Not Fake for Long by Weston Parker
15
HARRISON
Asudden commotion outside my office made me look up from the financial statements I’d been combing over. Agatha’s voice, while usually soft and respectful, carried from her desk in my outer office—and she didn’t sound happy.
“Excuse me, sir,” she said indignantly. “I just told you that you can’t go in there. You don’t have an appointment.”
A deeper, unfamiliar voice replied. Although it wasn’t as loud as hers, I could still make out what he was saying. “I just told you that I don’t care. We don’t need an appointment. This is an urgent matter and Mr. Hynes will want to see us.”
Mr. Hynes wasn’t so sure he wanted to see anyone right then, but I couldn’t deny that I was curious. I’d never received a surprise visitor who claimed not to need an appointment. Pushing my chair away from my desk, I stood up and walked over to the door.
When I opened it, a man in an ill-fitting suit was the one arguing with Agatha. Behind him stood a man I did recognize. It was none other than Bernard Hilton, who I honestly hadn’t thought I’d ever see again.
“What is the meaning of this?” I asked quietly but authoritatively.
Agatha and the cheap suit stopped arguing immediately, both of their heads snapping around to face me. Since I actually cared about her well-being, I turned to my receptionist first.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her mouth was set into a hard line, but otherwise, she seemed fine. Regardless, I decided to check with her before paying any attention whatsoever to the man trying to strong-arm his way into my office.
“Are you okay?” I asked, noticing that her breathing had already slowed.
She patted the side of her hair as if to make sure it hadn’t come out of her bun before she nodded. “I’m fine, Mr. Hynes. Thank you. These gentlemen simply won’t take no for an answer.”
My former employee gave me a grin that was surprisingly smug for a man in his position. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Hynes. This is Andrew Beard, my lawyer.”
Some staff members passing by had stopped to watch the stir these two were causing. The lawyer and his cheap suit took a step closer to me, but neither offered me his hand.
“We’re here to discuss the lawsuit Mr. Hilton intends to file against you,” he said, clearly believing that he had the upper hand if the satisfied gleam in his eyes was anything to go by. “I suggest you take the meeting, even if we didn’t make an appointment.”
A faint smirk appeared on his lips.
Yeah, he definitely thinks he has me.
If only old Bernard would’ve shared the tip I’d given him on the day I fired him with his lawyer, perhaps he’d have dialed it down a notch. As things were, however, both of them looked like they firmly believed they had me by the balls.
Ignoring the lawyer’s statement for a minute, I turned back to Agatha. “This won’t take very long. Let me save these gentlemen and the company some time in the long run and take the meeting.”
“I can still call security,” Agatha said.
“Thank you, Agatha, but I can handle this. Can you push my schedule back by fifteen minutes?”
“Yes, sir.” She dipped her head in a nod, not even trying to hide the way her lips had tilted up into a small, amused smile. “I’m assuming those fifteen minutes includes time for the coffee you’ll have once you’ve set them straight?”
“Indeed.” I returned her smile—briefly—before stepping back into my office and gesturing for them to follow me. “Let’s get this over with, gentlemen.”
Agatha came out from around her desk to close the door but paused to peer at me through the crack just before she did. “Would you like me to contact someone from legal to sit in, sir?”
“That won’t be necessary. You don’t need to offer them anything to drink, either. They won’t be staying long.” I glanced at the two men sitting awkwardly in the visitors’ chairs in front of my desk. “Unless you’d like something to go? I’m sure that can be arranged.”
Andrew scowled at me, setting his tattered briefcase down on his knees and unsnapping the clips. “We’re here to discuss the only thing we want from you. Refreshments won’t be necessary. We have a celebratory drink planned once we leave.”
I shrugged and nodded to Agatha. “There you have it. You can get my coffee ready in the meantime. Thank you.”
After nodding again, still smiling, she shut the door and left us to it. I turned slowly, taking my time as I made my way over to my desk. There was no need to rush. I could let them stew in their own juices for a minute and still be done with this shit with more than enough time to spare before my next meeting.
Bernard seemed to have lost a couple of pounds in the weeks since I’d last seen him, his suit almost as baggy now as his lawyer’s. Despite the smug expression he was still wearing, he seemed nervous. His fingers were fidgeting in his lap and his face was pale.
The lawyer also seemed to be trying to project confidence, but now that he was in my office, there was sweat beading his forehead and his hands trembled slightly when he lifted a sheaf of papers out of his briefcase.
“Well, gentlemen,” I said once I sat down and folded my hands loosely on top of my desk. “What can I do for you?”
They exchanged a look before Andrew sat forward. He smacked the papers he’d taken out down on the desktop and pushed them in my direction. “We’re here to discuss the wrongful termination lawsuit we’ll be filing against the Hynes Group, as well as the action we’re considering taking against you in your personal capacity for besmirching my client’s good name.”
I nodded slowly. “Interesting. Tell me, what are your grounds for wrongful termination and how exactly did I besmirch Mr. Hilton’s good name?”
Andrew’s brow puckered. “What are our grounds? You fired this man without any wrongdoing on his part. You misled him and ambushed him in his office, and we have it on good authority that you started the rumors currently circulating that he’s dishonest.”
“He is dishonest,” I said casually. “It’s a free country. If Mr. Hilton would like to file a lawsuit, he’s more than welcome to do so. We’ll look forward to litigating any issues you may raise in a court of law.”
“If that happens, your company’s reputation goes down the drain right along with my client’s,” Andrew said. “I’ll personally make sure that the press is there every day to cover the proceedings. You won’t get away with this, and we’ll make sure of it.”
“It’s a lovely day to make threats, isn’t it?” I said, sitting back as I watched both of them wither under my glare. “Let me save you the trouble of calling the press, Mr. Beard. I’ll arrange for my public-relations team to do it for you. They have contacts in every major news outlet from here to Africa. I can assure you that the details of your client’s behavior will be thoroughly reported on. Now, you still haven’t actually told me what you’ve come here for, and I’m afraid we don’t have much time left.”
A vein popped out right in the center of the man’s forehead and his hands curled into fists on top of his briefcase. “You’re not going to scare us off with your alpha businessman act, Mr. Hynes. We came here to let you know about the lawsuit and discuss a possible settlement before this gets ugly.”
I let him ramble on for a few more minutes about how they were going to come after me and my company and how it was going to end up costing me millions if I didn’t settle right away. He even pulled some more papers out of his briefcase and tossed them across the desk.
“You’re going to sign that agreement stating that you’ll never speak about my client again. There’s a further clause stating that you, personally, will give him a glowing recommendation. It also includes a dollar amount you’re going to pay him for the damages he’s already suffered.”
I laughed loudly in his face. “Which is it then?” I asked, frowning as I glanced down at his agreement without picking it up. “Do you want me never to speak about him again or to give him a recommendation? Giving someone a recommendation involves speaking about them, as I’m sure you know.”
The vein throbbed and the man’s face turned red. “Trying to be a smartass won’t save you from this, Hynes.”
“No, the truth will, Mr. Beard.” I pushed both sets of documents back without reading them. “Let me make this perfectly clear to you. There will be no settlement.”
When he opened his mouth to reply, I held up a hand to cut him off. “Your client was fired for forcing customers to pay him a fee in return for granting their loans. That’s not wrongful termination. What he did was extortion and fraud. Those are crimes, in case you don’t know, counselor. Put the facts in front of a judge and your client is going to jail.”
The attorney shot a quick glance at Hilton, like maybe he hadn’t heard the full story. “This is a civil suit. Nothing criminal about it.”
“Unless I’m forced to call the authorities and press charges,” I said. “Then it’s absolutely a criminal investigation. Plus, all our loans are federally insured, which I think also makes it a federal crime. Tell me, counselor, will you be representing him in federal court as well?”
The man looked down at my desk, unable to maintain eye contact. It was all the answer I needed. He was a spineless bottom-feeder pretending to be a shark.
Hilton looked like he was about to throw up. Too blinded by dollar signs, the greedy idiot hadn’t even considered the potential for prison.
Threading my fingers together, I slid my elbows forward. “Bringing this bogus lawsuit is suicide for your client. There’s no winning for you.”
Hilton’s lawyer stuffed his documents back in his briefcase, still not looking at me. “We’ll see.”
I ignored him and looked at Hilton. “You scammed desperate people. For that alone, I should call the police right now. And you’re not even sorry about it because you’re here trying to extort money from me too.”
Hilton frowned. “You owe me.”
I held my hand up toward him. “Don’t talk right now. Listen. I already gave you a chance to just walk away from this, and maybe I’m an idiot, but I’m giving you one more. Stop this lawsuit nonsense. Show me you’re done scamming and extorting people. Do that and we can part ways right now, just forget each other’s names.”
Hilton was so pale now, he was practically translucent.
Cocking a brow at them, I wheeled my chair back. “Was there anything else, gentlemen?”
They glanced at each other, both looking suitably chastised, before they pushed their chairs back in unison. They left without another word, heads hanging and shoulders slumped.
I doubted I’d hear from either of them again.
My phone buzzed on the glass surface of my desk. An unexpected but not unwelcome name popped up on my screen. Keira and I had exchanged numbers so she could let me know about the wedding, and my mood lifted when I saw it was her calling.
“This is a surprise,” I said. “How’re you doing? Missing the fresh air already?”
“I was missing the fresh air before we even got back to the city,” she joked, but I also didn’t doubt that there was some truth to the statement. “But I’m good. How are you?”
“Better now,” I said honestly. Hilton’s petty powerplay had put a damper on my morning, but things were looking up. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.”
“I wasn’t expecting to call you so soon.” She laughed softly, pausing for a beat before she went on. “I was actually wondering if you’d like to get together sometime.”
“How’s tomorrow night?” I didn’t like playing games and I hated unnecessary delays. “I’d have asked about tonight, but I’m afraid I have a date with work already.”
“So do I, sadly,” she agreed. “Tomorrow night is perfect. Have you got any preferences about where to meet?”
“How do you feel about cheap and nasty? There’s nothing I hate more than uppity, pretentious places where the serving sizes are too small to feed a pigeon.”
“Cheap and nasty sounds amazing. I know just the place. I’ll text you my address,” she said. “Does eight work for you?”
“Like a dream.” I grinned as I cast my gaze toward the windows, wondering if she was calling me from any of the skyscrapers I was looking out at. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Keira.”
“See you tomorrow,” she said, hanging up just a few seconds later.
After I put the phone down, I sat back in my chair and stared at nothing while thinking about the fact that I had a date tomorrow. A date I was actually looking forward to for the first time in a long time.
There was something there with Keira. All I had to do was figure out exactly what it was and how far we wanted to take it.
