. “Thank you for not trying to coddle me.”
“Are you kidding? That was a lot of snot and saltwater.” Cari’s smile was gentle. “Want to tell me what’s going on now?”
Marina hugged her knees to her chest and explained what had happened.
Cari’s eyes were wide when she finished. “Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there, but I have to ask. How was the sex?”
Marina laughed, and a little of the tension eased in her shoulders. “Really fucking amazing. But I don’t think it was worth my entire career.”
“Are you sure?” Cari got up and pulled a soda from the fridge and offered Marina one before she went to sit back down. “I mean, if we break it down—”
The buzzer for the door went off, and Marina groaned. “Please don’t let that be Montgomery here to fire me in person.”
“Want me to get it?” Cari asked. Marina nodded, and Cari went to the intercom. “Marina’s apartment. How can I help you?” she said in her most assistant-ish voice.
“It’s Rob.” He sounded far too serious.
Marina nodded at Cari’s questioning look, and she buzzed him in. When she opened the door, he gave her a quick nod before going to Marina. He pulled her off the couch and into a strong embrace.
“Are you okay?” he asked, holding her at arm’s length.
“What have you heard?” Marina squeezed his arm and then sat back down, hugging her knees again.
“Oh, honey.” He looked between Marina and Cari as he flung himself into the lounge chair. “I heard you were so sick you vomited everywhere, including on your client. Monty keeps yelling at everyone to find out where you are and to get you on the phone.”
Marina and Cari glanced at each other. “But you didn’t hear the rest?”
His eyebrows rose. “There’s more than you barfing on our wealthiest client?”
“You don’t know why she did it.” Cari gave Marina a sweet smile. “She didn’t have bad sushi.”
Rob made a “come on” motion at Marina, who explained, giving him a brief version.
He stared at her for a long moment, and then he turned a shade of red she’d rarely seen outside a box of crayons. “That bitch had you followed because she wanted you for herself. That’s so fucking creepy and wrong.”
“And I crossed a line,” Marina said quietly, knowing the truth. “I slept with someone and created a conflict of interest. This is my fault.”
He winced and tilted his head. “Okay. Yeah, that might be true. But it wouldn’t have been an issue if she wasn’t an entitled cow with a persecution complex.”
“The…career issue aside,” Cari said, “what are you going to do about River and that South Shore situation?”
There was silence for a long moment as Rob and Marina looked at each other. He shook his head. “You can’t.”
Marina closed her eyes. “If I tell River anything, I could lose my license. I’d be divulging client information.”
“But she fired you.” Cari frowned, looking thoughtful. “When did she tell you that thing about River’s building? Before or after she said she was firing you as her attorney?”
Marina thought back to the venomous words being flung at her. “After, I think. Yeah, she said it after. But that’s a technicality that wouldn’t hold up. I didn’t record it, and you didn’t hear it as a witness. So it would be her word against mine, and she’d win, given the other stuff.”
Cari turned to Rob. “Can you tell her?”
He sighed and shook his head. “No can do. She’s a client of the firm’s, not just Marina’s. That means my hands are tied too.”
Cari looked between them. “Then can I say something?”
They both shook their heads. “You work for the firm, and you’re my PA. That means you’re under the same rules we are.”
Cari collapsed back into the chair. “Sheila is going to blindside them.”
“And River is going to think I knew it was going to happen and didn’t say anything. Which will be true. She’ll think it was all a lie.” Tears welled in Marina’s eyes again.
Rob moved next to her on the couch and pulled her into a hug. “You are well and truly fucked on this one, babe.”
Marina didn’t have any more tears to shed, but her soul cried anyway. Not only had she lost everything, but River was going to lose it all too.