Page 24 of Indiscretion

Heels click-clacking on the tile made me wish for that masked felon.

“Oh good. You’re still here.” Emily helped herself into my office, leaning on the back of one of my guest chairs.

“What do you want?”

“I’m leaving.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what she was talking about, but I clasped my hands behind my head, elbows out, and leaned back in my chair. “The country, I hope?”

She pursed her lips. “The office. You win. You can have it.”

“What’s the catch?”

“Nothing. I found a new space. It’s bigger and better.”

The greatest mistake of my career had been to get involved with my partner. Emily was a good lawyer, and we’d been good friends. I should never have dipped my pen in the company ink. Looking back, I’d always known she was vindictive. If she lost a trial, opposing counsel became a sworn enemy. When her supposed best friend invited someone other than her to a movie premiere she’d gotten tickets to, she never spoke to her friend offifteen yearsagain. And don’t even get me started on the evil things she did to her dad when she caught him cheating. But with us, I couldn’t understand it. She had nothing to be vindictive about. She was the one who’d done something wrong.

I folded my arms across my chest. “Excellent. When can you be out?”

Emily straightened. “You can at least pretend you’re a little broken up about it.”

“I think we moved past the point of pretending the night I found you bent over my desk getting fucked by my buddy.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get over it.”

“I am. Now I’d like what I’m over to be gone. So I repeat, when can you be out?”

“The movers will be here at the end of the week.”

“Perfect.”

Emily walked to the door, stopped, and looked back over her shoulder. “Oh…and I’m taking the staff, so you’re going to have to find some new people to boss around.”

My brows pulled together. “Who?”

Her lips curved into a wicked smile. “All of them.”

We hadfivepeople working for us currently—an attorney, two paralegals, an office manager, and our receptionist. Lisette, our staff attorney, was Emily’s friend, so I wasn’t surprised that she would jump ship, and Renee had been Emily’s paralegal at the firm we’d both worked at before we became partners. LeeAnn, the receptionist, was relatively new, as was the office manager, but Margaret, my paralegal, had come with me from the previous firm. Hell, she’d been with me since the day I started as an attorney.

“You’re lying. Margaret doesn’t even like you.”

“Maybe not, but she has three mouths to feed. I gave her a big, fat raise. Oh, and I made them all sign an employment contract already, so don’t bother trying to make them a better offer.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

She looked at her nails and smiled again. “I am pretty great, aren’t I?”

“Get the fuck out of my office.”

The bitch blew me a kiss.

***

Four days later, I stood in the lobby of the office on a Saturday afternoon, watching boxes being carried out. Not only had Emily taken all of our staff, but she’d somehow managed to transfer the leased equipment from our joint firm’s name to her new solo one. Now I didn’t have any help, and I also had no photocopier or video-conferencing equipment, and some guy was currently ruining the wall in the reception area by prying off one half of the channel letters that spelled outReed & Miller.

My buddy Ben walked in and almost got run over by two guys carrying out the top of Emily’s desk. He’d only gotten back from his honeymoon yesterday. I hated that I’d welcomed him by unloading on the phone this morning. He held up a bottle of tequila. “I figured you’d need a drinking buddy.”

I shook my head. “If I start with that shit, I might need you to carry me home after the week I’ve had.”

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