Page 138 of Already At Risk
“Mr. Abrams?—”
Mr. Keller attempted to cut in, but Korey turned to him and spat, “This man has been parading around withmyfamily. Takingthem to baseball games, bringing my daughter to alaw firm, babysitting her so Natalie can spend all her fucking time at work, as usual.”
I folded my hands on the table in front of me. “Mr. Abrams, as I know Natalie told you at her brother’s house, I am a friend of the family. I have been for many years. And it is important for me to foster good relationships with my clients, which is all I have been doing.”
“Good relationships,” Korey sputtered, and I could tell from the wild glaze coating his eyes as they swung back to me that he was spiraling.Shit. “You’re fucking my wife, aren’t you?”
No.
I’m fucking your ex-wife, Abrams.
Before I even got a chance to respond to his allegation, Korey looked back to his lawyer, thrust a finger at me, and proclaimed, “He’sfuckingmy wife. Aren’t there some goddamn rules against that?”
Mr. Keller looked increasingly out of his depth, so much so that it might be humorous if I wasn’t counting on him to keep his client in check. “Yes, there are very serious rules about that.” He gave me a pointed look, a raised brow, and I glared back, stony-faced. “If there were to be a confirmed relationship.”
“And there isnot,” I said, my voice dropping like an anvil. “We have established that I am simply a friend of the family. To which there are no rules against.”
“You’re fucking lying,” Korey argued, huffing in a way that was a tad worrying, health-wise.
I shook my head.
I wasn’t lying. Omitting the truth, but whatever. I wasn’t under oath. And hopefully, Keller wouldn’t figure out an avenue to put me under oath.
“There is no proof otherwise, Mr. Abrams,” I said, spreading my hands out as if to welcome any proof—which I knew he didn’t have. “So I suggest you let your jealousy and anger about what you’ve lost go, and let us proceed.”
Okay,fine, so I shouldn’t have provoked him further. But he was making itsovery hard not to.
Korey seemed speechless for a moment, and then there were a few incoherent babbles before he shook his head, putting his foot in the ground. “There’s no way in hell that’s going to happen.”
“Mr. Abrams,” Keller tried again, and this time, he actually managed to get his client’s attention. “Why don’t you have a seat so we can…sort this out?”
A muscle twitched in Korey’s jaw, but he sat, flopping into a chair in a dramatized fashion, as usual. I tried hard to remain expressionless at the entire scene, though it proved to be more of a challenge than I liked to admit.
Sure, my job was on the line here. But ultimately, Korey and I both knew he had no proof that I’d been doing exactly what he accused me of doing. And it was hard not to be at least a little smug about it.
But all of that faded when Keller asked, “What is it that you would like to happen here, Mr. Abrams?”
And Korey gave a flatlined look across the table to say, “I want this asshole thrown off the case.”
My entire body tightened at the thought.
For some reason, I hadn’t expected him to say that, and the idea of not being Natalie’s lawyer anymore, of not pushing through to the end of the case…it felt unfathomable. It could jeopardize the progress I’d made toward becoming partner and the good standing I had in the firm. It could imply guilt, that Ihadbeen carrying on a secret relationship with Natalie. But mostly, it could mean not getting to be the one who stood by her side when we won this thing.
Out of everything, that was the most inconceivable thought. That was what weighed the heaviest on my conscience.
Natalie.
Just,Natalie.
“That would be up to my client to decide,” I said with a shrug, faking nonchalance.
Korey scoffed, irritated, because he knew what Natalie’s response to that would be. And wasn’t that just a little bit satisfying? That he knew she’d pick me?
I tried to control the twitch of my lips.
“Gardner Law has other talented lawyers, and it is within her right to request a new one,” I added. “But that decision is up to her.”
Korey pressed his lips together, folding arms over his chest. And even though he didn’t push it further, I knew I had another reason I needed to call Natalie tonight.
