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“I’m not going to sugarcoat shit for you, Ryleigh. This is a huge fuckup.” There is nothing that he is saying I don’t agree with. “Off the record, I’m going to say you probably made the mistake because—” My spine goes up because I’m thinking exactly what he is thinking as to why this happened. All of this is because I was so fucking tired from traveling. My head was thinking too hard about when the next time I would see Stone was to focus on the case at hand. “Your briefs have always been too long. You have to remember what you learned in law school; trial briefs should be short. While I appreciate all your hard work, this case is a winner. All the evidence is in our favor. It’s a slam-dunk case, while your error certainly doesn’t derail the case, it definitely isn’t a good thing and it’s a terrible mistake for an attorney of your caliber to make.”I can hear the disappointment in his voice. “You better call Judge King’s judicial assistant, Brenda, and see if you can schedule an emergency hearing. It’s better to admit your error to the court before Judge King finds it.” Just the thought of Judge King finding it before my admission is too much for me to even imagine. Not only could I be sanctioned, but this might cost me my promotion to becoming a district attorney, and the most devastating blow is I could lose my job, which has me on the verge of having a panic attack.
“I’ll call her right away,” I assure him. “I’ll let you know.”
“You do that,” he says, hanging up on me.
I hang my head for a moment, trying not to kick myself in the ass just yet. There is one more important phone call that has to be made. I press the button for my assistant, Tanya, who picks up right away. “Can you come here, please?” I ask her, and she is at my door before I hang up. “Please close the door.”
She comes in, closing the door behind her and stands there looking worried. “There is no easy way to say this, and I can’t bury my head in the sand. I fucked up on the Phillips brief I sent to Judge King.” I say the words, and she gasps out in shock because I don’t make fucking mistakes.
“If you can call from here?” I ask her and she nods her head, coming over to my side of the desk and picking up the phone.
She knows I’m a stickler for knowing everything, so she puts it on speakerphone, and I whisper, “Thank you.”
She smiles sadly at me, making my stomach feel even worse. “Judge King’s office.”
“Hi, Brenda, it’s Tanya Digirmo from Ryleigh Beckett’s office.” She looks down at the phone.
“Hi, Tanya, how are you?” Her voice is cheerful.
“I could be better. I’m sorry to request this at the last minute, however this is urgent and I need to schedule an emergency hearing.” My hands tremble when she asks to schedule the hearing, now not only will my entire office know that I fucked up, it’s going on record that I fucked up. “It’s regarding an error that was discovered in the trial brief filed regarding the Robert Phillips case. The case number is JF325386.”
“Oh,” she says, “I can schedule the hearing at eight forty-five a.m.”
“Thank you.” I take a huge deep inhale, swallowing down the bile that worked its way up. She hangs up the phone.
“Thank you, Tanya,” I say softly. “Can you close the door on your way out?”
She walks out without asking me another question, leaving me with my eyes on the brief open in front of me. The emotions that come out of me are all over the fucking place. I’m pissed I’ve put not only myself but also my team in this position. I’m angry with myself for worrying about things I shouldn’t even be thinking about. I close my eyes, the stinging of tears coming to me, but I push them away. There is no time for feeling sorry for myself. I have too much to do, but the first thing I do is correct the mistake in the brief.
Then I start prepping for the trial. I don’t step out of my office the whole day, and finally, when my stomach rumbles, I get up, seeing that it’s just after eight o’clock. I grab my things and leave the office since I’m the last one in there. When I’m in the car, I see Stone has tried to call me twice and sent three messages.
I pull it up and respond.
Me: Major fuckup today. Have an emergency hearing in court. I’ll call you when I can.
I look out the window, hating that I want him here so I can talk to him, then mad at myself because if I wasn’t so focused on him, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
I get home at the same time my dinner arrives and eat it at the counter before heading to bed. I barely sleep that night, getting up before my alarm and going into the closet. I take off his T-shirt before grabbing my dark blue pants and a white silk button-up top with a baby-blue jacket. I put on my low-heeled shoes and grab my bag on the way out. The phone vibrates in my hand, and I look down.
SR: I am so sorry. I hope you have a better day today. Let me know if I can do anything.
I don’t answer him. Instead, I put my phone in my bag and pray that I won’t throw up in the middle of court. The whole time I’m in the car, all I can do is try to control my breathing. I breathe in and out, my chest tightens, making me clear my throat a couple of times. My hands are clammy, and I’m sure my knees are fucking weak. But I have to push all that aside and walk in there with my head held high. I rush toward the courtroom, gripping the bag in my hand as tight as I can. My nails dig into my palms as I make my way over to the courtroom.
Pulling open the door and seeing the courtroom empty, I walk up to my side of the courtroom, putting my bag beside my chair. I don’t know how long I’m in here because all I can do is tell myself to calm down. At this point, my armpits are fucking sweating, and it’s pushing heat to rise up the back of my neck. The door opens and the defendant’s lawyer walks in, looking at me and nodding before heading to his side of the courtroom. “Morning, Ms. Beckett.”
“Morning, Mr. Bradley,” I reply, hoping my voice doesn’t crack. The bailiff walks in followed by the court reporter, who takes her seat and waits for the proceedings to start.
The door to the side opens, and Judge King walks out wearing his black robe. “All rise.” I push away from the desk and stand. I’ve been in his courtroom more than a couple of times. He’s tough, but he’s also fair.
“Please be seated,” Judge King says, and we both sit down. “Ms. Beckett.” He looks at me. “How are you doing?”
I try not to make Mr. Bradley see how much this is affecting me. “I’m good, Your Honor. Thank you for having me in on such short notice.” I put my hands on the desk instead of in front of me so he won’t see them shake. I start to feel like I’m being sent to the principal’s office after I’ve been caught cheating, except this is so much worse. “I’m here today because there’s an error in the trial brief that I filed.”
“Excuse me?” He isn’t the only one shocked. “The one I started reading?”
“It came to my attention yesterday morning when I was in the middle of trial prep.” I go on to explain to him how I somehow fucked up the brief. I ignore the need to look over at Mr. Bradley to see if he’s gloating.
“I have to say I’m very surprised by this.” He just looks down at me. “You’ve appeared in my courtroom before and your skills have been up to par.”
