Page 150 of Objection Overruled
My head is still tight from the migraine, the dull pressure having settled behind my eyes and along my temples, but the anger cuts through it cleanly.
Fucking Camden.
The man has never been capable of winning anything on merit. He went looking for leverage, and the partners listened to what he found.
They didn’t bother verifying anything beyond what fit neatly into the narrative Camden handed them. They sat there and discussed her like she was something that needed to be managed before it affected their bottom line.
I push away from the door and move into the room, already reaching for my phone because this is not a situation that gets to sit unresolved.
Three messages sit at the top of the screen.
Harris.
Masden.
Hale.
I don’t open any of them, because anything they have to say right now is either justification or damage control, and I am not interested in either.
Instead, I scroll until I reach the names that understand exactly what I need.
Deacon.
Rhys.
Most people think the IOU network is a rumor, something exaggerated and passed between students and associates who like the idea of power more than they understand it.
They think it is a handful of whispered favors and a few quiet exchanges between people who know how to keep their mouths shut.
They are wrong.
It is not a rumor, and it was never meant to be one.
I open a group thread and type,I need eyes. Now.
The reply comes from Deacon first.
You get arrested, or are you just bored?
Rhys follows without delay.
No way he’s bored with Tessa.
I press call before either of them can add anything else.
Rhys answers first. “Are we planning a breakup or scoping out a new dinner spot?”
“This is serious,” I reply, my focus narrowing as everything settles into place.
Deacon laughs quietly. “Okay, someone pissed you off.”
“Yes,” I say, already moving toward the desk and pulling up what I need on my laptop. “The partners, they humiliated Tessa.”
Silence hits the line immediately, the kind that only happens when both of them are recalculating at the same time.
Rhys exhales slowly, and I can hear the shift in him, the moment he moves from whatever he was doing into this.
“Start talking.”
