Revenge: A Bad Boy Romance (57 page)

I probably should have told April about my approach.

She walked into work looking like she hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours. Wearing her sunglasses all the way until she arrived at her office, just made it even more obvious.
Schoolgirl error, April.

Everyone noticed she looked tired, and I heard a few people comment, but people still felt sorry for her after the presentation so she had earned a little bit of leeway.

I’d given the instruction for my secretary to intercept all my calls, but anyone who had my direct number could get straight through. I made it until ten o’clock when the phone rang, the ringtone snapping me awake as I’d been drifting off to sleep at my desk.

In my disorientation, I answered the call immediately without checking who it was. My blurry vision finally focused on the name on the caller ID screen, but it was too late. Zach.

“How’s my favorite referral source doing this morning?” Zach asked cheerfully.  

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I was far too tired for this shit.  

“I’ve never referred a client to you, Zach, and I don’t intend to start now. Did you want something? Or are you just bored waiting for Daddy to provide you some more coloring books to fill in while you pretend to be a lawyer.”

“Very good,” Zach replied sarcastically. Sarcasm, the lowest form of wit. Unless I was the one doing it, in which case it was dry and clever. “I’ve done some digging around. I’m right about April.”

“Are you going to tell me how she’s doomed and is never going to work as a lawyer again?”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

“And I suppose, like last time, you’re not actually going to tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”  

“Oh, I’ll tell you,” Zach said. “But you might not want to hear it.”

“Just tell me so I can get on with grown-up work.”  

“If you insist. Turns out April has committed a pretty serious breach of ethics.”

Did he know about the naughty motion we filed in Doris’ case? No, this whole thing started before that was filed. Besides, we’d cleared that up.

“It’s not a breach of ethics to refuse to sleep with a slimy associate. Goodbye Zach.”

“Wait,” he said quickly. Whatever it was he had to say, he really wanted to say it this time. “Okay, you want the details? Fine. April has worked both sides of the same case. You guys must have fucked up the conflict check, because I know for a fact she worked for Jacob Oscar on the shareholder vote issue.”

“There was no conflict,” I said calmly. I’d run the conflict check personally like I always did. “She’s never represented the shareholders.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Zach said. “She worked on that exact same issue while she was at Cooper & Cooper. I helped her with it. We represent the shareholders.”

If that was true… shit. It wasn’t worth thinking about. Except in extreme circumstances, working for both parties in the same case was almost impossible, and you would always have to get written consent from everyone concerned. We sure as hell hadn’t done that.  

But it couldn’t be true. I’d run the fucking conflict check.

“You’re lying,” I said firmly. “I know you must be bored over there, but you really need to think of a better way to spend your time than trying to ruin someone’s career before they’ve even been admitted to the bar.”

“She never will be admitted to the bar once this gets out. I’ll give you a few hours to check the facts. Meet me outside our office building at one o’clock today. We can start discussing how you’re going to handover PorTupe to me.”

“Goodbye Zach.”  

This time I hung up the phone before he had a chance to respond. Zach always sounded sure of himself, but there was an extra bit of certainty in his voice today. He’d done some fact-checking and still thought April had done something wrong. That didn’t bode well.

I ran the conflict check again, running the names of the shareholders in the suit against Jacob’s company. Nothing came up.

I searched the system and found the spreadsheet that April had prepared and sent off to the risk management advisor at the firm. I scrolled through the list, but couldn’t see anything wrong. I’d nearly made it to the bottom when I spotted the error.  

Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

April had made two mistakes on the conflict list. Combined, those mistakes had let the conflict slip through unnoticed. Cooper & Cooper represented the shareholders who had filed suit against Jacob’s company, and it looked like Zach was right. April had worked on that case, however instead of listing all the shareholder names she had only listed the first shareholder who appeared on the court filings. And she’d spelt it wrong.

This was bad. Really fucking bad. The case could get thrown out and we wouldn’t be paid. I had no clue what would happen to April, but at the very least she’d have to go through some extra steps before being admitted to the bar. At worst… well, Zach might be right on that point.

I quickly edited April’s spreadsheet to show the correct client name and then typed in all the other shareholders for good measure. I made the same changes in the firm’s conflict of interest database. That should help cover April’s ass at least.

April should have noticed that she’d worked on this case before, but as a summer associate she’d probably been given only a small segment of the case to work on. She may not have even known the name of the other party. That would help her defense, but I’d rather we never got to that stage. That meant talking to Zach.  

If he thought I was going to give up my best client then he had another thing coming.

I strolled out of the office with my sleeves rolled up to reveal my tattoos. I rarely walked around in public with them on display because they didn’t exactly scream “reputable lawyer,” but right now that wasn’t the image I wanted to give out.

Zach stood there outside his office building waiting for me. He saw me approach and motioned for us to head in the direction of a nearby park. That was fine with me. I’d feel less inclined to hold back if we had a bit of privacy.

We ended up under the shade of a tree, which did little to help keep me cool in the suffocating humidity. I’d been in D.C. for over five years now, but I still wasn’t used to the constant feeling of being in a greenhouse when outdoors.  

The summer months were torture, but even in the winter you would get a humid day spring up out of nowhere, making you sweaty and sticky under a thick coat.  

I’d been struggling to control my temper while I was indoors; outdoors in this heat, it was almost impossible.

“I’m going to assume you found out that I’m right,” Zach said. “About April committing a big no-no. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

“Perhaps I’m just here to punch your lights out,” I replied. “Or did that not occur to you? At least there’s nothing for you to fall over here.”

“Very droll. It still amazes me that someone like you,” he paused to look down at my tattoos, “managed to become a lawyer. You were bound to fuck up eventually, it’s just a shame you had to drag someone like April down with you.”

“It’s not her fault,” I said. “I’m the one to blame. I messed up the conflict check.”

“Oh, I know. I always suspected as much. April’s far too perfect to make such a basic mistake. Fucking little Princess.”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” I snapped. “You are in no position to be insulting anyone’s character, least of all hers.”

“Whatever. The fact is, all I have to do is send out an email and within hours shit will hit the fan, so to speak. I’m guessing your firm will fire April immediately, and you will likely be placed on leave. Then there’s the disciplinary hearings. Oh, they’re going to be so much fun. I might go along for shits and giggles.”

“You’re not going to send those emails.”

“I hope you’re right,” Zach said, trying to sound sincere. “I don’t want to send them. You know what I want.”

“You’re not getting my biggest client.”

“You can hardly work for them if you’re suspended. You really have no choice in all this.”  

“We can go back to the bit where I knock you the fuck out,” I said threateningly.

“I’ve got you over a barrel, Foster,” Zach said, before laughing loudly to himself. “I know you’re dumb, but you’re not that dumb. In fact, I reckon I could take a swing at you right now and you wouldn’t even react.”

“Go on then,” I said, as I moved within punching distance of Zach.

He looked around to make sure no one was looking and to my immense surprise he swung a punch. To my even greater surprise, he managed to make contact.  

I let my head swing to the right as his fist collided with the left side of my face. My tongue checked for damaged teeth, but found none.  

I pretended to barely feel the punch, but the truth was that even the weakest, most feeble punch to the face did hurt at least a bit.  

Fortunately it also hurt the person doing the punching. Zach smiled, but I could see him wincing in pain, and trying to hide the discomfort in his right hand. He’d probably never punched anyone before, not unless it had been part of some silly frat boy dare.  

This would usually be the part where I swung a punch of my own and sent Zach to the floor in a crying heap. This time I’d be sure to break some bones in the process; he deserved it.  

But I couldn’t punch him and we both knew it.  

“Does that make you feel better?” I asked. I could taste some blood in my mouth, but I swallowed it so as not to give him the pleasure of knowing he’d actually made me bleed.

“Yes, it does. Not as good as it’s going to feel when I get promoted after bringing in such a huge new client though. I probably won’t make partner immediately, but I’m going to jump a few levels without a doubt.”

“You know, there’s more to being a lawyer than bringing in clients,” I pointed out. “You actually have to do the work as well. Or would you like me to do that for you too?”

“If you insist on making this difficult, then I might just have to do that. Now then, shall we talk business. I want that client on my books within the next two months. That gives you a month to start severing ties, and a month to find a way to introduce me with a glowing reference.”

“I’m not doing it,” I replied.  

“Yes, you are,” Zach yelled. He was like a spoiled child, used to getting everything his own way and never being told ‘no.’ “I’m not bluffing, Foster. I
will
do it.”

“Go ahead then. I don’t care. PorTupe is worth a lot more to me than Jacob’s current case, and I’m confident I’ll stay out of trouble. Mistakes happen.”

“And what about April?” Zach asked. “Are you just going to hang her out to dry?”

I tried to effect a casual shrug, but I still hadn’t gotten the hang of it. I’d have to practice in front of the mirror one day.  

“I don’t care what happens to a summer associate,” I lied. “She made her bed. She’ll have to lie in it.”

“She will. Alone no doubt. That frigid bitch is soon going to find out what the real world’s like.”

“What did you just call her?” I snarled.  

Zach hesitated, as if his brain was trying to impart important information, like how it might not be a good idea to answer that question.  

“It’s true,” Zach said. “None of the guys in the office got anywhere with her. Not even me. Like I said, she’s a frigid bitch.”

This time I definitely broke some bones. Or perhaps it was a tooth chipping off in his mouth. Either way, the punch landed hard on the side of his face.  

Zach went sprawling against the tree which kept him up on his feet and gave me the chance to swing another blow, this time higher up. He’d have a real shiner of a black eye in a few hours.  

He collapsed on the floor and curled up in a fetal position. I drew back a foot to kick him in the stomach, but I couldn’t bring myself to kick such a feeble, helpless creature when it was curled up on the floor. I liked to punch people face-to-face, so I could look them in the eye as I did it.

A few people had seen me punch him and small crowds were starting to gather. The general public tended to act on instinct and what they saw was two men in suits arguing. For most people, that didn’t constitute anything they needed to get involved in.