The Gamble

by Alice Ward

  “Perfect. Thank you.” I pulled up the file on my computer and scanned through the information on Jon’s firm and his rise to success. He was listed as the personal attorney for Zek and several other billionaires in the area. “Sucks to be sued by your own damn lawyer. Funny how he probably knows exactly what Zek is worth.”

  “Miss Manning?” The woman’s voice was on the line. “He’s in a meeting right now, but he said that he would be more than happy to meet with you this afternoon if you’re free.”

  “That would be perfect. Three o’clock?” I checked my watch, realizing that I would have time to grab a quick sandwich before I’d need to head that way.

  “That’s perfect. Do you need directions to get to us?”

  “No, but thank you. I’ll see you shortly.” I hung up, grabbed my suit jacket and my briefcase and walked out into the lobby. Lizzy’s secretary, Marsha stood and smiled.

  “Before you go, we just had someone leave a message for you. He said he was an investigator from the SEC. Want me to text you the information?” She smiled warmly.

  “Yes, please. Thank you.” I pulled out my phone, waiting for her text. I would call them on the way to see Jon. Chances were that they just wanted to make contact with whoever was representing Zek. I wasn’t so sure that would be me for the securities claim, but I would stand in the gap until we knew better who it would be.

  ***

  “Miss Manning. What a pleasure.” An older man with white hair and a stiff smile walked from the open door across from the waiting room. He extended his hand and shook mine firmly. “I’m Jon Mills. Thank you for coming by to chat. We’ve heard so much about you.”

  “I wish I were here to chat.” I gave him a curt nod and followed him into one of the conference rooms down the hall. Taking a seat, I unbuttoned my jacket and pulled out the files. “I’m going to jump right into the meat of the matter.”

  “Please do. No reason to waste anyone’s time, now is there?” He sat across the buffed wooden table from me and slid his arms out in front of him. “I assume you want to haggle a little on the settlement. It would only be prudent to do so.”

  “No. Actually, I’ll be representing Mr. Kellington, and we won’t be settling out of court.” I pulled out a pair of glasses and perched them on my nose.

  His eyes grew wide. “Surely you’re pulling my leg. Have you seen the evidence stacked against Zek? I know your green, but here... let me offer you a piece of advice.”

  I glanced up. “I don’t need advice. If you’d like to show me the pictures you have as evidence, I’d love to see those.”

  “What?” His face contorted as if he’d eaten a lemon. “Why would you want to see pictures of a young girl’s body having been violated and bruised?”

  A smile lifted my lips. “You’re a lawyer and quite a successful one. You’d want to see them too. I’m not here to play games, Mr. Mills. I’m here to present a few facts to you as a respect to your practice. We’re not settling out of court, but if we go, we will bring every bit of Melissa’s past into the courtroom with us. Substantial evidence will point to the fact that this isn’t the first, but the fourth time she accused a man of rape and ended up settling out of court.”

  His eyes flashed and I could see the muscles in his jaw clench in anger. “How dare you imply that Melissa wasn’t violated!” He exhaled deeply, then sat back as his expression softened, but only slightly. “Do you have kids, Ms. Manning?”

  He wasn’t talking to me as a lawyer might another, but as an older man giving advice. It was the bane of my existence to look six years younger than I was. I’d been practicing law for five years, and I could hold my own. I didn’t need a training session, nor would I stand for one.

  “I do not, but if I did,” I leaned forward and locked my gaze onto his, “there is no way in hell that I would ever settle out of court for any amount of money. I would want the guy who touched my daughter to rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life.”

  “Well, do not mistake my graciousness for a lack of animosity and hate toward your client.”

  “He’s been your client for quite some time now. I’m a little taken aback by your willingness to settle due to that alone. Both the vile combination of him allegedly harming Melissa, combined with the trust that should have been part of your relationship... you must have been destroyed after receiving the news.” I moved back in my seat and busied myself with the files.

  “You have no idea.”

  “Of course not. I don’t have children.” I glanced up and gave him a blank stare. “I’ll need to meet with Melissa before we fully decide our next steps.”

  “You’re not meeting with my daughter. That’s not part of the process and you know it.” He stood up. “What kind of practice are they running over there at Dellup?”

  “The kind where we investigate and gather evidence before we reach any solid resolution, including settlements.” I stood as well. “You can schedule the meeting with Melissa for me, or we’ll set up the first round of hearings and I’ll bring to the stands her allegations as well as your continued involvement, as history has repeated itself once again. It’s not only her who will be on trial, Mr. Mills. You will be as well.”

  His jaw locked as his cheeks flushed pink. I had him, and though I hated to play hardball most days of the week, the old man needed a lesson more than I did. He was part of the ruse from what I could tell. I needed to dig quite a bit more, but my intuition rarely sent me in the wrong direction.

  “I’ll set up the meeting, but you’d be wise to talk to your senior counsel about settling. I’m not beyond bringing the full power of my firm to rest on this case.” He leaned forward, pressing his hands to the table top. “I’m the senior partner here. We will win this. No matter what.”

  “Good. I love a challenge. Your secretary has my number. Have her text me the time and place. Thank you for your time today. Always nice to meet a legend.” I picked up my bag and extended my hand, daring him with my expression to deny me.

  He shook my hand, his grip painfully tight. “You need a mentor. You have a lot of potential, but someone’s reputation in this field is only as good as their last win. Keep that in mind, Alisa.”

  “It’s Ms. Manning, and I will do just that, Mr. Mills. Thanks again.” I turned and walked out of the conference room as chill bumps broke out across my skin. The thought of Jon’s daughter sneaking into Zek’s office to seduce him sickened me. She had to be stopped, and I was almost excited at the idea of being the one to put my foot down in front of her.

  Some sick twisted part of me wanted to see the girl face to face so that I could assess what Zek saw in her. What was so intriguing about her that it made Zek Kellington break the rules? He was sexy as hell, so I could see what her play was even outside of wanting to take a large sum of his earnings. But for him... was it because she was young and perky? Maybe she had dark hair and he enjoyed that kind of girl.

  The few memories I had from high school where of him playing ball and he was always with a dark-haired cheerleader named Beth. What happened to them? Did he still see her?

  “Stop it,” I grumbled under my breath as I got on the elevator. My phone buzzed as I walked from the building and I answered it, not wanting to miss talking to anyone related to Zek’s cases.

  “Alisa Manning.”

  “Hi, Miss Manning. This is Jon Mills’ secretary. He said that he would like to schedule the meeting you requested tomorrow morning at nine-thirty. It will be at the coffee shop just downstairs in the bottom of our building if that works for you.” Her voice was less friendly than before, which caused my lip to turn up in a smirk. He was worried.

  Good. He should be.

  “That’s perfect. Thank you.” I walked out into the late afternoon and paused as the sun warmed my face.

  “Good day.” She hung up and I chuckled.

  Jon knew far more than he was ever going to give up, but I didn’t need the truth nearly as bad as I needed them to retract the suit. Tha
t was the goal, and I wasn’t giving up until we reached it.

  The fact that I could impress not only my new firm, but also Zek Kellington was just too much to pass up. Where most people loved success, I adored respect.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Zek

  I made it back to the house in record time as foreign emotions flooded me. Everything about her screamed at me. She was exactly the type of woman I needed beneath me in bed, or pressed to the shower.

  “Yeah, the shower. Fuck.” I typed in my code to the security system and walked into the house, damned and determined to spend an hour in the shower working myself past the neediness I felt because of her. It was just physical attraction. Nothing else. I would just keep telling myself that.

  A knock at the door forced me to pause mid-stride toward the back of the house. My cock was so hard it ached for release, and I was panting softly due to the desire that fucked me already. I imagined far too much happening between me and the busty blonde from my past on my drive back home. Whoever was at the door could take a hike. Mark had a key, and no one else mattered... except...

  “Alisa.” I turned and walked back to the front door, not thinking twice before pulling the door open. I was grateful that my shirt was fully untucked, seeing that Dane Warren stood in the open door, his eyes bloodshot and his face drawn in tightly.

  “Zek. I’m sorry to come here. I just... I just didn’t know where else to go.”

  I reached out and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him toward me as I punched him twice in the face in a quick succinct manner.

  “You ruined my life, you mother fucker.” I hit him again as he cowered away from me. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you and add to the list of reasons why I’m going to rot in jail.”

  He pulled away from me and reached up to cup his bloody nose. “I’m sorry, man. Fuck. I’ve done a million of these transactions and never had a problem.”

  “What the fuck do you want, Dane? You have two seconds to spit it out before I commence to fucking you up.” I growled and moved out onto the carport with him as he lifted one hand toward me, as if that were anywhere enough to fend me off with the mood I was in.

  “I’m running from them. I don’t know where else to go, but I’m not going to jail. Do you know what they do with small guys like me in pri—?”

  I shook my head. “Stop it. Get out of here. I’m not helping you, and I’m certainly not getting caught up in any more of your shit.”

  His laugh was almost manic and it set me on edge. He was drunk or high, and I was close to laying waste to him. “You blame me for this? You took the deal.”

  “Get out of here before I kill you. I’m fucking serious.” I moved toward him as he stumbled backward and landed on his butt.

  “Dude, stop it. You’re just going to add more shit to the list of reasons why you’re not at all the upstanding guy everyone believes you to be.” He snorted and rolled over as I moved toward him, punching him in the face again as he rolled back onto the ground and onto his side.

  I moved to tackle him and beat the hell out of him, but an old, beat up Honda drove up the driveway, and the guy sitting inside was one man I still respected very much.

  Clark Beeler.

  “What’s stopping you, Zek. Bring it on, tough guy.” Dane moved to get up, and I kicked him hard in the side, my temper having splintered and leaving me with nothing more than a red haze dancing in front of me.

  “Zek. Stop, man.” Clark walked toward me, picked up Dane and shoved him toward the road.

  “Get your ass out of here. I’ll call the cops, and they’ll haul you off so fast it’ll make your head spin.” He turned to look at me, and memories swam past my vision.

  I nodded and spun around, walking toward the house as I spoke over my shoulder. “Come in for a beer.”

  “I’m almost scared to. I hated it when you got all juiced up and kicked some guy’s ass when we were kids.” He walked into the house behind me and took a seat at the bar top, looking around. “I hope you don’t mind me coming by.”

  “Perfect timing actually. That little shit out there helped to set in motion all this stuff that’s snuffing out my life.” I shrugged and pulled two beers from the fridge, handing him one and popping the top on the other. “What’s going on, Clark? It’s been a while.”

  “Too long for me. I was just telling my wife, Cathy, that we need to invite you over for dinner. I miss us hanging out every once in a while.” Clark took a drink of his beer and studied me.

  I let out a long puff of air and rolled my shoulders. “I wanted to kill that weasel. He’s such a piece of shit, and yet I’m mad at myself for getting involved with someone like him. Every day of my life I worked to build up this life I have, to reach as high as I could... and it’s soon to be gone.”

  Concern brushed across his features as he sat the beer down. “What can I do?”

  “Nothing. I have to get out of this shit on my own.” I moved around to sit down next to him. “How’s your mom and dad?”

  “Good. They moved up to Seattle a few years ago. How’s Mark?”

  “Still peeking up skirts every chance he gets, but he’s married now. She’s a good woman. The best.” I lifted my beer toward my old friend. “To old memories. May the future hold enough warmth that we want to continue toward it.”

  “It will, Zek. You’ll get passed all this shit and whatever is ruined from it, you’ll rebuild it. A lot of good people believe in you. Just keep your head above water and be a good man. You always have been, bro.” He patted my back and turned back to his beer, glancing down at it as his smile tightened.

  “What?” I took a long drink of mine, needing to feel the effects of the liquor as soon as possible.

  “Nothing. I just wish I could do something to help you. I’m glad my sister is working on the case for you. She said the rape is a total ruse. She’ll figure all of that out for you. She’s incredible like that.”

  “Yeah, she is.” I turned my attention back to him. “Is she scared of me? ‘Cause you know I would never hurt her. She means too much to me, Clark.”

  “No.” He turned his head slightly and pinned me with a stare. “Why would you ask that?”

  I played with the label on my beer, not wanting to stare him in the face. Seeing him brought up so many good times, and yet so many bad ones at the same time.

  “One of the places she wants to inspect for evidence is the cabin where Melissa and I had sex. I’m good with that, but when I mentioned us going out there together, she locked up.” I shrugged. “She said that staying at the cabin with me wasn’t a smart bet at all. I would never ever touch her.”

  “Unless she wanted you to.” He chuckled. “I could hear it in your voice the other day. You still have something for her, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know. I loved her back when we were kids. I lied the other day. I didn’t want you pissed at me.” I turned to him, wanting his trust, needing to be young and on the path to fun once again. “I never had sex with her or any of that jazz though. I really did respect you too much.”

  “Too much, man.” He gave me a warning look. “She’s not scared of you. Fuck... she’s not scared of anyone or anything, which scares the hell out of me.”

  “How so?” I took another drink of my beer, wanting to say a million things and yet not wanting to divulge too much. I didn’t know how I felt just yet. There was no reason to work it all out in front of Alisa’s older brother. Older protective brother.

  “I just expected her to grow out of being so damn ballsy.” He chuckled. “She’s only got more so. She’s one of the top defense attorneys in the country. How is that so? My little baby sister is a hard-baller.”

  “What else could she have meant if she wasn’t scared about me hurting her?” I got up and walked into the kitchen, in search of something to snack on. My knuckles ached from hitting Dane so hard, but the bastard deserved it. Where was his car? I hadn’t noticed it when I got home. Did he walk, or just park down the ro
ad?

  “Maybe she meant that it’s not safe to spend any time with you because of the feelings she once had. Could be dangerous and lead you guys down a road that neither of you are ready for.” He glanced up as I turned. “I figure you’ll survive this rape charge, but what about the insider trading? That’s a long sentence, isn’t it? That’s jail time.”

  “It is, but with my status, I’m praying it’s under house arrest.” I pressed my back to the sink and thought about spilling my guts. Lizzy had been pretty staunch in her demand that I not express my guilt to anyone, but this was Clark. We’d had almost every experience two best friends could have together. He was like a brother to me.

  And Celia was supposed to be like family too.

  “Are you saying you did it?” His mouth drew into a tight line.

  “Not at all. I’m saying that the weasel you just saw getting his ass handed to him in my front yard did a great job of implicating me in all of this Jessup stuff.” I pulled out a bag of chips and tore it open before walking back toward Clark. “I can only fight against it, but from what I’ve uncovered, it’s not looking good.”

  “I’m all for you and Alisa dating if that’s what’s happening right now, Zek, but if you’re going to jail, then I don’t want my sister involved in that shit. I know you understand that.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of chips.

  “I get it. We’re not going to date. We’re working on my cases, and there’s this nagging desire to explore some of the feelings we had for each other as kids, but neither of us will cross the line. She’s pretty resolved to help me and then get the fuck away from me.” I popped a couple of chips in my mouth and chewed slowly as my mind wandered to a life stuck in the house all the time. A shudder ran through me.

  “I doubt that, but you should know that she’s just getting out of a nasty divorce. Her ex-husband wasn’t at all the kind of man that my sister should have been with, but I guess when you feel like you have no options, then you settle. She very much settled.” He reached for more chips, and I offered him the bag as I wiped my hands on my pants.