Page 1 of Lies You Told
1
CHLOE
The assistants and paralegals all run around the office in chaos. I can see them as I sit behind my desk. They’ve all been in a frenzy since I mentioned a VIP client coming in before lunch. I usually have the floor-to-ceiling windows frosted. People are less likely to bother me if they are; I’m not sociable at work. If my office had walls, that would be even better, and I could get on with my work without having to see anyone else. Greyson has been my client since before I made Partner a couple of months ago. Many people think he’s the reason I frog-leaped over a couple of people to get that position. They’re right, but not for the reasons they might think. They all think I was sleeping with him. I wasn’t. His daughter and I, on the other hand, were classmates at Harvard. I went to study hard and one day make Partner. I did in less than ten years, a record for this firm. She went to Harvard to bag a husband like it’s the nineteen-fifties or something. She’s still one of my closest friends. She might be on the board of the family business, but she hasn't practiced law in… well, a while. Her seat is more for show than anything else. Her husband is the one with any sort of relationship to the company. She’s Greyson’s only child. She enjoys shopping, lunching with the other wives, and going to the spa once a week. But she’s my best friend, and she likes her lifestyle, and I like mine. I move my mouse across the screen to click on the email Greyson sent me last night. Why he didn’t message me, I’ll never know. Probably because this is work, and he knows my assistant has my calendar open every minute of the day.
TO: Chloe Lawson
FROM: Greyson Huntington
SUBJECT: I need to arrange a meeting.
Chloe
An ex-employee is suing me. Can we arrange a meeting for tomorrow morning? I’ll go through the details then.
Greyson Huntington
CEO Huntington Media Corp.
That was all. The complete e-mail. He didn’t even try to call me last night before or after I received it, which is a little strange. I can’t call Franchesca because this is business. And while she’s on the board, I know she doesn’t know anything about day-to-day operations. She hasn’t reached out to me, so I’m guessing she doesn’t know yet.
“He’s on his way up.” My assistant Adam says through the intercom.
“Thanks. Set him up in the conference room when he gets here.”
I gather my notepad and my coffee mug from my desk.
“What's all this about?” Peter, one of the other partners, asks as I head toward the conference room.
“I have no idea. I showed you the email.”
“Do you want me to sit in on the meeting with you?”
I stop in my tracks, my coffee spilling a little over the top and onto the floor. My face must read like thunder because he holds his hands up defensively.
“Why would I need you to sit in on the meeting? Does the word Partner on my door mean something different from the one on yours?”
He has the decency to look embarrassed, as he should. I brought Greyson into the company when I was still an associate. When my then-boss retired, I handled most of the caseload, anyway. Greyson told the Partners he expected me to be named Partner so I could take over his account. He wanted my name on the account. He trusts me. Greyson’s company brings in millions yearly, just with run-of-the-mill stuff, like contracts that need updating. I spend a huge part of my day dealing as an arbitrator. When I do go to court. I have one of the best win-loss ratios in the firm.
I get to the conference room at the same time as Greyson and Adam. He pulls me into a hug, which I’d let no one else do.
“Water? Coffee?” Asks Adam.
“Water, please,” Greyson says, pulling out his chair and sitting down.
I do the same at the head of the table and put my stuff on the desk.
“You have everyone in a panic,” I say, trying to hide my own.
Adam walks in with a bottle of water and a glass and puts them both on the table in front of him before leaving the room again. Greyson has never made me nervous, but he does now, and I don’t like it.
“She’s suing for unfair dismissal.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. Nobody said it, but we all worried that it was going to be a lot worse. This is something I can deal with, with my eyes closed. “Who is she?”
He spent the rest of the meeting telling me about an employee who worked in the accounts department. HR had received some complaints. She’s used up all of her goodwill within the company, and her manager fired her. It sounds cut and dry, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“What are you not telling me?” I ask.
