The meeting started off on a bad foot, considering Gil called it in response to the firm’s work. He felt it was weak and too brief. It didn’t touch on some of the points Gil clearly shared with the partner regarding his wishes, and it didn’t rely enough on the case they’d discussed, which they’d agreed was the best case to cite in this particular court district.
Billie hadn’t said a word yet. She was waiting her turn. She ignored Porter’s searing eyes and kept focused on Gil, nodding in agreement with his points to show her support. By the time he was finished, everyone was already uncomfortable—everyone except Billie.
“Gil,” the partner spoke up first after Gil finished. “Let me respond first by saying—”
“Wait.” Gil held up his hand. “I was going to ask Billie if she had anything to add first. I believe in getting it all out.”
Everyone turned to her. Billie looked down at her notes as if she wasn’t sure what to say, even though she absolutely was. She was going to attack an argument that she knew to be Porter’s, because it was a case that he litigated.
“I can’t think . . . ,” she started, before pulling out a piece of paper. “Oh yes, I do have something. There was a reference to Gregson versus Peyton in terms of alternative clauses in the contract revision that would remove vertical question. I was confused. You’re arguing Gregson’s point, but that’s a losing point.”
While Billie looked up at Anthony he turned to look at Porter.
“The district court found in favor of Gregson,” Porter said through gritted teeth. “Point payment revision is a strong argument, and the defendant—”
“Yes,” Billie interrupted, “but the appeals court overturned it, saying that there was nothing in place to guarantee that revision wouldn’t just be excluded in an addendum. I really don’t think we need to be arguing points that have been overturned. That’s just not good law.”
“It’s fine,” Porter said. “The ruling was based on a lack of a binding addendum, which doesn’t exist in this case.”
“Still,” Billie said, trying to sound uncertain enough of her own words that she didn’t come across as biting, “I’m concerned that—”
“Still nothing,” Porter spat out. “The appeals court clearly stated that if a binding addendum had been in place, which is the situation in this case, it would’ve agreed with the lower court.”
Billie nodded quickly, seeming to want to appease Porter, knowing that it would only make him angrier. “I know, but let’s face it—judges look at the highest-court ruling and see that as the final vindication. The appeals court addressed this particular aspect of the case in its ruling in favor of Peyton, and—”
“That’s ridiculous,” Porter scoffed. “I clearly state in the brief that—”
“Porter.” Anthony’s tone admonished him sharply.
Everyone in the room froze in response as an awkward moment of silence settled in. Porter turned to his phone, pretending to be more interested in something that was on there than anything happening in the room.
“I’m sorry.” Billie was working hard to conceal her delight. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s all right,” Anthony assured her. “You were right. Porter just gets passionate about his cases. Look, Gil, we’ve taken copious notes. I think we’re finally on the same page here.”
“My comments,” Gil said, “are all on the brief in track changes. It should have been e-mailed to all of you.”
“I can commit to working on this nonstop,” the partner said. “You and I need to set up a conference call tomorrow to go into further detail over the changes, but I’m certain we can handle this.”
“I know you can,” Gil said confidently. “This is a first draft. We’ve all had them. I just want to make clear the direction we’d prefer before we go into further drafts.”
Porter was up and out of the room in a flash, before the others had even left their seats. Billie acted unaware as she focused on giving Evelyn some instructions for closing out the presentation.
After everyone from the firm had left, Gil walked over to her.
“What was that about?” he asked. “Porter?”
Billie shrugged. “I have no idea. I thought it was a professional and civil conversation, but—”
“You were perfectly professional,” Gil said. “He was way out of line. Not only are you a client, but you had a perfectly valid point.”
“He certainly didn’t think so,” Billie said.
“I don’t think it was about your point at all,” Gil said. “Maybe it’s too difficult for him to work for you. I overestimated his professionalism.”
“His expertise in this area is unquestioned,” Billie said. “Which is what made the mistake all the more curious.”
“He might be off his game,” Gil said, nodding as if he’d figured it out. “We can’t afford that. I’ll have to do something about it.”
Billie watched as Gil walked out of the office, deep in thought. She was getting very good at this and liking it. She thought for a second that might not be a good thing, but then she dismissed it from her mind. This was a long time coming.
The Sweeney home was located in one of the toniest neighborhoods of Bethesda, Maryland. It was newly designed and almost eleven thousand square feet. The Georgia-stone-and-wood-style house had five bedrooms, an Olympic-sized pool, a media room, a mini-gym, and a kitchen that was the size of most one-bedroom apartments.
Erica felt somewhat guilty for accepting the driven car that Jonah had sent for her. It seemed wrong to her at first. However, once she realized how far the place was from any Metro stop, and considering she was dressed semiformal, it was really the best solution. So she accepted, wondering all the way there how nice she was going to have to be to Jonah in order to show her appreciation.
Once she arrived at the home, after picking her mouth off the floor at the sight of all its tasteful art and expensive furnishings, Erica’s first thought was how happy she was to see other people dressed in semiformal wear. For some reason, despite knowing the dress code, she imagined herself walking into a home filled with women in formal gowns; they’d take one look at her and ask her to get them a drink.
However, any insecurity she had about her looks immediately disappeared the second Alex showed up in the foyer. Erica couldn’t describe it perfectly, but the way he looked at her, although brief, made her feel beautiful. He looked for just a second as if his breath was taken away, stopping in the archway to take her in. He gathered himself, smiling and heading toward her.
“You look amazing,” he said, reaching her.
“You think so?” she asked. “You’ve been in the main room. Will I fit in?”
“No,” he said. “You’ll stand out, but in the best kind of way.”
“Stop it.”
“Seriously, though,” he said, reaching out and placing his hand on her shoulder. “You wear way too much clothing most days.”
Erica tried to hide how flattered she was and how aware she was of his touch. “You think I should be showing more skin in the workplace?”
He laughed. “Not exactly, just less . . . Let me stop while I’m ahead. You look great.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully.
Their eyes met and Erica knew this was trouble. What was she doing? Was she trying to make this a thing? Was this what Alex was trying to do, or was she misreading his kindness?
“I can’t believe the way my mom acted the other day,” Alex said, breaking the silence.
“I thought she was great,” Erica said.
“Exactly,” he said. “Whenever she gets the hint that I like someone, she immediately assumes she’s no-good. You’re a tramp until proven a nun.”
“She wants you to be with a nun?” Erica asked, trying hard to ignore that he basically just admitted to liking her.
“She’s old-school Catholic,” Alex said, “so, pretty much, yeah.”
“I’m not her girl then,” Erica announced.
�
��That’s just it,” he said. “She liked you right away. She talked about you a lot after meeting you. She wanted to know all about you.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That you’re all right, but you have an attitude problem.” He laughed.
“Erica!”
They both turned to see Malcolm striding toward them, with Jonah right behind. Erica felt that familiar dread as she looked at Jonah, hoping to convey her anger at his refusal to abide by their deal, but Jonah wasn’t focused on her. He was looking at Alex and he wasn’t happy.
“Hi, Malcolm,” she said as soon as he reached them.
Alex stepped over and stood beside Erica. “Hey, Malcolm.”
Malcolm looked at him with a confused frown on his face. “I know you, right?”
“Alex Gonzales,” he said, annoyed. “We met at headquarters last week. We talked . . . twice.”
“Oh yeah.” Malcolm adjusted his glasses and laughed. “Hi, Alex. Um . . . Erica, how are you?”
“Fine,” she said, feeling more uncomfortable now that Jonah was there.
How did he have a way of making her feel guilty? She wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“Alex,” Jonah’s voice was curt, sounding as if he was about to give a military order. “Can you please make sure that the raffle tables are being manned? Someone mentioned they weren’t earlier.”
“I . . .” Seeming to figure out what was going on, Alex didn’t seem at all happy. But he knew there was nothing he could do about it. If Jonah wanted him gone, he was gone. “Yeah, I guess.”
He turned to Erica. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Count on it.” Erica felt horrible for him, because of how uncomfortable he suddenly seemed.
She detected a hint of jealousy in his eyes when he looked at Malcolm one last time before heading off. That was silly. They weren’t the closest of friends, but he should have known enough of her by now to know that a bow tie–wearing, entitled trust fund baby wasn’t her type at all.
“Malcolm,” Jonah said, his tone suddenly light and warm, “why don’t you get Erica a drink and show her around your house?”
“Sounds great,” Malcolm said, turning to Erica. “Do you want to start upstairs or downstairs?”
“Wherever you think is best,” she said, trying to sound as polite as possible, even though she wanted to strangle Jonah.
After all, it wasn’t Malcolm’s fault. He was just being a nice guy, so Erica was going to try her best to be a nice girl. She would bide her time. Jonah would have to get busier as the evening progressed and she would fall down the priority list. Then she could focus on what she really wanted, which was hanging out with Alex.
When Sherise showed up for work on Monday morning, she noticed something was wrong right away. She was getting stares from everyone. That wasn’t unusual. She always got stares from men and women when she walked into a room. Only these stares lasted a little too long and were directed right at her face, not at her body, her clothes, or her shoes.
It was clear to her now. The firm had acquiesced to their request to hold off on giving Elena money, which gave them a chance to fight her accusations. However, once this information got back to Elena’s lawyers, it was only a matter of time. They were supposed to give them until Wednesday, but Sherise knew that was bullshit.
“Sherise?” LaKeisha met her in the hallway near her office. The uncomfortable look on her face wasn’t a good sign. “Can you come with me to Northman’s office?”
“Fine,” Sherise said, not bothering to pretend she didn’t know what this was about.
Once inside Northman’s office, after everyone else had left the adjacent area, both Sherise and LaKeisha sat across from him at his desk. Northman explained to her that news of her husband being at the center of a scandal at one of D.C.’s top lobbying firms had reached the campaign. From back when he was a senator, Northman had remained a close friend with the head of the practice at the firm.
As soon as she had to a chance to speak and explain her side, Northman stopped her in her tracks.
“Honestly, Sherise.” He sighed, seeming exhausted just from this conversation. “I’m sure you’ll say he’s innocent, and I’m inclined to believe you. Most of these harassment claims are bullshit. I would think the best move would be for you to take a leave of absence until you can get this accusation thrown out of court, but . . .”
Sherise noticed him glance at LaKeisha. When she turned to her, Sherise could tell that LaKeisha was embarrassed about something that had nothing to do with her.
“Honestly,” Northman continued, “with all the mistakes being made around here, I can’t afford to lose you too.”
Sherise’s curiosity was piqued. “What’s going on?”
“Jonathan was arrested two nights ago,” LaKeisha said.
Sherise didn’t have to feign surprise; it was genuine. With all the mess Elena had brought into her life, she’d temporarily forgotten about Jonathan and what might happen to him once Jonah’s camp found out.
“I thought . . . ,” she started to say, “. . . I thought we agreed that Northman shouldn’t know about him.”
“It’s too late for that,” Northman said.
“Arrested for what?” Sherise asked.
“DUI,” LaKeisha said. “He ran up on a curb in Friendship Heights. Someone called the cops. Supposedly, he was high and drunk and had some drugs in his possession.”
“Oh no,” Sherise said.
“I talked to him yesterday morning,” she said. “He thinks he was drugged while hanging out at a bar earlier. He says he’s never done drugs in his life.”
“He’s saying he was set up?” Sherise asked.
Wow, she thought, Jonah acts faster than I ever expected. She wasn’t sure how happy she could be about this until she learned more.
“It had to be Nolan’s people,” Northman added. “I’ve seen this shit before. Nolan found out about him and made sure he wasn’t a threat anymore.”
“Was there any connection to the campaign found in his car?” Sherise asked.
“There’s no way to know,” LaKeisha said. “His car was wiped clean. Not only that, but when he finally made bail and went home yesterday, his place was ransacked.”
“That’s why she had to tell me,” Northman said. “This was definitely a setup and search.”
“We did a search of the office,” LaKeisha said.
Sherise held her breath.
“Looks like Amy Griffin sent Nolan an e-mail from her personal e-mail account.” LaKeisha shook her head.
Sherise let her breath out and relaxed a little. Just as she had planned.
“She’s my assistant,” LaKeisha continued, “so I know it’s my fault, but I honestly believed I could trust her. She was so passionate about the campaign.”
“Obviously, she was getting paid by the Nolan people,” Northman said.
“What did she have to say for herself?” Sherise asked.
Yes, part of her felt bad for setting the girl up, but she was fighting for her life and her family. There would be collateral damage that was regrettable.
“She denied it,” LaKeisha said. “She even denied being in the office at the time. She said she’d left almost an hour before.”
“But she was there,” Northman said. “A couple of staffers who came back from dinner that night, around the time it was sent, reported to security that they thought they’d heard someone. Also, one of them remembers seeing her computer as being the only one in the entire area that was lit up. If she’d been gone almost an hour, it would have powered down by then.”
Funny, Sherise thought. Who would have thought having random staffers would only bolster my plan? She desperately wanted to smile, so she did—only on the inside, though. On the outside, she maintained a look of utter seriousness and surprise.
LaKeisha shook her head. “She couldn’t explain how someone could know her password, though. Only the IT guys know it and none of them were there. They
were all at the governor’s mansion, setting up security stuff that afternoon and evening.”
Sherise realized this could be better than she expected. LaKeisha was suffering the brunt of what her assistant had done. Northman himself said that he needed Sherise because of LaKeisha’s downgrade in his eyes at the moment. This was more power for her. Considering how things were going elsewhere, she thought it was capital she might really need down the line.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Sherise said. “Justin and I have gotten this under control. It’s not going to even make it through the investigations process. We’re not gonna let the firm pay her off, so people can still speculate that he was guilty. These false accusations will be brought to light, and in a way that completely erases any doubt that Justin is innocent.”
“See to it that you do,” Northman said. “Because if you can’t, Sherise, you know the result.”
The result would be that the campaign couldn’t be associated with this. There was no way that the top spokesperson for a presidential candidate could have a spouse publicly disgraced from a sex scandal.
Sherise wasn’t going to let that happen. She had solved one problem, but there were just a million more there to take its place. She had a lot of work to do.
12
Erica was on the phone talking to a donor about contribution options when Jonah rushed into the large room set aside for making phone calls.
He didn’t seem to care that there was a room full of volunteers and young staffers, who all stopped in their tracks as he walked in. He was heading for Erica; the look on his face made her wonder if she should run for her life. He was flaming angry and everyone could tell.
“I . . . um . . .” Erica suddenly remembered that she had stopped in the middle of a sentence and was trying desperately to get back on track. Her mind was blank as he approached.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jonah grabbed the phone from her hand and hung it up.
“Come with me,” he ordered harshly.
“I was talking to a donor,” she protested. “You just hung—”
Nothing to Lose Page 18
