Surrounded by Darkness

by Rachel Dylan

  Optimism, the company, had products that were bestsellers—crystals, meditation devices, divination tools, incense, oils, and herbs all under his brand. Optimism products were in New Age stores, yoga studies, and wellness retreats throughout the country. The Optimism brand was strong and well-known in the New Age community.

  Their products helped open the door to the masses to be exposed to New Age principles and lifestyle. It was the perfect gateway to his real endgame—which was a lot more than incense and meditation. Those were the stereotypes, but it went far beyond that for him.

  The entire murder investigation and trial had thrown him for a loop. He never should have left Nina Marie’s house without making sure she was dead. It was his own pride and his disdain for her, wanting her to die slowly and painfully, that had him in the spot he was in now.

  He had to smirk to himself, though, because it all had worked out wonderfully. He never could’ve predicted the end to this story. Nina Marie had been one of the most powerful and confident people he’d ever known. A vibrant and energetic woman. Seeing what she had now become, a shriveled-up prune—meek, defeated, and, best of all, no longer any threat to him—was the biggest payoff. Watching her live like that was almost worth all the headache and drama he’d been subjected to. He was once again a free man, and it was a no brainer for him that he’d come out on top with this thing.

  Layton was going to take Nina Marie’s former company Astral Tech apart piece by piece and handpick those he wanted and discard the others. Then he could finally get back to his original plan of the spiritual transformation of Windy Ridge, taking down Pastor Dan and, even more importantly, his nemesis Olivia Murray. The lawyer stood to thwart him at every single turn, and now that she had taken up permanent residence in his town, he was committed to action.

  The doorbell rang, and he eagerly greeted his first guests. About an hour later, the formal dining area was filled with laughter, fine wine, and a five-star meal, and he was surrounded by his close circle of friends.

  Later in the evening as dessert was about to be served, it was time for him to speak to his guests. He stood up from his chair and surveyed the room, making eye contact with Morena, Louise, and some other members.

  “I’d like to take a moment to thank you all for the support you gave me during this difficult time. But even more than that, I don’t want to look at the past, but I want us to figure out our wonderful future together. The church is definitely weakened, and with our chief competitor in shambles, this city is ours for the taking.” He lifted his glass of champagne. “Cheers.”

  As the toast ended, he took a seat, but he still had matters to discuss with the group. “While this is a night of celebration, there are a few things to talk about. We have to be smarter though about how we handle matters. I’m talking to myself as much as I’m talking to you.”

  Louise nodded. “You’re right, Layton. This whole fiasco was a bit too high-profile for my taste. I helped get you out of this one, but I can’t play that card again. We need to focus on where our strengths are—the spiritual realm and what we have to offer. Taking physical action is not going to be the best way to get to our end result. And obviously, it’s quite messy.”

  His protégé Stacey took a sip of wine before speaking. “On that note, I’d like to add something if I could.”

  Layton was proud of her. She’d come so far in such a short time. “Of course, Stacey. The floor is yours.”

  She tucked a long strand of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. “I have an opportunity I found out about that I’d like to share with the group. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on how I could expand my skill set and ways we all could do more learning and growing in the arts we practice. I found out about this conference that takes place in Las Vegas. It’s one of the largest New Age and Wiccan-based conferences in the whole country. I think it would be great if a few of us could go as a group and then bring back the learning to the entire Optimism family.” Stacey’s face lit up as she spoke.

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” Layton said. He thought to himself for a moment and was even more proud of how Stacey was taking the bull by the horns and coming up with ideas about how she could develop her skills. “When is the conference?

  “It’s not until the later this year, but registration fills up quickly. I’d love for us to be able to go.”

  Morena cleared her throat “I agree with Stacey. I’m sure we have funding in the budget. What better place than Vegas to really explore. I’m all in.”

  Layton was thrilled to see their enthusiasm had not subsided while he had been preoccupied with legal matters. “Then it’s settled. The ones who would like to go and are able, Optimism will cover the costs.” Layton adjusted his cufflinks before continuing. “Please, Stacey, can you take the lead on this? And have everyone coordinate with you.”

  “Of course.”

  Layton cleared his throat. “Now there’s a bit of an elephant in the room.” Layton surveyed the faces of his dinner guests. “At this point, my directive is not to bother with Nina Marie. That witch has taken enough of our time, energy, and effort. She’s no longer a threat to any of us. We need to look forward and decide what our next initiatives are going to be for the community. I’m happy to hear any thoughts the group may have on that.”

  Morena took the floor. “I think we have to focus on recruitment and keeping our numbers strong. Also, we need to get deeper into our own abilities and be willing to use them. Like you said, this criminal matter was a waste of time, and our strength comes from what we can do. What powers of darkness we can bring to this place. The church hasn’t fully recovered from the scandal with Pastor Dan, but it’s like a dying cockroach, kicking its little scrawny legs, but it won’t ever completely die.”

  That statement got some affirmative murmurs throughout the room.

  “We also have to keep an eye out for that lawyer,” Louise added. “Olivia Murray is not to be taken lightly. I have no idea what her next mission is going to be, but it appears she will be around here for the long term, and we need to figure out how to handle her. We don’t need her messing around in our business.”

  Stacey looked up at Layton. “Do you really think Olivia is going to care that much about us right now? Doesn’t she have her work and career to build? I know if I was in her position at the law firm, I’d be more focused on my career than trying to fight some spiritual battle. I think that’s what we should exploit. Let’s target her ego and ambition to keep her busy with legal work so she doesn’t have time to bother us.”

  “Speaking of legal work,” Louise said, “I have some news that would be of interest to all of you.” A sly smile spread across Louise’s thin pink lips.

  “Well don’t make us wait too long,” Layton said. Louise wasn’t one for much theatrics, so her words had piqued his interest.

  “You all will remember our friend Grant Baxter. Olivia’s partner in crime. Well, I heard through the grapevine that a malpractice suit has been filed against him. This could be big. A suit like that could close his firm down for good.”

  Layton’s mind started to run wild. It wasn’t long ago that Grant had been Optimism’s attorney facing off against Olivia in a battle over the Astral Tech app. The case was long since settled, but this nugget did provide him with some level of delight. At first, Grant had been benign. A complete skeptic who was perfectly fine to work with, but then Olivia had gotten into his head and turned him into a believer. And now he was a threat. “This is very interesting news, Louise. We need to figure out how we can help along this lawsuit. Can someone take on the task of digging into the suit to figure out who is involved and what the story is?”

  Stacey eagerly raised her hand. “I’d be happy to. Especially if Louise will lend me her expertise.”

  Louise nodded. “Of course. It will be a pleasure to work with you. I think it would be a good experience for both of us.”

  Layton felt a flood of energy rush through him. This could be what they need
ed as a group to provide him a kick-starter. Making Grant feel the pain would be one of the best ways to get to Olivia. Because one thing Layton had figured out was that the two of them were no longer just friends—they had become much more than that. And he was going to use that to his strategic advantage. He needed to develop a plan to bring down Olivia Murray once and for all.

  Chapter Three

  The next day Grant sat in a large conference room at his law office across the table from Scott O’Brien—his lawyer appointed by the insurance company.

  “Let’s start at the beginning.” Scott’s hazel eyes focused in on him.

  Grant would’ve felt much better with someone more seasoned. Scott had only been practicing law for five years, but given Grant’s malpractice insurance, he didn’t have much of a choice. The insurance company picked the lawyer, and he didn’t have any say in it.

  “The complaint alleges a few things.” Scott flipped through his notes. “Why don’t you give me some case background?”

  “Certainly.” Grant had only had sleepless nights since this case had been filed. They’d waited until the final week before the two-year statute of limitations had run. But once he saw the name on the complaint, there was an immediate fear that struck into the pit of his stomach. He hadn’t told anyone about his fears, including Olivia. “This was one of my early cases I worked on after having started The Baxter Group. Obviously, I lost, or I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now.”

  “Tell me more.” Scott leaned in with pen and legal pad in hand.

  “I told Leslie Ramos that this would be a hard case, but I took it on anyway. I was looking for clients, and in plaintiff’s work we operate on a contingency fee basis anyway, so it made sense.”

  “And the nature of the claim?” Scott asked.

  “It was supposed to be a simple slip and fall case. Ms. Ramos fell in the store while shopping, but in the discovery process, I found documents from the store about a completely unrelated matter regarding the company’s financial reporting. I couldn’t help myself—I started going down that rabbit hole.” The memories flooded back to him as he spoke. He had been so excited about the prospect of breaking a huge case wide open.

  “And the complaint alleges you didn’t give Ms. Ramos’s case the time it deserved. That you were negligent in the discovery phase and weren’t able to get certain key evidence in at trial. She’s saying that cost her the case and millions in damages.”

  Grant blew out a breath. “I have to be honest with you because you’re my attorney.”

  Scott leaned in. “Yes, I need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

  Grant figured Scott should hear the truth. That would give him the best chance at beating this thing. “I was distracted. I was trying to prove myself, grow my practice. When I found those other documents that, at the time, I believed could be the tip of the iceberg for a much larger case, I let it dominate my attention.”

  “And did something bigger come of it?”

  Grant shook his head. “No. At the end of the day, once I got all the documents, I realized that the company was clean. There was nothing to report to the SEC or any government agency. It was basically a wild goose chase and a waste of time with no payoff.”

  “And did you shirk your professional duty to Ms. Ramos?”

  Grant considered Scott’s question. “No. I don’t think I did. Was I distracted? Yes, but I still put my time in on her case. I prepared for trial.”

  “I don’t know how familiar you are with the elements of a malpractice case.” Scott looked at him.

  “I think I know them generally but refresh me to make sure we’re on the same page.” Thankfully, this wasn’t something Grant had actually dealt with before in his legal practice.

  “The key elements in dispute here are whether you breached your duty to the client and whether there is proximate cause—did that breach directly cause harm to the client, that is, causing her to lose the lawsuit she should’ve otherwise won.”

  “Yeah, I get all that.” It was straightforward enough.

  Scott tapped his pen on the desk. “The important question is whether the mistakes you made during discovery and at trial rose to the level of malpractice. We need to go through the errors identified in the complaint.”

  And that’s what scared him, because he knew he did make mistakes on that case. “I’m ready.” Time to face the music.

  Scott held up the page and started reading. “The complaint states that you failed to depose a key witness who was an employee at the store. Is that accurate?”

  “I was really slammed at that point, and I missed it. I thought I had all the possible deponents covered. It was an innocent mistake.” Grant could hear the uncertainty in his own voice.

  Scott opened up his laptop and started typing. “So, you did conduct other depositions, just not the one for a Mr. Sanders, who was one of the store clerks at the scene, is that correct?”

  “Yes.” Now Grant felt like he was the one being deposed. Scott was all business.

  “The next point is that you failed to enter one of the doctor’s reports into evidence, is that right?”

  Hearing it all come out of Scott’s mouth made it seem even worse. “Yes, but there were multiple reports from various doctors. This was just one of them. One of many reports.”

  “They’re arguing it was an important one.” Scott kept typing. “Ms. Ramos suffered serious injuries—the most important being a broken neck and vertebrae.”

  “Yes, I recall that clearly.” How could he forget that?

  “She’s claiming she could’ve been entitled to a two-million-dollar verdict. What are your thoughts on that?”

  “If we would’ve proven liability, then yes, I agree with the damage assessment based on all of her medical bills and continuing pain and suffering. But proving the initial liability on the part of the store wasn’t going to be easy under any circumstances, and I was clear with her about that. The store was really buttoned up on their safety policies and procedures. There was some type of leak that had occurred because of a very bad storm just two days before. The store’s attorney argued that as soon as they found the leak, they took swift action.”

  Scott continued to type. “But the way they found out about it was because of Ms. Ramos’s accident.”

  “True, but it wasn’t the case of something sitting around for weeks or months and not being taken care of. They do weekly inspections, and they had the records showing the inspection from the prior week was all clear, and they were also able to provide evidence about the storm timing and comparable structural damages to other buildings in the area.”

  Scott nodded. “Remember, I’m on your side here. I’m just trying to gather the facts.” Scott placed his pen behind his ear. “We should also talk nuts and bolts. Your policy limit is one million. She’s seeking two.”

  “What do you suggest?” Grant was truly interested in Scott’s opinion here.

  “I always think settlement is preferable, so I’ll reach out to her attorney and try to get that conversation started and see where their heads are at.”

  “I should tell you something.”

  Scott quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this. I think they’re going to want to fight.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Just a gut feeling.” A very deep, dark gut feeling.

  “Well, good thing for you, I don’t operate on feelings, but facts. Let me see what I can do and get back with you.”

  Scott gathered up his stuff and walked out of the conference room.

  Grant put his head in his hands. God, what I have I gotten myself into?

  Would God even answer him? Nothing seemed right in his life, and he couldn’t push aside this wave of depression that was weighing him down. He was trying to do his best to put on a brave face, but this case scared him to death. This could be the end to his legal career.

  Olivia sat in her office in
the Brown, Carter, and Reed high-rise in the city. She’d talked to Grant earlier, and he didn’t seem like himself. The lawsuit was taking a toll on him, but she also felt a bit helpless about what she could do to help.

  The two of them had fallen into a nice rhythm in their relationship, but she knew times weren’t always going to be easy. It seemed like they were headed into a rocky period. She wished he would open up more to her about his feelings, but he wasn’t that type of guy. They’d been dating for a while now, but they hadn’t had any discussions about moving their relationship forward, and it wasn’t the time to push that. But she did eventually want to settle down, and she hoped he would be the one for her.

  Right now, she couldn’t fix things with Grant, so she had to shift her attention to work matters. She was about to have a firm-wide videoconference with the BCR pro bono committee and find out if her clinic proposal and business plan had been accepted. BCR’s practice focus was on defending large corporations, but they did have a thriving pro bono program—where they offered legal services for free to those who needed it. And Olivia had built up enough capital at the firm that she was pushing hard to institute her new idea and start out with a pilot program in Windy Ridge.

  She adjusted her gray suit jacket as she waited for the videoconference screen to populate and then she saw her colleagues from around the firm—including Julia Prince, the partner in charge of the pro bono program.

  As the screen lit up and she saw the faces of the committee members, Olivia’s heart raced with excitement. They went through introductions and preliminaries before getting to her issue. It seemed like it took forever, but it was only a few minutes.

  Julia’s dark eyes locked in on hers. “Olivia, let’s talk about your proposal.”

  “Great,” she said. She held her breath awaiting the response.