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Her:So...?
Liam:It’s confidential and now that I know the outline of the other bid, I can adjust ours to be a better, winning bid
Baines, what did you do?
Her:How did he get the top-secret document?
Liam:Excellent question
Her:Who’s the other bidder? Who are you going up against for this big job?
The wait for a reply chipped away at her patience. The sunhad gone down, and she sat in a mostly dark house with only the light from the laptop and her phone for guidance. She didn’t get creeped out very easily, but her nerves sparked to life, and a cold shiver had her rubbing the back of her neck to ease it.
Liam:You know them from law school
Her:??
Liam:Wilcad, the note at the bottom. That’s the name of the company. It’s a combination of Will and Cade—the names of Earl and Loretta Swain’s sons. She was one of your professors, right? Her husband Earl’s company,Wilcad, is the other bidder. This is his confidential bid proposal.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jessa
Numb. Jessa couldn’t feel anything. She sat in her dark condo and listened to the thump of her heartbeat as it echoed in her ears. She’d rolled through two crying jags, screaming in the silent room about how unfair all of this was, and now she waited.
She’d texted Tim and asked him to come home. After days of working outrageous hours, she needed him here. They had to talk this through. He insisted he’d gotten behind from his business trip, but she suspected the truth pointed more to him hiding from her than billable hours.
Now was his chance to sayI told you so. She’d give him one shot, then she needed his focus. A stifling mix of frustration and disappointment kept her from seeing a way to emerge out of this unscathed.
She heard him at the door and thought about standing up. Running to him was way too “damsel in distress” for her liking. She didn’t need a rescue. She needed common sense, and her supply had drained away, leaving her vulnerable.
He stepped inside and threw his keys on the small table next to the door. “Hey.”
The deep, rumbling sound of his voice should have comforted her. Instead, she heard judgment.
She closed her eyes as the reality that he already knew her terrible news hit her. “How did you find out?”
“Despite having the most lawyers per square inch, the metro area legal community is pretty small. Covington and a few of the senior partners in my firm are friends, and...” Tim shrugged. “Well, you get it.”
“Apparently, my private information is fair game.” Divulging unfounded allegations against her could get Covington and the entire firm in trouble. More than likely, if she complained he’d deny ever telling anyone and his cronies would back him up.
Tim sat on the armrest of the chair. Not coming one inch closer, keeping the emotional and physical divide between them intact.
He stared at his hands while he talked. “I think the call was meant as a friendly warning to prepare me.”
Him.The patriarchy never took a break. Her shitty day was about him.
He lifted his head and met her gaze straight on. “I told you to drop that case.”
He sounded exhausted. Resigned. Completely out of energy. He thrived on pressure. He lived for deadlines and meetings and all the things that drove her into a paralyzing panic. He memorized every detail of a case. Every discussion. In many ways, he was the lawyer she pretended to be. Competent and assured.
She worried about missing deadlines and failing to find that one piece of evidence in discovery guaranteed to break a case open in her client’s favor. Retta once told her that type of debilitating worry showed a lack of self-confidence.
“You were right.” It didn’t kill her to say it, which was the only positive thing she could find about today. Being dragged out of her law firm while everyone watched gave her a new perspective on shame and embarrassment. Admitting he’d called this one right didn’t come close to that bottom.
He didn’t have his briefcase. He hadn’t taken off his suit jacket. It was as if he’d swung by for a brief check-in and planned to blow out again. “Do you have to go back to work tonight?”
“No.” He rubbed his eyes as he often did when he was about to say something he knew she wouldn’t like. “But... I can’t do this.”
