When I Saw You

by Laura Branchflower

  “Wow.” Joseph smiled slightly as he shook his head. “You think you’ve got this figured out, don’t you?” He turned from Tony and walked across the office.

  “Yes. I do.” Tony’s gaze followed his movement to the window. “How many times, Joseph? How many times have you used information from our clients—insider information—to line your own pockets?”

  “I’m not even going to dignify that question with a response.”

  “You’d better, because I’m close to turning you in to the SEC.”

  “Really?” Joseph turned from the window, his eyebrows raised, his jaw clenched.

  “Yes.” Tony gave an exaggerated nod of his head. “Did you give any thought to the other people at this firm when you decided to break the law?” His face was red and his lips were turned down. “Did you consider that you were jeopardizing this entire practice?”

  “I think you’re being a bit melodramatic.”

  “Damn it, this is serious! You used insider information to make a profit on the market—information you were privy to because of your association with this firm. If the SEC starts investigating, they’ll figure it out and then we’ll be no better than Zurtech. No one in the city will hire us.”

  “They weren’t clients of this firm. The records aren’t even here. There’s absolutely no proof.”

  “Except for the word of the women that came in here seeking our service! Jesus, does Lia have any idea what you did?”

  “You’re blowing this whole thing out of proportion.” Joseph crossed the room to stand in front of Tony. “I told them there was no case. That a jury would not award them any money. And that was the truth. Then I conducted an investigation of my own, an investigation that cost me over a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  “Stop pretending that what you did wasn’t illegal,” Tony said through clenched teeth. “You broke the law. You broke the law using that computer.” He pointed to the computer on Joseph’s desk. “In this office.”

  “The information was available to the general public. Anyone could have uncovered this information if they watched the house.”

  “Anyone who knew to watch the house! Anyone who attended the staff meeting where we discussed the case—”

  “That’s not—”

  “Save it! We both know the law and the truth.”

  Joseph sighed. “I’ll stop arguing with you about it, but it doesn’t mean I agree.”

  Tony glared at him for several silent moments. “You may have almost a billion dollars, and it may be worth jeopardizing the reputation of this entire firm so you can make whatever the hell you made, but what about the rest of us? Huh?” He took a couple steps forward until he was inches from Joseph. “I’ve put everything I have into this place. Everything! And I need my draw. I count on it, as do the other partners who work their asses off for this place! And then there’s you,” he spit out, poking Joseph in the center of the chest. “You used this firm. You used me. Hell, you even used Lia to make a quick buck.” As he spoke, getting angrier at each word, he moved still closer to Joseph, who backed up until his thighs came into contact with his desk. “And all I want to know now is why. Eight hundred million isn’t enough? How much is going to be enough? And how many of our clients did you use? How many times over the past six years have you used insider information?”

  “None!” Joseph stepped sideways to remove himself from the small space between Tony and his desk. “I’ve never used information gained from our clients to make stock picks.”

  Tony turned to face him. “You just did.”

  “No.” Joseph shook his head. “We’re not in total agreement over that point, but I assure you, I’ve never used information gained from our clients to make money on the market.”

  “Of course we may not be in total agreement on that point.”

  “Tony, come on,” Joseph said. “I have a record of every stock I’ve ever purchased. If you don’t believe me, you can—”

  “I want you out of here. I want to dissolve this partnership. I can’t—I won’t work with someone I don’t trust.”

  Joseph’s eyes opened wider. “Tony?” He reached out, but Tony moved back before he could touch him. “You can’t mean this. We’ve been friends for—”

  “You’re not my friend. My friend wouldn’t jeopardize this firm for his own personal gain. My friend wouldn’t look me in the eyes and lie to me. The person I thought was my friend is the person Kevin Stuart has been describing for years, only I didn’t believe—didn’t want to believe the truth. I don’t know you, Joseph.” He pushed past him and walked towards the door.

  “Tony! Don’t walk out of here!”

  “We’re done.”

  “What’s going on in there?” Kevin asked as Tony passed him, coming out of the office. “What in the hell is all the yelling about?”

  “Nothing,” Tony snapped, continuing down the hall.

  “Hi.” A light knock on Joseph’s office door preceded Lia’s entrance thirty minutes later. “Are you sleeping?” she asked when she saw him stretched out on the couch.

  “No.” Joseph pushed himself up on his elbows. “I was just resting.”

  “Long day?”

  “Yeah. Are you ready to go?” He threw his legs over the side of the couch and sat up, running a hand through his already tousled hair.

  “Yes. I’m starved. I missed lunch.” She followed him towards his desk and watched as he sorted through a stack of messages. “I ran into Tony downstairs.”

  “Oh?”

  “He almost walked right past me without saying a word. I think he would have if I hadn’t stepped in front of him. He seemed upset.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “He barely acknowledged me. He said hello and that was it. He never even stopped walking.”

  “He was probably distracted about a case.”

  “I guess. Are you ready?”

  He placed the messages back on his desk. “Yes, let’s go.”

  “Did you see the paper today?” Lia asked as they entered Joseph’s condo hours later, recalling something she’d heard earlier on the radio. “It looks like Stan Hall’s brother will be indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering or something like that.”

  “Extortion and money laundering,” Joseph said as they walked into the family room. “And yes, I saw the paper. It should be around here somewhere. I read it before going off to court this morning.” He glanced around the spotless room. “It must be in the kitchen or study.”

  “It’s amazing how quickly everything’s unraveling.” Lia sat down on the couch, curling her legs up beneath her.

  In the days since the media began reporting the Zurtech story, Stan Hall had resigned, several CEOs had admitted to being blackmailed, several female Zurtech employees already had lawyers filing motions against Zurtech, and a financial officer of Tia Tacos had come forward to say he personally saw Stan Hall bring large sums of cash to the office for deposit into Tia Tacos’ bank accounts. He said that when he asked Mike Hall, Stan’s brother, where the money came from, he was told it came from trucks, but he knew it wasn’t the truth. When the story broke, he immediately called the police, not wanting anyone to think he was involved in money laundering.

  As the nation and the world watched, seemingly mesmerized by the soap opera like plot, the story of the blackmail scheme slowly unfolded, reading more like a fiction novel than an actual news story as new details made the front pages of papers worldwide.

  “Eric Nettles made today’s paper,” Joseph said as he joined her on the couch. “Someone in the FBI leaked out the names of the men on the tapes.”

  Lia sprang up. “I want to see it.”

  Joseph’s lips turned up. “I thought you didn’t want revenge.”

  “I don’t. But if he’s in the paper being exposed for the jerk he is, I can’t help but take enjoyment in that fact. Where did you say the paper was?”

  “In the kitchen or my study. I’m goi
ng to take a shower while you get your enjoyment, okay?”

  “Maybe I’ll meet you there.” A few minutes later she closed the front section of the newspaper and set it on Joseph’s desk. She’d never considered herself vindictive, but knowing Eric Nettles didn’t get off scot-free—that he’d actually experienced a degree of humiliation like many of his victims—felt, well, good.

  She was about to leave Joseph’s office and join him in the shower when she noticed a few sheets of paper on the floor to the left of the desk. She reached down and picked them up, her eyes automatically scanning the contents of the top sheet. It was a confirmation report from his brokerage firm, detailing stock activity from the week prior.

  She placed it on the center of his desk and pushed back her chair, intending to leave the room, when she reached out and picked up the sheet again, her unconscious mind catching something on the first glance that her conscious mind missed. Zurtech! He’d conducted some type of transaction with Zurtech stock. Either buying or selling, but with her limited knowledge of the stock market and even more limited experience interpreting broker transaction reports, she couldn’t figure out what he’d done.

  She’d ask him, she decided, standing up. And then, as she walked towards the door, she noticed the secret panel leading to his hidden room of files was open.

  “I thought you were going to join me,” Joseph said when he came out of his bathroom, freshly showered with a towel wrapped loosely around his waist.

  “What did you do?” Lia’s voice was barely a whisper as her eyes met his. “Were you using me all along?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Tony’s upset, you can’t listen to him.”

  “Tony? Was he involved in this too?”

  “What are we talking about here?” He lowered himself beside her on the bed, his narrowed eyes meeting hers.

  “I’m talking about what you did.”

  “What I did? Why don’t you tell me what you think I did?”

  “I…” She couldn’t believe it. She felt completely numb.

  “You what?” Joseph took her hand. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “I went through the Zurtech file. I know everything.” Her eyes met his. “Everything.”

  “Lia, you don’t understand.”

  “You’re right.” A few tears escaped her eyes. “I don’t understand how someone can use someone else’s pain, someone else’s humiliation, for their own financial gain.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “Yes, you did. It’s in the file. And it’s dated. Back in December, after your meeting with Claudia, before we ever even met, you have notes about how far you thought the stock would fall when the news was released. You—you planned this before you ever met me.”

  “That’s right.” Joseph gripped her upper arms and turned her to face him. “I planned it before I ever met you, but I fell in love with you. I am in love with you.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” She frowned through her tears.

  “A lot. I didn’t know I was going to fall in love with you when I came up with the plan.”

  “So?”

  “So I never used you.”

  “Oh, okay. So it’s okay to use innocent women as long as you’re not in love with them, and if you are in love with them it’s not using them because you are in love with them?” She was infuriated with the sheer absurdity of his argument. “Are you even listening to yourself?”

  “Yes, but you’re obviously not. My plan was not to use innocent women. Claudia was a prostitute. There was no way in hell a jury was going to award her one cent. And if she went to the police, Hall’s operation was so clever they wouldn’t have been able to prove anything. It would have ended up in the news—like it is now, except your name would have been attached to it. And Hall would have covered everything up and nothing would have happened. Your reputation would be soiled, and he would have gotten away with it.”

  “Oh, so you were doing us a favor by exposing the operation and making yourself a huge profit on the stock market in the process.”

  “That’s right. I exposed Zurtech and Stan Hall for what they were, exactly like you wanted. And instead of receiving payment from you and the other women involved, I extracted my own.”

  Lia stared at him in silence, trying to understand how he could believe there was nothing wrong with what he’d done. “How much?”

  “How much what?”

  “How much money did you make? How much pay did you manage to extract?”

  “I only made about twenty million from Zurtech.”

  “But that wasn’t all you made, was it? You were making money on other companies too, right?” She hadn’t read it in the file, but she recognized the names of other companies on the transaction report in his office.

  “My investments were risky and speculative. I sold short in the hopes that some of the CEOs would be mentioned, and I also bought heavily in a small electronics company that had been competing with Zurtech for a large contract. I was hoping they’d get the contract because of Zurtech’s negative publicity, and I was right.”

  “So, how much?” Lia repeated. “How much money did you make?”

  “I don’t know exactly. I haven’t computed everything. And I still own over twenty-five percent of this electronics company, so I wouldn’t be able to cash it in, even if I wanted to, without seriously bringing down the value of the stock.”

  “Approximately, Joseph. How much?”

  “Three hundred million.” He continued meeting her eyes. “Approximately.”

  She felt like the wind was sucked out of her lungs, never having imagined the amount could be so high. No wonder he’d been so upset when the story wasn’t immediately released. “And here I thought you were trying to get back at the men who humiliated your fiancée. How naïve you must have thought me.”

  “I was. That was a big part of—”

  “Stop lying to me. Hasn’t there already been enough of that?”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Yes, you are.” She stood and walked towards the bedroom door.

  “Where are you going? Lia, don’t be this way. Don’t make a bigger deal out of this than it is.”

  “I’m not, Joseph.” She turned back to him. “I don’t know who you are anymore. The person I thought you were wouldn’t be capable of something like this.” She turned and left the room.

  “Wait!” Joseph followed her down the stairs and into the family room. “Lia, please, let me explain.”

  “Explain what?” She picked up her purse. “How money is more important to you than me?”

  “That isn’t true.” He touched her arm. “Don’t leave. Let’s talk this out.”

  “There’s nothing left to say. The file speaks for itself.”

  “Lia, this has nothing to do with you. I swear, I never would have done this if I knew you’d interpret it this way. Please, please sit down and let me explain.”

  She knew she should leave, because there was no way he could make her understand, but she wanted to believe him. To believe he was the man she thought he was, because anything less meant it was over, and that thought was beyond comprehension.

  She let him pull her down onto the couch beside him and did her best not to cry as she looked at his handsome face, strands of wet hair falling over his forehead. He was still naked except for the towel at his waist, and her eyes moved to the large expanse of his chest. She wanted to touch him, suddenly needing to feel the reassurance of his touch. Or maybe she knew it might be over, and she wanted to make love to him one more time before letting the realization sink in. Because she loved him—at least the man she thought him to be. And if that wasn’t who he was, she surely could wait another few hours to find out.

  “Just listen to me for a second.”

  “I don’t want to talk,” she whispered. “I want to go to bed.” She didn’t want to leave him tonight, and she was afraid if he explained, she’d have to.

  It took him a few moment
s to change gears and comprehend what she was saying. “I thought you wanted to talk.”

  “We can talk later.” She touched his leg. “I want to go to bed.”

  “Why?” He frowned.

  “Make love to me, Joseph.”

  It was bright outside when Joseph awoke. “Lia?”

  “I’m here.” Her light voice came from the leather couch across the room, where she was sitting fully clothed, her knees drawn up against her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

  “Come here.” He patted the bed.

  “No. I’m ready to talk now.”

  “We can talk in bed.”

  “No, Joseph.”

  “May I at least have a cup of coffee first?”

  “The kitchen’s probably a better place to talk anyway.”

  “You betrayed me,” she said when they were sitting across from each other in his kitchen. “After what I’ve been through with Ned and Eric, I thought you understood how important honesty was to me.” She’d been up for hours, and she knew there was nothing he could say to undo the truth. He had lied and manipulated her so he could make money. It was like some kind of nightmare she was never going to wake up from.

  “I didn’t exactly lie to you.”

  “Yes, you did. You’ve been lying to me since the first time we met. You told me we might have a case and the whole time you knew we didn’t. You wanted to gather the information necessary to carry out your already well-conceived plan—damaging Zurtech’s reputation and therefore their stock price.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I told you from the beginning you shouldn’t go to court. That Zurtech’s attorneys would destroy your reputation. I said that from the beginning.”

  “Okay, maybe.” She couldn’t recall their discussion as clearly as he obviously could. “But I distinctly remember you saying that they might settle—that I might receive money.”

  “Right. And do you recall what you said?” When she didn’t respond after several seconds, he continued.“You said you didn’t care about compensation. You wanted them to pay for what they’d done to you. You wanted Zurtech and Stan Hall to be exposed, and that’s what I did, Lia. I exposed them.”