Page 107 of Defended By Love

He hands me the envelope.

I don’t look inside. Not yet.

“You just decided to do the right thing, out of the generosity of your own heart, at personal cost for no reason?” I ask.

Reinhold clucks his tongue. “Mr. Hart decided to. I advised against it since this leaves our company in a slightly more vulnerable position, legally speaking.”

At least he’s honest.

“How benevolent.”

Reinhold considers this. “Yes and no. It is very important to Mr. Hart that the right sort of law firms succeed. Yours, he believes is the right kind. I’ll have you know that I provided personal testimony of your thoroughness.”

“I’m touched.”

Despite the fact that I said that with all the venom I could muster, I am. After I quit, Beth followed suit, along with a couple more lawyers who thought Felton & Nichols had strayed a little too far from our mission. We’ve only just got up and running and this donation, whatever it is, will certainly help.

Still, there has to be a catch.

“Have you fixed your time-displacement problem?”

Again, Reinhold goes still. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean by ‘time-displacement’.” His face is serious, like he didn’t just tell me about it a minute ago. “However, I can say that there are no current…bugs with any of our technology.”

“Was that what happened to Grant and I? A bug in your Research and Development?”

I don’t expect an answer, so I’m surprised when Reinhold leans forward and answers. “Your situation, Miss Cox, was a switch flicked to the wrong setting. An easily avoidable human error that was incredibly easy to make.”

His voice is light, but there’s no mistaking the threat that lurks in its undertones.

“Why are you telling us all this?”

Reinhold pulls out more documents from his briefcase and slides one apiece towards us. Even at a glance, I can see them for what they are: Non-disclosure agreements.

“You want us to sign an NDA?”

“Mr. Hart would prefer that you do. He does enjoy loose ends to be adequately snipped.”

I start reading, but immediately have to start re-reading it. This is the most iron-clad, restrictive agreement I’ve ever seen. If we sign, we’d be agreeing to not talk about not only Hart Link’s role in our time loop, but anything at all. We couldn’t mention a single thing that ever happened.

“We’re not signing this.”

Reinhold shrugs, a casual, dangerous gesture. “Mr. Hart would prefer that you do.”

“And you?” I ask. As a lawyer, getting people to sign contracts is tantamount to winning.

“Personally, I don’t care.”

“Why’s that?”

For the first time, Reinhold smiles and it reaches his eyes. It is singlehandedly the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. Whatever brings him genuine joy, strikes fear deep into my soul.

“You must have realized by now that I am entirely devoted to Mr. Hart and far less scrupulous than he.”

“I have,” I answer, feeling the threat choke the air around us.

“So you’ll know that I don’t give a fuck if you sign or not because I realize that a smart girl like you will understand why it is you won’t say a word by the time I walk out of here.”

Without another word, he stands, nods and leaves. As he’s walking out the door. “Send me the signed contracts on Monday.” He looks again at my Monet. “And I think I’ll send you a painting. A gift from me since we’ve become so close.”

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