Page 78 of Defended By Love

“Are you trying to make me believe that you didn’t research me before infiltrating my domain?” He walks to the far wall and runs his hand along an antique musket—his finger lingering on the trigger. He’s right. I did. I scraped the bottom of every barrel to find out about Reinhold Cragg, Hart Link Incorporated’s chief lawyer who, as far as I can ascertain, has never seen the inside of a courtroom. “Tell me, have we met before?”

A simple question without a simple answer.

“Have you heard of Felton & Nichols?”

Reinhold pauses, his pinky suspended a breath away from the musket. Slowly, he turns, taking off his fedora to unleash the full force of his impossibly light blue eyes on me. The effect is chilling, which just emboldens me to square my shoulders and stare right back with the look my opponent have deemed to be vulture-esque.

Their flattery did nothing to soften my assault against them.

“Are you the little tick that’s been seeking to burrow itself in our side?”

“Tick? Is that what you’ve been calling me?”

“Expecting something stronger?”

Truthfully, I don’t know if I was expecting anything. Being on Hart Link Incorporated’s radar is probably the highest praise I’ve ever received in my life. Getting noticed is the first step in getting under someone’s skin—and getting under someone’s skin is the first step in winning.

“Can we cut to the chase?” I take a couple steps to my right towards the windowed wall. I hope the sun is shining past me, stabbing at his eyes. I want him to associate looking at me with pain.

Reinhold doesn’t even squint.

“In a hurry?”

I suppress a smile. That I most certainly am not. My day is wide open and never ending.

“Can you tell me anything about the DFO reports about the marine life population around your shores?”

He takes a step towards me. I take a step back. The wall of glass is behind me, but he still doesn’t squint. His white-blue eyes stare back at me, unblinking and intense. Even though he’s the very picture of restraint, there’s a distinct rabid dog aura about him.

He takes another step towards me. Every movement about him reminds me that we’re on his turf and he’s completely unleashed. I take another step back towards the windows.

“And why would I volunteer any information to someone who’s looking into us? Or did you not think we’d have systems in place to alert us when the leeches get hungry?” He takes another step towards me. His foot lands silently despite the hard ground. It’s the kind of practiced footfall best suited for hitmen in the dead of the night.

Certainly not for lawyers like me who live for being heard. Being heard is the most important part about arguing. Another crucial step towards winning.

Not that it feels like I’m winning now.

No, right now it feels like I’m being backed towards the windows at the top of a cliff. It feels like I’m staring down a man who has an untraceable black hole in his history where no one knows what he was doing. It feels like I’m staring down Zagreus Hart’s right-hand man, his lawyer who has never seen the inside of a courtroom. It feels like I’m staring down a predator.

So, I stare right back.

“Are you saying that there’s information to be uncovered about your environmental practices?” I counter.

The corner of Reinhold’s mouth twitches. The scar that runs from his lower lip to chin dances for just a second before being buried in its expressionless grave. But I’m not watching his scar.

I’m watching his eyes.

Those creepy, piercing, unwavering eyes flicker. For the briefest of heartbeats, they twitch towards the painting above the musket he was fondling earlier.

I smother the urge to smile. Everyone has a tell.

I just pray he hasn’t seen mine.

Reinhold takes another, silent step towards me. I back up, now just inches away from the window. A panic rises in my throat even though I know it doesn’t have merit. My survival instincts know that behind me is a plummet to my certain death and in front of me is a man who most definitely knows the exact sound of a snapped neck.

“Everything you need to know about Hart Link Incorporated’s environmental policies is in our Mission Statement, or have you not read that?”

I have. It’s an over-the-top hyperbolic manifesto that overflows with as much bullshit as it does platitudes. It says that the environment is Zagreus Hart’s number one concern. It even says that he will save the world at any cost.

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