by Emma Vikes
Sometime during the week also, I'd given up trying to reach the sleazebag attorney, Mike Duncan. Charlotte and I had already begun to work on our defense for Richer Corp. It was obvious we were heading to court and we needed to get ready, so we weren't caught with our pants down.
I arrived at her door and tapped gently on it.
"Yes?" Charlotte responded from within to my satisfaction. I had hoped that she would have gotten to the office and hearing her voice now brought me great relief.
I looked at my watch taking note of the time. Even though I wasn't late, she had arrived at the office before me. I pushed open the door and walked in turning to shut the door behind me.
"Good morning Charlotte." I said when I was finally facing her.
"Good morning Damian. You are early. Wonderful!" She responded sarcastically.
"Yes. I wanted to run something by you. I was thinking it last night and I began wondering. You said the fire in this case was being fanned by egos. What if the ego involved wasn't from both parties but from Mike Duncan himself?"
She paused from reading the document in front of her and raised her eyes to look at me.
"I'm listening." She responded.
"I mean these are two companies that have done business together for a long time. Channels of communication should still exist no matter the grievances, except someone was deliberately blocking the said channels of communication."
"And who will stand to gain more from both parties not talking, except Mike Duncan!" She responded completing my train of thought.
"Exactly! Exactly it is the same thing I was thinking. What if Mike Duncan has ensured that Richer Corp can't talk to his clients or that even if they are talking, his clients aren't getting the right messages being passed across? After all his ego is the only thing that will be benefitted, if this case ends up in court. He gets to be in the spotlight with a huge case such as this." I responded animatedly.
"Hmmm... interesting theory. However, there is only one way we can ascertain this. We need to go to Richer Corp and find out if there was any correspondence before this all became a serious legal matter with both parties blowing hot." She responded, standing up to her feet and reaching for her bag.
"Wait! Where are you going?" I asked in confusion.
"To Richer Corp. Where else?" She responded.
"But this is my case."
"And who says you're not coming along? Look, the win for Sanders was a huge deal but, we also have to win this case to ensure that nothing hinders your promotion to Senior Partner. If that means I'm going to be with you on this case every step of the way, which includes following you to Richer Corp when necessary, then so be it." She growled.
"Sometimes I wonder who's fighting harder for this promotion, me or you?" I chuckled.
"Sometimes I wonder the same thing." She fired back causing both of us to laugh. "Alright let's get going Damian. The information we need isn't going to find itself." She finished as she came around the table and began heading towards the door.
"Yes ma'am." I responded as I fell in sync and walked behind her.
One hour later, we walked into the office building which served as the headquarters for Richer Corp. It had taken us that long to get there as we'd had to deal with rush hour traffic.
Charlotte had phoned ahead to get an appointment. She'd wanted to speak to the General Manager when we arrived.
Immediately we walked into the reception, a woman I recognized as the General Manager's Personal Assistant, stood from where she was sitting and walked up to us.
"Good morning Miss O'Brien, Mr. Marshall. Mr. Erickson asked me to bring you straight to his office when you arrived. Please come with me." She said as she led us towards the elevator.
A few minutes later, we walked into the General Manager's office behind his personal assistant.
"Good morning." The General Manager said as he stood to his feet and ushered us politely in to ours.
We responded to his salutation and sat down.
"Your message to see me sounded quite urgent. So, what can I do for you?" He said as he took his seat.
The meeting lasted for one whole hour in which we'd gone through many documents, investigative reports and discussions. By the end of it, Charlotte and I had confirmed our suspicion that Mike Duncan had indeed put a cog into the wheels of communication between our client and his.
From the General Manager's testimony, they had indeed tried to settle the issue that arose between them and their business partner. In the beginning, it had been a case of delayed delivery. Normal communications had kept on going back and forth between plane manufacturer and jet engine manufacturer.
They'd all been involved with the investigation and trying to figure out what had caused the delay as the consignment of jet engines had been shipped out of Richer Corp's factory on time. They'd been working together, systemically eliminating possible causes one-by-one.
Suddenly all communications between both parties ceased as all new messages were being directed to their business partner's lawyers. Mike Duncan had shown up almost immediately as well and his visit had only one purpose. He'd tried to get Richer Corp to accept responsibility for the delay, threatening to take them to court if they didn't. According to him, the delay had cost his clients more money seeing as they had to move their production timeline forward.
Accepting responsibility according to Mike Duncan also meant that Richer Corp was going to pay for the cost that had accrued as a result of the delay in the production timeline. When that didn't work, he'd begun insinuating that there was a fault with the jet engines that his clients had purchased from Richer Corp. With such a grave accusation, Richer Corp had felt insulted. He was a sleazebag attorney threatening to drag the integrity of their company through the mud.
They'd tried to reach out to their business partner to understand the claims but all their efforts were met with a brick wall in the person named Mike Duncan. With no way to get past Mike Duncan and having no other option, they'd decided to lawyer up as well, to protect their company's image and reputation.
As we drove back to the office, we knew what needed to be done. Mike Duncan had most likely convinced his clients that the most profitable way out of this was to dump all the blame on our client. That way, they got Richer Corp to pay for the increase in production costs. As a result, we had to find a way to get past him to his clients and convince them that the move they had chosen was the wrong one. Plus, Richer Corp had enough proof that the jet engines had been shipped out on time, as well as had been in pristine condition when they were sold. In some startling new revelation that we weren't aware of, till we arrived at the General Manager’s office, Richer Corp had also continued their own investigation and had eventually deciphered the cause of the delay to have originated from the shipping company; one which coincidently hadn't been chosen by Richer Corp, but by Mike Duncan's clients.
In the General Manager’s words, "Let them sue. We'd be ready for them."
We got back to base and headed straight for Charlotte's office. As soon as I shut the door behind me, I turned to face her.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"What now is that we find a way to get to Mike's client. The only way this ends before the situation deteriorates any further, is for us to get past Mike. We need to find out why his clients are comfortable with going after Richer Corp and destroying a long-term business relationship."
"Ok then. I will get right on it." I said as I turned to leave her office.
CHAPTER 8
Vanessa
"YOU LIED TO ME, DIDN't you?" Lisa announced out of the blues, completely startling me.
It was the weekend and she had accompanied me to the office of the wedding planner. This was because Dylan and I had decided to begin preparations for our wedding.
It had been a whole week since I’d gone to his house to have a talk with him. Instead he’d seduced me and we'd ended up making love late into the night.
I had stayed up la
te, long after he had gone to sleep, thinking and wondering. Eventually, I had convinced myself that I was making the right decision, telling myself that the way he made me feel was enough confirmation that he was the one for me.
With that settled, I’d finally gone to sleep.
I had woken up to yet another surprise from the master seduction artist; breakfast in bed with Dylan on his knees, reaffirming his love for me and asking that we begin preparations for the wedding. According to him, he didn't see any reason why we shouldn't start getting ready to spend the rest of our lives together.
"You want us to get married right now?" I had asked in shock.
"Well, not immediately but as soon as possible." He'd responded.
In the end, he'd managed to convince me to begin getting ready for our lives together. We talked and settled on getting married in three months. As a result, I had gone in late to work.
Oddly enough, I wasn't confused or hyperventilating at the thought of marrying him any longer. I had somehow gotten myself excited at the thought and even looked forward to the ceremony.
And so, the wedding planning had begun.
In the past week also, I had barely talked with Damian. After the call we'd had last week, we'd talked just twice since then; on both occasions he had simply been calling to check up on me. It was highly unusual for me and Damian to talk just twice in one week. In fact, if someone had told me that a week would come when I and Damian wouldn't talk every day, I'd have called them a liar.
And yet it had happened.
"Answer me, Vanessa. You lied to me, didn't you?" Lisa persisted, bringing my attention back to the present.
The wedding planner had excused herself about five minutes earlier, and left us with some magazines which we were currently glossing over.
"What do you mean by I lied to you?" I responded without lifting my head from the magazine.
"You lied to me about having the talk I told you to have with Dylan." She responded.
There was a brief moment in which her words hung in the air. In that time, I was seriously deciding whether to keep up with the lie or to come clean with Lisa.
She was right. I never got to have the talk with Dylan. How she had perceived the truth though was beyond me.
She'd asked me the day after I was meant to have had the talk, when I got into the office, but I had lied in response. Even though I had decided to go ahead and marry Dylan, I wasn't ready to deal with her response, when I told her that I didn't have the talk with him. She most likely would have insisted on me going back to have the talk, but since my mind was already made up, I didn't see the use anymore. The initial jitters had disappeared anyway.
"Hmmm... You are right Lisa. I didn't have the talk with Dylan." I finally responded truthfully.
"Why?" She asked simply.
"Well... romance kind of got in the way." I responded shyly. "But it's all good now. I decided on my own to go ahead and get married to Dylan." I finished.
When I didn't get a response from her, I lifted my head up from the magazine and found her staring intently at me.
"What!" I exclaimed with a nervous chuckle.
Lisa didn't respond. Instead she continued to stare me.
"Lisa? Are you going to say anything or are you just going to keep staring at me?"
"What do you want me to say?" She responded.
"I don't know. You asked a question and I answered. A response to my answer might have been nice." I offered.
"Hmmm." She exhaled.
"What?" I asked. "And how did you even know that I lied to you?" I continued immediately as the thought crossed my mind.
'I hadn't come clean so how had she found out?' I wondered.
"Just by looking at you."
"I don't understand."
"Your demeanour, Vanessa. It's all in your demeanour. I had missed it all this while probably because you had masked it properly. But just now, watching you flip through the pages of that magazine, I just knew. You are still unsure about all this even if you don't know it yet."
"No, I'm not. I've made up my mind. I am not confused about wanting to marry Dylan. Can't you see and feel my excitement?" I protested.
"Really? Well this shouldn't be a hard question then. Do you love him?"
My mouth opened but no words came out.
"What's wrong Vanessa? Cat got your tongue?"
"I... well... love isn't the only recipe for a good marriage you know." I stammered.
"Good thing I didn't ask you what the recipe for a good marriage is. The question I asked is very simple. Do you love him?"
I remained speechless.
"Ok an easier question then. When last did you talk to Damian?" She fired.
"Why do you ask?" I responded in confusion.
"Nothing. Just asking. I just imagined that you'd be bombarding him with up-to-date information about the wedding preparations. You are after all excited with your decision, aren't you?" She asked with an arched eyebrow indicating sarcasm.
"What's your point?" I queried.
"My point is you are definitely avoiding Damian as well. You know your decision and your pretence to be happy is fictitious. You also know deep down that a constant conversation with Damian will expose your decision for what it is; a fallacy."
"I don't understand." I insisted.
"Come on Vanessa. Damian isn't just your best friend. He's also a sounding board for which you are able to gauge whether you are making the right decision or not. And if you have lied to me and most importantly to yourself, talking to Damian would have exposed that lie in your face. So, you avoided him." She finished.
"You are reaching Lisa." I responded with a nervous chuckle.
"Really? And yet you're unable to give me straight answers to both questions I have asked you."
I had no comeback so I stayed silent.
'Is she right? Am I lying to myself about being happy with my decision? Am I really avoiding Damian because of all this confusion? Once again, have I really made the right decision?' I wondered.
Just then, the wedding planner chose that exact moment to walk back into the office.
"I'm so sorry, so so sorry for keeping you waiting." She apologized repeatedly as she took her seat. "So, where were we?" She continued.
"Well I like this flower arrangement right here..." Lisa was speaking.
Her voice and that of the wedding planner sounded so far away, as I was lost in thought. They'd continued to talk and laugh animatedly, while I pondered on everything Lisa had said just moments ago.
Even if she was wrong with everything she had said, she hadn't missed out on one thing; this was all affecting my friendship with Damian. Right or wrong decision, I couldn't afford to lose Damian as my best friend.
"What do you think?" I heard the wedding planner ask.
"Vanessa? What do you think?" She repeated trying to get my attention.
Her question had been directed at me. Worse still, I had missed the preceding question so I had no idea what she was talking about.
"Excuse me?" I responded.
"I was asking what you thought about these plates." She stated.
"What I think is that I need to make a phone call." I responded leaving the wedding planner confused.
Turning to look at Lisa, I said, "I need to call Damian. I also need to have that talk with Dylan."
Lisa smiled and turned to face the wedding planner.
"Would it be possible for us to reschedule this meeting with you?" She asked.
"Oh ok. Let me check my..." The wedding planner began stuttering. However, Lisa cut her off mid-sentence.
"Don’t worry. We would call you." She said standing up to her feet and pulling me up as well.
"Let's go make that call and have that talk, shall we?" She grinned at me.
CHAPTER 9
Damian
AFTER OUR MEETING WITH Richer Corp yesterday, I had retreated to my cubicle to figure out how to get through to Mike's clients. It wasn't just tha
t Mike had threatened my client, it was also the fact that he had gotten his clients to turn on their long-term business partners as well.
I had thought long and hard before it hit me. Something was definitely afoot and I needed to figure it out as soon as possible.
I began researching extensively on his clients and by the end of the workday, I wasn't any closer to figuring it out than I was in the beginning.
Today being Saturday, I'd woken up and headed straight for my laptop to continue my research instead of heading to the basketball court like I usually did. I wanted this all resolved by the time I walked into the office come Monday morning. As a result, I had to dedicate my weekend to researching, at least until I found what I was looking for.
Sometime around noon, I got up to go get a bowl of cereal from the kitchen. Just as I'd begun turning the milk into my bowl, my phone began to ring.
"I am unavailable." I screamed at no one in particular.
I ignored the ringing cell phone and continued to make my bowl of cereal. As I walked back to my laptop, the phone began ringing again.
'Someone is determined to talk with me.' I thought.
I took a spoonful of cereal before pulling my phone up to spy the caller ID.
'Vanessa! Is she alright?'
We hadn't talked as usual this past week. In fact, since she had told me of Dylan's proposal, it had felt like something had changed between us. The fact that I was also very confused about whether she had feelings for me, had definitely contributed to the awkwardness that currently existed between us.
We'd talked just twice in one whole week; it was a rarity. On the occasions when we'd talked, I had been the one who'd called. When she had responded, it had seemed like she was reluctant to talk to me for whatever reason. Eventually, I had let her be. Whatever the matter was, I was so certain we would get it resolved. She was going to reach out when she was ready.
'And now she is calling.'
"Hey!" I said as soon as I picked the call.
"Hello Damian."
