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“I’ve got fantastic news,” he whispers to me. “Finn just fell asleep on his desk.”
My eyes widen. “Where are the markers? We have markers, right?”
Luc’s smile widens. “I’ll get the markers. You get Damien.”
I nod and tip toe to Damien’s office. Of course, I take all of this seriously. I respect how seriously Finn is taking it. But also, you shouldn’t take everything seriously.
And you certainly shouldn’t fall asleep in an office with me and your two brothers.
26
EMMA
Iflip through my notebook, reviewing all the notes and observations I’ve jotted down over the past few weeks. But in all of the pages that I’ve filled, I can’t find the pattern that I’m looking for.
I know I’m going about this in a haphazard manner. I can hear my favorite professor from undergrad, her voice as authoritative and measured as always: “Know what you’re looking for before you begin your search.”
What I’m looking for is why Devil’s Advocates is losing so many clients. And why they’re failing to sign new ones. This feels more personal than just the firm’s prior reputation. This feels like a smear campaign, a concerted effort to discredit and denigrate the firm.
But why? And from whom? That’s what I’m trying to figure out. But that also feels like such a broad, vague starting point that I might as well be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
I sigh and lean back in my chair. The office is quiet around me; hardly anyone has work to do. The atmosphere is tense and grim, almost funereal. I never would have expected the firm’s fortunes to take a nosedive this quickly.
“Review all this one more time, and then you can get coffee,” I mutter to myself. I don’t know why I can’t just give up and devote my time to job-hunting, but the pages of my notebook call to me. I sigh and flip to the first page.
And maybe the hundredth time is the charm, because all of a sudden, I get an idea. Not from what I have recorded, but from what’s not there. Or, more accurately,who. Raven!
Why would Raven want to legally tie herself to Finn if his firm is falling apart? Why would she be in such hot pursuit of a soon-to-be-failure?
Raven is far too vain to want a mate that won’t reflect well on her. She cares about her image far too much; from what I can tell, that’s all she really does care about. I also know that she’s not stupid. She knows that Finn isn’t in love with her, and yet she’s pursuing him so forcefully anyway. Why?
I think that I have the answer. I want to run to Finn’s office and tell him, but I don’t want him or his brothers implicated if I’m wrong. The only thing worse for the Blackwell brothers than losing their firm would be losing their firmandmisguidedly slandering Raven’s name.
No, I need to do this on my own. But how?
I drum my fingers against my notebook, trying to come up with something. Then I get up and walk to the kitchen to get some coffee. On the counter is today’s paper. I stare at it while I fill my mug, then walk back to my desk.
The paper! That’s it! I pick up my phone and punch in Lucy’s extension.
“Hey, Emma,” she greets me.
“Hey, Lucy. Random question.”
“Ask away. I’m just sitting here with absolutely nothing to do.”
“Who publishes the paper that’s delivered to the office?”
“That rag?” she asks scornfully. “It’s put out by Byte News. They’re a homegrown media company. More interested in social media and television now than print but Valerio, the CEO, has been hanging onto print for years because he thinks it gives the company gravitas.”
“But it doesn’t,” I guess.
“Not even a little bit. They’re notorious for being the worst of the tabloid, click-bait scum.”
“Are they reputable, though?”
Lucy snorts. “Scarily so. That’s why their paper is thriving, as are their TV shows and social channels. Everything they report is completely accurate. I feel kind of disloyal saying that, though.”
“Why?”
