by Diana Nixon
“Do not try my patience, Olivia. Chances are high, it will drop to zero sooner than you know it.”
“And then what? You will fire me? Go ahead.” I crossed my arms and watched him drilling me with his full of fury stare.
“You heard my conversation with Mr. Morgan, didn’t you?”
“It was hard to not hear it.”
“It’s not my fault his marriage didn’t work. Or are you going to put salt in my coffee every time you hear my client doesn’t want to live with his wife anymore? If so, you’d better find a different job, because I’m a specialist in failed marriages. People rarely come here with good news.”
“Well, good news vary. Good news for Mr. Morgan means leaving his wife on the street and making her compensate for not being a perfect wife for him. But it doesn’t look like he’s been a perfect husband for her either. You can’t promise him you’ll make her apologize for not meeting his stupid expectations.”
Leonel swore aloud and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “My clients pay me well, Olivia. They want to be pleased with my job. Don’t you understand? I do what they want me to do. I say what they want me to say.”
“Do you always want to do what they want you to do or say what they want you to say?”
“No. But it’s my job. And your job here is to make sure there’s enough sugar in my coffee. You will be well-paid for it.”
“Do you always pay women for pleasing you? Or are there those who please you for free?” It was a personal question, and I knew he wouldn’t like it. So what? Unlike his previous assistants, I wasn’t here to please him. At least not in the way they did.
He smirked and gave my lips a long, intentional look. “I don’t need to pay them for pleasing me. They do it willingly. But…” He put one finger under my chin and lowered his head. “If you want me to pay you for the extra…work, I’ll gladly watch you please me, Liv. Because making coffee is obviously not your major. Maybe there are other talents that you could surprise me with…”
My heartbeat accelerated. I desperately wanted to slap him and needed all of my self-control to suppress that impulse.
“Maybe…” I said, pretending his closeness didn’t bother me. “But I’d better spill another cup of coffee on your pants than become your next toy.”
“My next toy…” He slowly repeated the words as if he was tasting them. “I like that sound of that.” Then he put down his hand and stepped back, but his eyes stayed locked with mine. I swear I could see the desire in them – the something he was never supposed to feel for me. Because I wasn’t here for a game. Or maybe it was a game, but he was in no charge to set the rules.
He walked back to his desk and said, “Make sure next time you enter my office, your visit is more pleasurable than this one.”
Screw you.
“I’ll remember it, sir.”
“Oh, and one more thing, Liv – you are going to the court with me.”
“I don’t remember letting you call me Liv.”
“It suits you. It sounds almost like ‘Luv’. But I don’t think you want the other employees to hear me calling you ‘Luv’. So I’ll stick to Liv.”
“Whatever. Wait, why do you want me to go to the court with you?
“You don’t want to make coffee for the rest of your life, do you? With your diploma, you could become a great specialist in family law.”
I couldn’t argue with that. It had been my dream since a couple of years ago, when I received my diploma and got my very first job as a supermarket manager, which was so far away from what I always wanted to do. And I wanted to help people rescue what Mr. Cohen broke so easily. I chose family law not because I wanted to be like Leonel. I wanted to help couples see the roots of their problems and help them resolve them without courts. Of course I realized I wouldn’t be able to save all the marriages. Mom once told me I should have become a therapist, but not a lawyer. Because I always put too many emotions in everything I was doing. Maybe she right after all, and I did need to learn how to control my emotions, because chances were high they would ruin everything, including my work for Leonel.
“You read my files?” I was honestly surprised he wanted to read what was written in them.
“Of course, I did. I wanted to know more about you. Too bad your files didn’t say a word about how good you can please your boss.”
“It’s because pleasing you the way you mean it has never been in the list of my to-do things here.”
“Maybe we should re-write it, then?”
Of all the things I managed to learn about Leonel Cohen, ignoring his dirty comments seemed to irritate him the most.
“Okay. I’ll go with you,” finally I said.
“Good. At least this time, I said something that didn’t make you hate me even more.” He smiled and opened his laptop.
Don’t rush to conclusions, Leo. Hating you is what keeps me here.
Pretending I didn’t hear what he said, I turned to the door and left the office, thinking frantically of everything that might go wrong in court. I didn’t want to witness another woman being humiliated by my boss.
But it turned out he took me with him to show me a different side of a marriage. The one that I never thought about when putting salt into his coffee or asking him about the emotional side of his cases. This time, he showed me marriage could be a carefully thought-out plan, and the husband was not the one who planned it.
Chapter 4
“Your honor, I’ve got another piece of evidence proving that my client has been used to beneficate Mrs. Simons future.” Leonel took an envelope from his table and gave it to the judge. “A couple of weeks ago, when Mr. Simons went on a business trip to London, his wife – Mrs. Simons had a very interesting meeting with her lawyer. According to the pictures that I gave you, they met in a house that Mrs. Simons bought a couple of weeks ago.”
The woman’s face turned red from anger.
Her husband gave her a suspicious look. “But you said you were visiting your brother.”
Leonel smiled sarcastically. “Hardly. The cost of the house was twice as much as what your wife wanted to get after the divorce. Which means she would be three times richer than you after the divorce case was over.”
I felt sorry for Mr. Simons. According to the things I knew about his marriage, he was a good man. He married his wife because he loved her. Unfortunately, it didn’t go both ways.
“Thank you for your speech, Mr. Cohen,” the judge said. “I will announce my decision in fifteen minutes.” Everyone in the courtroom stood up, watching the judge leave.
I knew he would make a decision in Mr. Simon’s favor. The man deserved it.
I looked at Leonel and he smiled at me. A part of me was glad I was wrong about his intentions as a lawyer. He did his job very well and helped his client become a winner. Unlike my sister and her daughter, whom he left without a blink of an eye. Did he ever want to see them again? At least to make sure that they were all right. No one knew the answer to that question, except for Leonel of course.
After a short break, the judge returned and announced his decision, and Leonel and I went back to the office.
“Have you ordered dinner for my father and me?”
We were in the back seat of his car driven by the man whose name was Colin. From what I’d read in Madison’s files, Leonel hated traffic jams and preferred sitting in the back seat and working instead of staring into his phone while waiting for the cars to start moving again.
“I have.” I knew my choice of food would most like upset him. A part of me was about to cancel my order, when the other part was still on the revenge side of the road.
“Good.” He nodded and gave me a piece of folded paper.
“What’s that?”
“The address of the place I want you to be tonight.”
I gave him a questioning look, waiting for an explanation.
“I won’t give away the details; you will see everything with your own eyes. Just be there by seven in the
evening. Put on something subtle.”
“Do you want me to spy on someone?”
“No. And yes.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I need you to take a few pictures of what you will see there.”
“So you want me to spy on someone after all.”
“Call it whatever you want. But you will like what you’ll see.” He winked at me.
“If you say so…”
He leaned closer to my face and said quietly so only I could hear him, “If I say you’re gonna love it, you will love it, no matter what it is.”
I turned my head and found his face very close to mine. Our lips were on the same level and I felt a little uncomfortable, like I suddenly wanted to stop the car and get out to breathe some fresh air, because the air inside the car felt too heavy to take a breath.
“No doubt.” I tried to play it cool, hoping he didn’t see my nervousness.
The look in his eyes was playful, and I knew I was walking a dangerous ground with him. But it was too late to change anything. I was stuck with him for the next couple of weeks, after which, everything would be over and I would leave his law firm, holding my head as high as possible. Maybe...
By the time we arrived to the office, it was almost three in the afternoon, and Mr. Cohen’s father was about to arrive any second.
I was in the waiting room, checking the food order that was just delivered. “Thank you. Keep the change,” I said to the delivery guy. He looked pleased to get a tip. He quickly showed the money into his pocket, packed his bag and left.
I opened one of the containers and smiled devilishly at the view of the Chinese food. “Your favorite,” I muttered, thinking about Leonel’s reaction to my choice. He was gonna be mad at me again. But I couldn’t care less.
Next moment, the door opened and an older version of my boss walked in.
Mr. Cohen was wearing a dark-blue cashmere sweater and matching jeans, which made him look younger than his age.
“Good afternoon, sir,” I greeted him.
“Miss Lambert.”
I was surprised he knew my name.
“Molly told me about you,” he said. “And I can see that she was right….”
Curious, I asked, “What did she tell you about me?”
He looked at the container with the Chinese food and chuckled. “That my son is in good hands now.”
I pursed my lips, trying to hide my smile. I didn’t want him to know I ordered the meal with the damn chopsticks on purpose.
“He sure is,” I said, trying to be as polite as possible.
“Hope my part of this dinner consists of something more traditional.”
“Will beef and broccoli do?”
“Perfect.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Mr. Cohen seemed to be a good man. Unlike his famous son.
“Give us a few minutes to talk,” he said, heading to Leonel’s office. “Then you can bring your surprise.” He winked at me, reminding me of the same gesture his son graced me with so often.
An unintentional smile moved my lips. Bella had a great granddad. Even without knowing much about him, I knew he would make a prefect grandfather for her. One day. Maybe…Or maybe not, if I decided the rest of Leonel’s family didn’t deserve to meet Bella. I wanted nothing less than the best for her. If that meant I would need to step over my pride and let them meet her, so it would be.
But… How do I step over my hate for Leonel?
***
Leo
“Dad.” I stood up to give the old man a hug. I knew he trusted me with his life-work, otherwise he would never let me head his firm. As well as I knew how much he liked reminding me it was his darling, and that I needed to be very careful with the clients I agreed to work with.
“Good to see you, son. It’s been almost two weeks that you came to visit us. Mom’s missing you.”
“I know and I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for me. Tell her I’ll stop by next Sunday.”
“I hope by crazy you don’t mean your new assistant. She seems to be a very nice girl.”
Yeah, right. A devil in a skirt would suit her better than a nice girl.
“She’s a lawyer too. That’s why I let her stay. I want her to see the whole thing from the inside.”
“Great idea.” He sat down at the oval table next to the floor-length window and gave me a thoughtful look. “Molly called me last night…”
I rolled my eyes. “I knew she would do it behind my back.”
“Don’t worry; she didn’t say anything bad about you. On the contrary – she said she isn’t worried about you as long as Olivia keeps an eye on you.”
I chuckled. “Keeps an eye on me? I guess she deserves a thank you for doing it.”
“A thank you very much I would say. We both know how much of a pain in the ass you can be at times.”
“Trust me, Dad, that makes two of us.” I pointed between the door to the waiting room and myself. Olivia was a pain too. And the worst part was that I liked it. A lot more than it was legal, considering she was my employee and I didn’t have a right to touch her. Not to mention doing other things with her that had crossed my head many times since the very first time I saw her walk into my office and make my pants get wet because of her.
“Tell me, how are things with Mr. Morgan’s case going?”
The man used to be one of my father’s clients. His first divorce wasn’t much different from the one I was working on now. Only this time, things were about to turn against him.
“Olivia’s going to get the last part of this puzzle.”
“What do you mean?”
“I knew something was wrong about his abrupt decision to divorce Cynthia. I met her once, and I liked her. She’s a good woman; very kind-hearted and she loves her husband. But he doesn’t deserve her, as well as everything that he wants to get after the divorce.”
“What do you know about him?”
“For now – nothing interesting. But like I said – Olivia’s going to help me deal with him.”
“Careful son, men like Morgan don’t forgive traitors.”
“I’m not a traitor, Dad. I’m his lawyer. And I’m here to make justice win.”
“As well as make Morgan lose?”
I smiled. “Justice always wins. I can’t help it.”
Dad shook his head, knowing I was after something dangerous.
“I’m your son, remember? You taught me to play fair. I can’t say I always follow this rule. But this case is different. And I’m gonna follow your advice and do what should be done.”
“Does Miss Lambert have anything to do with your sudden decision to play a fair game?”
I hesitated with my response. I walked to the window and looked at the city view opening in front of me. “Maybe. You know… She asked if I ever cared about the reasons that made people come to me. Honestly, I never gave it a thought until the moment she asked that question. I always believed I was good at what I was doing. And then she made me look at it from a different point of view.”
“And?”
“And I think she’s right – I need to pay more attention to the problem of a marriage and then to the way of how to resolve it.”
My father smiled and nodded approvingly as if it was the first time that he realized I was worth taking his place in the firm. “Good words, son. I’m glad you’ve finally learned how to look beneath the surface.”
Olivia knocked at the door and said, “Excuse me, gentlemen. Are you ready to have a break?”
“Sure,” dad said. “I’m starving. Can’t wait to see what you’ve prepared for us.”
Was it just me or did he really sound weird?
Liv smiled at him and I swear something inside my chest melted. God, she was attractive and smart and impossible – all in one. I liked the mixture of it more than any other challenge I had ever faced in my life.
I knew she was happy about the outcome of today’s hearing. Not that I wanted to pr
ove it to her that I wasn’t a careless pig after all, but I was glad I managed to show her a different side of my work. Where not only women got hurt in the end.
She returned a few minutes later, with a tray in her hands. There were two plates on it. She gave one to my father, and the other one – to me.
“Thank you,” I said before I looked down and saw what was on my plate. “What’s that?” I knew the answer even before she said it out loud.
“Kung Pao chicken.”
I hated chili sauce and fried peanuts, not to mention the combination of two. But she didn’t know it, right?
“Looks…delicious.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father’s grin. He knew how much I hated Chinese food, and Olivia had to order this meal in particular.
“She’s a treasure, isn’t she?” Dad said, chewing a piece of his beef.
“She sure is.” I looked at the chopsticks and then at Liv.
“Did I do something wrong?” She asked innocently.
“No.” I forced a smile. “Bring me a glass of water please.” Which is going to be my only meal for now.
As soon as she left, dad asked, “Do you want me to share my portion with you? I won’t eat that much by myself.”
“No, thank you. I’ll wait for my next meal.”
“If it’s gonna be ordered by Olivia, I wouldn’t hope for a better choice.”
“It’s my fault actually. I told her I eat everything that comes to my plate.” And I would gladly eat her for dinner. Too bad she was not on the menu.
Olivia returned with a glass of water and put it next to my plate. “You didn’t eat anything. Don’t you like Chinese food?”
“Um…I do. I just didn’t get a chance to try what you’ve ordered, yet. I’ve been telling my father about today’s hearing.”
“Oh, okay. Eat well then. Let me know if you need anything else. I also ordered honey tea to help you relax after the hearing.” She walked to the door and I couldn’t take my eyes off her, no matter how much I hated everything that meant having a honey aftertaste in my mouth. Though if someone put it all over her, I would gladly lick every damn drop of it and ask for more.
