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The cabdriver doesn’t seem the least bit interested in me and as soon as I give him the address of my office, he turns the music in the cab up and pulls away from the curb.
Less than ten minutes later, we are outside my office, and as instructed I have him drop me off around the back of the building.
As we round the building, I see a sea of reporters camped outside the front and I feel a rapid and acute sense of panic. I can’t believe this. It’s my biggest nightmare come true. Everything I’ve been running from has caught up with me.
My weekend in Paris with Simon might as well have happened in another lifetime. I feel the crushing weight of fear sitting on my chest like an elephant.
The cabdriver calls out our arrival and I hand him a ten pound note, mumbling
for him to keep the change. Then I step out of the cab and go to face my fate.
November 30, 2014
My ride up the elevator is interminable. As soon as I step off onto our floor, I know this is not an ordinary Sunday at the office. Normally, there are a handful of junior associates and some partners working, but it looks like a Monday morning here.
The office is packed with people. Initially no one notices my arrival, but as I approach my office, Taylor sees me and calls my name. She might as well have blown a whistle. The entire floor turns in my direction. Conversations halt and all eyes are on me.
“Addie, where in the world have you been?” Taylor says. I bite back an irritated growl at her question. Everyone knew I was going to be in Paris for a long weekend.
I don’t answer her inane question, but simply say, “Is Jack here?”
“Of course he is. Everyone’s here. There is a shit storm swirling around you. Why didn’t you tell me? You could have trusted me.”
I stare at her blankly. She has treated me with nothing but disdain since I came to work at the firm and we’re certainly not confidantes.
I continue my walk to my office without responding. Her ever present sneer returns. She clearly has decided that whatever she now knows about me confirms her long held suspicions.
“Jack is in your office,” she clips at me as I pass her.
I’m actually grateful for her heads up because it gives me a moment to prepare myself. I pause to take a deep breath before I walk into my office.
Jack is seated at my desk, working on my computer when I walk in.
He looks up at me and clearly is not surprised to see me. He must have had word as soon as I walked into the building.
“Adelaide, please sit down.” He points to the seat on the other side of my desk. I hesitate for only an instant before I do as he asks.
“Now, I am sure you had your reasons for hiding your identity. I do wish you’d felt like I was someone you could have confided in though.”
He looks at me with eyes full of sympathy and sadness. I try desperately to stop my eyes from filling with tears, but I can’t. I know he is about to deliver a blow I will have no choice but to absorb, but is going to bring me to my knees.
“You’re one of the brightest young lawyers I’ve met in my entire career. I believe you could have gone very far in this office. I would have been your champion.”
He is speaking in past tense. Tears, hot and unchecked, spill down my cheeks.
“We have been in full damage control. We were completely blindsided by the news and now the press interest. And of course Montiva’s General Counsel is uncomfortable with us as their outside counsel if you are part of not just the team, but the firm.”
I feel like I have been hit in the chest with a sledge hammer. A sound I don’t even recognize escapes from my chest.
“Now, I think he is overreacting, but this is the biggest deal the city has ever seen, the firm won’t walk away from it to save you.”
I sit there, my head bowed, shoulders shaking from the sobs I am trying to control.
“But I talked to the firm’s global management team, and we think we have a solution.”
My head whips up. Hope making an audacious rebound at his words.
“Our New York City office has an opening. We can send you there, which means you can stay with the firm. But London is not viable. The British are a lot less tolerant of scandal than the Yanks are. They actually think your uh… notoriety… will bring in business. You have to decide today. Not right now, but today. If you decide, you will leave for New York tomorrow and start in their offices next week after some media training. “
