Page 25 of Her Shameful Wedding Night (Corporate Correction)

“Hi, Bradley,” the program officer said. “Thanks for calling back.”

Bradley didn’t feel entirely happy about the switch to first names, but he never saw any use in objecting to overfamiliarity—as long as a man understood that calling someone by their first name didn’t necessarily mean a really familiar relationship existed, it didn’t bother him much. What troubled him more, however, was Davies’ slightly uncomfortable tone, as if he had bad news. Well, if the traditional marriage program didn’t work out, and the lawsuit didn’t come through, he and Zoe would manage. Bradley hadn’t looked forward to the reporting requirement, anyway: telling the state at regular intervals that, yes, he had kept his young wife well-disciplined for the past three months—with an interview once a year—didn’t appeal to him all that much.

“Sure,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Well, as a lawyer I don’t think I need to tell you that the situation in state government right now is... kind of fluid, at a lot of levels.”

Bradley pulled the phone away from his face and looked at it quizzically for a moment. Why would Davies say something so general?

“Of course,” he replied, returning it to his cheek. “Are you saying we didn’t get the subsidy?”

“No...” Davies said, drawing the word out to about three times its usual length. “But the thing is, the way the corporate laws have put out, you know, tendrils—if you will—into the rest of the state government...”

Bradley felt his eyes go wide.

“Is this about Selecta?” he demanded, keeping his voice casual with a good deal of difficulty. He looked toward the Ralstons’ house. Kim Lomax was emerging.

“Night, Bradley!” she called. “See you tomorrow! Don’t work too hard!”

Bradley waved and smiled. All Zoe’s friends and family, he thought, were so understanding about his lawyer life. It made his heart light, and it even made it relatively bearable to find that Selecta’s corporate reach had found its way into their personal life.

“Yes...” Davies told him. Ifnohad gone on three times longer than it should,yesmade it to a six-fold duration. “In a way.”

“A way,” Bradley said flatly, refusing to put a question mark on the end of the word.

“Here’s the thing,” Davies said, sounding a little more comfortable now that he had apparently delivered some portion of the bad news. “As you can understand, Selecta has a good deal of influence in the state house.”

“I believe I can understand that, yes.” Now Bradley almost had to keep from laughing ruefully at the understatement, in order to keep his tone matter-of-fact. Selecta’s influence in the state house meant that the massive settlement his clients deserved didn’t look likely to happen.

“Yes, well... they have a sort of proposal for you, which they want to deliver through me. The piece of information you’re probably missing is that the traditional marriage subsidy program is funded through a Selecta subsidiary, under a confidential section of the state corporate laws.”

Holy shit.Yes, Bradley had been missing that piece of information.

“Okay.”

“And this is actually really good news for you. Selecta is ready to settle your case, if you’ll... well, the best word is probablyupgrade... your participation in the program.”

Bradley waved to Cindy, who was coming out of the house, and turned away to walk further up the drive, in an effort to deal in some bodily fashion with the strange information coming from his phone.

“I don’t get it,” he said after a pause, deciding that it probably made more sense to admit to confusion than to try to pretend he had any idea what Davies meant.

“I’ll put it bluntly, Bradley,” said the voice at the other end of the line. “Selecta wants a hold over you. In fact, they probably want you to work for them, once your case is finished. Thank goodness, I don’t have anything to do with that side of it, but if you accept the proposal I’m about to make, you’ll be contacted soon.”

Bradley shook his head as he walked, but he said, “I’m listening.”

“They want evidence in your file here at the state house that you fully endorse the program.”

“Such as?”

“Well, it’s actually quite specific.” Davies swallowed audibly. Bradley felt his brow furrow with consternation as he tried to figure out what the program officer might say next.

“Bradley?” he heard Zoe’s voice call from the door of the house. “Are you out here?”

“Hold on,” he told Davies. He lowered the phone. “I’ll be in in a moment, Zo,” he shouted back. Then, to his phone, he said, “Okay, what?”

“They want video of you punishing your bride and then sharing her with your attendants, at the reception.”

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