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“Sorry, Yuki. That was Josh Reynolds. He’s not feeling too well.”
Parisi himself had had a massive heart attack a few years ago. Yuki had been with him when it happened and had gotten medical assistance for him, PDQ. Later, he’d said she’d saved his life. It wasn’t true, but she knew he felt that way.
He certainly regarded her as a close friend. Which was why having to tell him she was quitting was going to royally suck.
“So what’s on your mind?” he asked her. “Something wrong, Yuki?”
Yuki gripped the edge of his desk and said, “Len, I got a job opportunity that I want to take.”
There was dense, soundproof silence. Yuki could hear her words echoing in her head. She’d been honest, respectful, and direct. What was Len going to do now?
Would he hug her? Or tell her to go fuck herself?
He rocked back in his chair, then leaned forward, put his forearms on the desktop, and clasped his hands, looking directly into her eyes. He said, “Oh, man, what terrible timing. You know I’m going away tonight for a week. There’s just not enough time for me to get you a counteroffer today, but I will put it in motion. Give me some ammo. What kind of job? How much are they offering?”
“That’s so nice of you, Len, but I don’t want a counteroffer. I don’t want to leave, either.”
“Well, don’t. Problem solved.”
She smiled. “But I need to do it. It’s the Defense League, and there’s an urgent case that I feel drawn to. I think I’ll regret it if I turn this opportunity down.”
“The Defense League. Really? You’d rather go into a nonprofit than stay here? I thought we had the same goals for this office. You’ve been working the best cases. I mean, not just Brinkley, I gave you Herman, too. I had to fight off piranhas to do that. Every ADA in the office wanted a piece of that guy.”
“I know. I know, Len, and I don’t want you to think I’m not grateful.”
“Yuki, speaking from personal experience, let me just say that a near-death event changes a person. I know that’s what happened to you. You’re still processing that you could have died, and for someone your age, that’s heavy. You will feel differently in six months, I promise. Turn down the offer. Let me work on making this a dream job—”
“Len, I got hooked by a dead teenager,” Yuki said. “He was wrongly arrested and killed while awaiting trial. His family is devastated, rightfully so. The Defense League—”
Parisi already knew where she was going with this. She felt thunderheads gathering.
“You’re going to sue the City? The SFPD? You’re coming after us?”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“I hear you,” Parisi said, “but I don’t understand you.” There was a look of outrage on her friend’s face that Yuki had seen before, just not directed at her.
Parisi’s chair spun noisily as he got out of it. He crossed the room and opened his door wide.
He said to her, “Human Resources will bring you some empty boxes and walk you out. You’ll surrender your card, your laptop, and your keys, immediately. I’ll have Payroll cut your check.”
“Len, I’m indebted to you. I know how much—”
“Save it,” he said. “I’ll see you in court. And I do mean me. Personally.”
He returned to his desk chair and picked up the phone. He punched in some numbers, then swiveled around so that his back was to her. He said, “Michelle, it’s Parisi.”
Michelle Forrest was head of Human Resources. Yuki left Len’s office and, dazed,
walked to her own.
She hadn’t intended to tear up her life. She wanted a different job. And now her husband was pissed at her. Len was threatening to destroy her in court. And she hadn’t even told Zac Jordan that she was accepting the position.
Well, she was taking the job, and she was going to win compensation for the Kordell family for the wrongful death of Aaron-Rey.
There was no turning back now.
CHAPTER 16
