Page 30 of Fighting for Control

Feline eyes regarded Lola with infinite amusement. Her lips rumpled into something that passed for a smile. “Just going to talk to Heidi,” she replied with all the satisfaction a person could feel. “Am I not allowed outside the office?”

Lola’s blood sang in her ears, the high pitch of a kettle steaming. She tightened her grip, the metal cutting into her palm. “Right now, you need to talk to her? The moment I got up?”

Martina’s smile was acid in Lola’s stomach. “We’re such a busy office, aren’t we? Who has time to sit down?”

Desperately wishing she was Natalia — that she could tell Martina to cut the shit, stop snooping, and get back to work — Lola ground her back teeth. She couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t look bad in an HR complaint.

Anger pushing at the back of her eyes, Lola swung open the door and zipped through it. The soft closing door was too slow to keep Martina from sliding in right behind her. God, if she ever had a say at Dominion, she’d install nice heavy wooden doors that slammed.

Lola took long strides toward the man standing by the elevator in a polo and slacks. “Hi, I’m—”

“Dolores Barros?” he asked, clipboard in one hand and manila envelope in the other.

“Yes, follow me and we can talk in my office,” she replied, satisfied at having come up with a way to avoid Martina hearing her business.

“No need.” He jerked the clipboard into her outstretched hand instead of shaking it. “I’m just a process server. Please sign that you’ve received these documents.”

“Process server?” Lola repeated quietly to herself before looking up at him. “Like for a lawsuit? Who the hell is suing—”

“That’s outside of my pay grade. I just have to make sure I’m delivering it to you. What’s in it is none of my beeswax.”

Unsure of whether she should decline to accept the documents, Lola stared down at the form on his clipboard. “And if I don’t sign?” Lola straightened, holding the man in her coldest glare.

He shrugged, immune to her bitch face. “I can check the box that says you refused to sign, but since I’ve seen you, I can just drop them off here at your established place of business.”

With a sigh, Lola scribbled her name and took the envelope.

“Sued?” Martina laughed, leaning against the receptionist’s desk and making no attempt to hide her open eavesdropping. “I’m sure Natalia is going to love this.”

“Not as much as she’ll love learning that she’s paying you to stalk me and gossip,” Lola snapped. “Should I go tell her that you’ve now wasted…” she looked down at her smartwatch and ignored the signal that her pulse was racing too fast again. “six minutes minding everyone’s business but hers?”

Martina rolled her eyes but slid back to the frosted glass door. It was a hollow victory, since the snake was slithering away with intel to make her look bad.

When she was gone, Lola opened the envelope. At first, the words were an unintelligible jumble on the page. The complaint didn’t look anything like the contracts she was used to reading.

Once she started to piece the words together, her knees weakened and her stomach heaved.Fortune Firestone.Defamation.Lost Wages.Punitive Damages.500 Million Dollars.

500 Million Dollars!

Lola repeated the number in her head. That was such an outrageous amount of money, Lola couldn’t fathom what it meant in any concrete way. This had to be a joke.

Thoughts racing, Lola’s mind turned to Carmen. Had she lured her into a truce just to fuck with her one last time? To get the last laugh? That seemed just like her. Petty and conniving.

“Take messages please,” Lola barked over her shoulder before slamming the elevator call button. If Carmen thought this was funny, she had another thing coming. She should never have trusted her. Never believed that she would leave her alone.

Carmen had probably been planning this in the near month since they’d last seen each other. She’d been lying in wait, hoping to catch Lola off guard. But that wasn’t going to happen. Lola was always on guard. Always waiting for the next attack.

As the elevator descended the few floors to Carmen’s law office, Lola imagined how satisfied she probably was with herself. How pleased. She was probably imagining Lola freaking out. Maybe even calling a lawyer and wasting thousands of dollars on a retainer she didn’t need for a lawsuit that didn’t really exist.

You could have picked a number that wasn’t so outrageous, she said in her imaginary confrontation with Carmen.Maybe I would have fallen for it — just for a second — if you hadn’t thrown out a Monopoly money number that was too comical to be true.

When the elevator parted on Carmen’s floor, Lola was struck by the difference. Her law office was all dark woods and rich furniture where Dominion was sleek and modern and bright.

An idea formed as she moved. Digging her blunt fingernails into her palm, she hoped she could sell it despite the adrenaline coursing through her body.

Plastering on a smile she hoped read as warm and not maniacal, Lola sauntered up to an older woman wearing a headset behind a carved wood reception desk.Law Offices of Bernal, Bernal-Vargas, and Associates, was etched in huge bold letters.

Doing a double-take at the oil painting of an old scowling man, Lola greeted the receptionist. “Hi, I’m Carmen’s friend from upstairs, and I wanted to drop in on her as a little surprise. Would it be okay if I just popped back there one second?”

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