Page 57 of Cocky Counsel

“Am I fired?” Eva asked suddenly, looking up at Regina with tears in her eyes.

“No, you’re not fired.” She shook her head then sighed. “While this breaks numerous rules in our handbook, I have no reason to fire you. I will have to speak with the board of directors and there may be disciplinary action, however, I won’t know what that is until I meet with them.”

“So, everyone is going to know that we’ve been sleeping together. At work. Outside of work.” Her voice trailed off as she turned to look at the wall.

I reached over to grab her hand before she jerked it away from me. I couldn’t blame her for being upset over this. I was just as furious and embarrassed about it, but I never meant for her to have her reputation on the line as a result.

“Can either of you remember any times in which you left your office unattended, or your computer unlocked? If we can narrow down the window, it will help us to gather all of the facts before this goes any further.”

“I think I know exactly when it happened,” Eva muttered, turning back to look at Regina.

“Okay,” Regina urged her to continue.

“After that happened,” she nodded to the paper on the desk with our chat. “I went to the bathroom to freshen up. I hadn’t bothered to lock my computer or close my door since I was going to be quick. When I got back to my office, Kate was standing next to my printer. She claimed that sometimes the network messed up and that her report was sent to my printer. I didn’t think anything about it until now.”

I tried to think back to that day and whether or not I had seen Kate in her office, but I was drawing a blank. Perhaps it happened when I had made a quick trip to the bathroom myself.

“Thank you for the information, I will look into this and let you know what we find,” Regina said as she wrote the information down.

“Do you need anything else from us or are we good to wrap this up and keep a shred of our dignity intact?” I asked sarcastically, already feeling beyond drained from this meeting.

“I think that’s all I need for now. Since we have an idea of when Kate had access to the chat message, I don’t see any reason that we need the details of any other situations that may have occurred during office hours. But in the meantime, try to keep your distance from one another while you’re on the clock.”

We nodded in agreement before standing up to leave. I wanted to grab Eva and take her somewhere private to talk about what had just happened, but that would immediately be going against what Regina just asked us not to do.

“By the way,” Eva said, stopping at the door. “What’s going to happen with Kate? Will she still be our assistant?”

“No,” Regina sighed heavily. “Effective immediately, she’s been reassigned to another lawyer in the firm. I will start looking for a replacement for you guys as soon as possible.”

“I’m sure I’m not the most reliable or credible person right now, given everything that has happened, but I might know someone who is interested and can start right away.” She glanced back at me nervously.

“I still think highly of you, Eva,” Regina assured her. “Who is it?”

“My sister, Lucia. She currently works as a receptionist at the hospital and needs a better job with set hours so she can take care of her son, Jackson.”

I felt the vein in my head throb as I listened, wondering what in the hell she was doing. Why hadn’t she talked to me about this before bringing it up to Regina?

“Do you think that you and your sister could work together without letting your personal life get in the way?” I asked her, ignoring the look that I got from Regina.

“I work with you don’t I?” she said curtly before turning and walking away.

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