13. Cassandra Walker
My mind was swirling with plans on how I was going to manage to keep better tabs on my little enigma when the elevator dinged, signaling I’d arrived on my firm’s floor. I’d barely stepped into the foyer as Alyssa barreled up to me.
“Ms. Walker!” she squeaked, and I frowned, forcing myself to push Theo to the back of my mind and switching into work mode.
“Good Morning, Alyssa.”
“Ms. Walker, Edmund and Vivian want you in their office immediately! This might be it! I bet you they’re making you partner!”
Though after my conversation with Nolan the day before, I wasn’t so sure that was the case, I still found myself smiling at my assistant. I felt somewhat touched by the fact that she seemed genuinely excited for me.
“Thank you, Alyssa. I’ll head over there now. Please hold all my calls.”
“Of course!” she beamed, nearly bouncing on her toes with excitement. “I’m so happy for you, Ms. Walker. You worked so hard on that case. You deserve this.”
I blinked and glanced back at her, searching her face for any sign of disingenuousness, but all I found was true pride and adoration shining in her eyes.
“You’re sweet, Alyssa.” I smiled at her, making a mental note to give her a few VIP tickets to a concert or something as a reward for being so loyal. “Take a long lunch today. I’ll email you if I need you.”
“O-okay! T-thank you, Ms. Walker!”
I bit back a grin as I stalked toward Edmund’s office, ignoring the glares from most of the junior attorneys as I passed through their work stations.
Hopefully, Alyssa was right, and Nolan had just been jumping to conclusions.
If I were making partner today, I wouldn’t need to worry about defending that snake of a man I’d been forced to endure the night before.
I could pawn him off on one of these snotty juniors and focus on cases I actually wanted to work on.
My fantasies were short-lived, however, as Edmund’s assistant greeted me and led me into his office.
I knew immediately I wouldn’t be making partner today when I saw none other than Nolan fucking Cross sitting on one of the black leather couches set before Edmund’s desk.
‘Ugh. I can’t believe this guy is still alive,’ my beast muttered, sounding bored and unimpressed. ‘Your life would be so much simpler if you just listened to me, for once.’
Ignoring my beast, I did my best to compose myself as Nolan’s blue eyes met mine, a cocky smile spreading across his face.
“Good Morning, Cassandra. Glad you could make it.” He glanced at his watch, as if implying I was late.
That dyke is fucking in love with you.
After everything that had happened, it felt like Nolan had said those words to me days ago, but the fury I felt as they flit through my mind was just as strong as it had been when he’d first said them.
Fighting back the urge to literally slit his throat in the middle of my boss’s office, I ignored him and turned to face the partners, who were sitting opposite Nolan, on a matching couch opposite the crystal coffee table that was the centerpiece of Edmund’s bright office.
“I’m assuming this means I didn’t make partner?” I asked dryly, and both Edmund and Vivian’s expressions became infuriatingly amused.
“Have a seat, Cassandra,” Vivian said, taking a dainty sip from a tea cup she must have poured from Edmund’s personal beverage cart. “We have much to discuss.”
The only seat available was next to Nolan, and my skin crawled with revulsion as I folded myself neatly into the supple leather.
Taking great care to tuck myself as far away from him as possible, I smoothed out my skirt and crossed my feet neatly at the ankles.
“You get home alright?” Nolan asked softly, giving me a tentative smile.
I returned his look with a cool nod, but chose not to respond.
His mouth grew tight at my dismissal, and his brow furrowed in concern.
“Now that you’re both here, we can begin,” Edmund said, leaning on the arm of the opposing couch next to Vivian.
“As you’re both aware, we’ve been working toward acquiring a new celebrity client. Reverend Elias Sterling.”
My eye twitched, but I kept my expression blank as Edmund continued.
“Sterling was following the Steele case closely and was immensely impressed with our firm’s defense. He’s seeking representation in a civil litigation involving allegations of misconduct.”
The monster in my chest growled.
Our firm’s defense? He made it sound like it had been a team effort.
That had been one hundred percent me!
Vivian smiled at Edmund before turning her gaze to us.
“I spent some time last night looking into the allegations,” Nolan drawled, and I allowed myself to glance at him, my heart pounding in my chest. “They’re… extensive.”
I already had an idea of where this was going, and I was not on board.
Edmund nodded. “Yes. It will be a challenging case, but nothing we can’t handle here at Sinclair and Morrissy.”
I narrowed my eyes.
My mother had been a religious nutcase. I had very little interest in representing some evangelical preacher who spent his time indoctrinating the masses with the types of ideologies that had been the reason my siblings and I had spent our childhoods locked up in cages.
“There’s a difference between a challenge and a losing case,” Nolan replied dryly, his gaze darting toward me again.
I kept my face strategically blank.
“Well, we know that ‘losing’ isn’t in either of your vocabularies. Vivian and I would like the two of you to represent him in his upcoming lawsuit.”
It took everything in me not to leap to my feet.
“Excuse me?” I asked tightly.
I looked at Nolan, gauging whether he had anything to do with this, but he looked just as irritated as I did.
Both Edmund and Vivian’s eyes were twinkling with mischief.
“As you know, we’re looking to add a new partner to the firm.
The two of you have both shown exemplary success in the past three years.
We thought this might be a good opportunity to see the two of you work as a team.
Depending on how this case goes, Vivian will have what we need to make a final decision. ”
Nolan had been right.
Rage.
All I knew was rage.
I was swimming in a sea of red.
Fuck. THIS.
Grinding my teeth together, I forced myself to take a deep breath and compose myself before speaking.
“I feel I have more than proven myself to be considered for partner. With all due respect, the Steele case was not only a success because of me, but also the only reason our firm was considered to represent Tristan at all was because. Of. Me.”
I knew I was visibly seething, which wasn’t doing me any favors, and Edmund’s eyes twinkled with amusement.
This is what made him such a good lawyer.
I was his favorite, sure. I was the apple of his damn eye, but he still got off on pitting Nolan and me against each other.
Competition was encouraged and fostered in our industry, and it wasn’t uncommon for partners to pull shit like this to test their attorneys.
The question was, what was the criteria for this particular exam?
Was this to see if I could handle working a case with someone I considered to be a rival?
Did he want me to put my personal feelings aside and show that I could play well with others?
It would certainly make sense. I was notoriously stand-offish and prickly.
I preferred to work alone.
Forcing me to team up with Nolan on a case would be a challenge for me, and Edmund likely wanted to see if I could handle it.
“Not that I’m not excited for this opportunity… I appreciate it, I do. However, I did fully expect Cassandra to be chosen for partner based on her work on the Steele case,” Nolan said, completely to my surprise.
What was he playing at? Why would he come to my defense like that?
He continued, “What is the motivation to have us work this case together?
Ah. There it is.
His mind had clearly gone in the direction mine had, and he was fishing.
Did they want us to ruthlessly one-up each other? Or truly test our ability to work as a team? It could go either way.
At this, Edmund looked uncomfortable.
“I’ll let you take this one, Vivian. It’s an HR nightmare coming from me.” He smiled wistfully, and Vivian turned her sharp gaze onto me.
She transformed before my eyes into the cutthroat woman who mopped the floor with her opposition in court, and I straightened in my seat. I knew I was going to need to accept whatever was about to come out of her mouth without complaint or pushback–and I wasn’t going to like it.
“When we recommended Cassandra, the reverend expressed reservations. Due to the nature of his allegations, he’s concerned that being represented by an unmarried, attractive woman such as Cassandra will be… inflammatory and counterproductive.”
This time, my mouth did drop open.
“Excuse me?” I rasped. Vivian raised her eyebrows at me, her lips pursing.
“You heard me.”
“I’m sorry… you’re denying me partner, which I have rightfully earned, because… I’m too hot?”
Nolan coughed on what sounded much too close to a laugh for my liking.
“Hot and single, it would seem,” he snickered, and again, I had a very strong impulse to slit his throat.
Vivian pursed her lips. “Is it fair? No. But you know as well as I do, Cassandra, that we’re playing in a male-dominated field.
Fair doesn’t come into the equation. This is the reality, and the firm needs to come first. The firm always comes first, even before our own personal desire for gender equality in the workplace.
A true partner would understand that.” Vivian’s tone remained flat and final.
I glanced down at her left hand, where her massive engagement ring, complete with a yellow-gold wedding band, glinted in the sunlight.
Vivian was almost sixty, but she was a formidable woman.
She definitely would have turned some heads of her own back in the day.
I knew that when she was my age, she would have experienced this same kind of sexism in her career as well.
Likely even worse, considering how far we had come in even just the last five years.
But, here she was–partner of the firm–clearly willing to do anything and everything necessary to claw her way to the top.
I needed to play the game.
Before I could stop myself, the stupidest words that I had ever uttered in my life exploded from my mouth.
“I’m engaged,” I blurted, and the entire office went dead silent.
There was a long, awkward pause where all three attorneys just stared at me.
“What?” Nolan finally managed to choke out.
My cheeks heated, and my mind started racing.
Why the fuck had I just said that?!
Edmund looked like I’d slapped him. Vivian was smirking.
So much for that high IQ, Cassandra–turns out you’re actually a fucking moron… Fuck!
Instead of succumbing to the panic that was threatening to ruin my entire career, I leaned into my impulsive lie.
I smoothed out my skirt with the hand that wasn’t clutching my triple long like it was my only life raft in the sea of bullshit that was currently my morning.
“Mhmm. Yep. Happened a while ago. I didn’t announce it because of everything that’s been going on with the Steele case. But yeah, we’re due to get married next week.”
Jesus. I needed to stop talking.
Nolan was gaping at me, and I pinned him with a look.
Based on the recent hookup we’d had, he knew that couldn’t be true, but I dared him with my expression to say anything.
“Where’s your ring?” he gritted out, and I shrugged, tossing my long dark hair over my shoulder.
“Getting sized.”
“Well…” Edmund said gruffly, awkwardly straightening his cuffs. “That’s quite the development. Congratulations, Cassandra.”
I smiled at him.
“Thank you, Edmund.”
Vivian looked like it was taking everything she had not to laugh. She was watching me carefully, and her eyes were shining.
She knew I was lying, and she was clearly excited to see how I was going to pull this stupid shit off.
Ugh. How was I going to pull this stupid shit off!?
“Well, we’ll be sure to let the reverend know about this development.
However, we’ve already promised him a team of two first-class attorneys with perfect track records.
He’s paying an exorbitant hourly rate just to be in the same room as the two of you.
We can’t in good faith turn down that level of incoming billables. ”
My heart sank.
Fuck. Me.
I had just royally screwed myself.
Now I needed to find a husband by next week, and I was still working this shitty religious nut job case with homophobic Nolan.
Maybe he was perfect for this case.
Bet him and Reverend Fuck Face would get along great.
I gave Edmund another tight smile, hoping it was convincing.
“Anything for the good of the firm.” I agreed.
Vivian’s lips twitched.
“Glad you’re on board.”