Page 21 of Apparently, I’m A B!tch

“Harvey Sr. is stepping down as partner for L&K.”

My tense jaw slacked open, relief washing over me as I breathed in and out. This wasn’t about me after all.

Maggie shot a glance at the door Harvey had disappeared through, then it hit me.

He would be made partner. Harvey would be made partner.

But Harvey couldn’t be made partner. He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t work for it. It wouldn’t be fair. He was the son of one of the founding partners, one of the only members of the firm that had a fraction more legal experience than I did. He didn’t put in the time. He didn’t deserve this.

Maggie’s eyes were back on me, as if she were trying to analyze and hold back my reaction, but in a wave of stifling heat, the words burst from me before I could stop them. “You can’t make Harvey partner.”

The room was quiet. Her concern became a frown. Not surprise. A frown. She knew I would react this way. Was that why she called me here? Because I was the only associate that would’ve had a problem with Harvey becoming partner?

That made sense. It made sense that she would want to announce this to me first. She knew me. She knew how I felt about Harvey, she knew how I’d react, and she wanted to keep my outbursts private instead of in front of the other staff members.

A shame-filled heat prickled my ears, mingling with my impulsive indignation. But Maggie had to know this was a bad decision. Harvey wouldn’t make a good partner. He couldn’t lead our firm. He–

“He has the experience, Nikki, and we have a few months before his father officially steps down. He’ll be ready by then.” Maggie’s measured voice didn’t calm me. It did the opposite.

Abruptly, I turned, swinging on my heels, yanking open the door and letting it slam shut behind me. Maggie’s muffled, “Nikki!” barely reached my ears.

I stalked into Harvey’s office and watched his face jerk with surprise as I said, “You don’t do the work, you don’t deserve this!”

His head tugged back on his neck. “Nik, what are you–”

“It’s all Kelly!” I yelled, hands on my hips. “It’s always Kelly. You make her do the work YOU should do so you can goof off. It isn’t fair. You shouldn’t be the one to make partner.”

I turned a frustrated pace on his carpet, and lifted my eyes to find Harvey standing, towering over his desk in a way that demanded my attention. I’d never seen him like that. He was looming, imposing, with a look of outrage twisting his usually jovial face.

“This time, you are out of line, Nik. Kelly is a valuable part of my team, but she does not win my cases for me. I’m the litigator, not her.”

I made a pfft sound as he rounded his desk and folded my arms, squaring up to him. “If you didn’t have Kelly, if you had to do the research and the work yourself, you’d lose every case.”

He shook his head, his tense jaw working. “You think so, do you? You really think I couldn’t win a case on my own?”

I snorted. “Yes! If we swapped paralegals, I guarantee you’d lose your next case. Jake is even more useless than you are. Without someone like Kelly to rely on, you’d crash and burn.”

He swept his gaze across my face, his stony expression a new experience for me. “Fine. Let’s swap paralegals.”

I raised my brows and let out a huff. He had to be joking. “Really?”

He gave me a tight nod. “You take Kelly, I’ll take Jake. We swap for the duration of one case.”

I straightened and started to laugh, then he held his hand up in front of me, and I had to squeeze my folded arms to stop myself from punching him in the face.

“And when this is over, you’ll accept that I’ll be made partner.”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “No, I won’t. I might just be an associate, but even with my lack of experience I’d be a better partner than you’d ever be. Why should you get the position? Because of who your father is?”

Harvey cocked a brow and bent his lips into a condescending smile. “You? You think you could take on being partner? Are you kidding? You don’t handle half of what I handle, and you haven’t won a single high-profile case.”

I stepped closer, daring him to back away. “That’s only because you take them all! It doesn’t matter. With Kelly or without her, I could do a better job than you ever could.”

He held his ground. “Prove it then. My next high-profile case is all yours. In fact, one came across my desk this morning. A nice, fat, sexual harassment case.”

My lips twisted in disgust. Only he would talk about a harassment case that way. “I’ll take it. And when I win, you have to refuse the partnership.”

He threw back his head and laughed, the sound booming and belittling. “Oh, Nik, poor little Cutter that you are, you think I’d really agree to something like that, don’t you?” He brought his gaze back, full of amusement, making me angrier than I ever thought I could be. “I’m not stepping down, but if you win, I’ll give you Kelly. Permanently.”

I raised my brows and thrust out my hand. “Deal.”

“But if I win my next case with Jake, not only do I not want to hear a word against my being made partner, but I want a speech from you honoring me once the announcement is made. And you’d better do it with a smile on your face, understood?”

I tensed my jaw and nodded once. Fine. If this idiot lost his next case like I knew he would, then I would have free license to gloat while everyone else learnt what I always knew to be true. Harvey was a lazy, manipulative, and entitled asshole who’d only gotten this far based on the work of the woman behind him. Even if he were made partner, no one would respect him for it, knowing he was given the position because his father had handed it to him.

That speech would never happen.

We shook hands, both our palms sweaty, gazes locked and unblinking.