Chapter 30

The room was foggy as Rose walked in. It was the courtroom she had been in before, the one where she and Noah had been held hostage. But there was something different about it, something strange. The colors in the room all seemed muted like they were out of focus or on a television screen. Something didn’t seem right to Rose.

Then she realized what was going on, she was dreaming.

It was another one of her dreams, and Rose was positive about it. But she wanted to keep going. She wanted to see what would come of her dream and why she was in that courtroom. Certainly, she had experienced many nightmares about that day, but in this dream, she didn’t feel afraid at all. In fact, she was oddly aroused and couldn’t figure out why.

She looked around the room and felt herself moan as suddenly Noah was behind her. Rose was bent over the table as he thrust into her, and she couldn’t help moaning loudly. There was no one else in the room, and she was enjoying her little dream.

Slowly, Noah thrust into her and held onto her hips. Her business skirt was pressed up above her thighs, and she felt the cold table below her as it touched her naked breasts. There hadn’t been a part of the dream leading up to that moment, and Rose wasn’t exactly sure why she was dreaming so vividly about Noah again, but she liked it. Imagining his hands on her body and his thrusts inside of her was a safe way of dealing with her desires.

Suddenly, she heard laughing in her dream, and she looked up to see Elaine standing over her and pointing while she cackled. The moment was shocking enough that it woke Rose from her slumber, and she sat straight up in bed.

After reading until well past midnight, Rose had fallen asleep with discovery files all around her. She quickly checked the clock and saw that it was only five o’clock in the morning. As much as she wanted to just go back to sleep, Rose wanted to get herself together and get back to the office before Susan showed up.

Even though Susan was intent on belittling Rose and trying to put her in her place, Rose was going to be prepared. She planned to get to work early enough to type up a summary of their new case and present it to Susan as soon as she arrived. It was much easier to win over an enemy with kindness than it was to change the enemies’ behavior all together. If Rose had to put on a fake sorority girl smile while she worked with Susan, that was perfectly fine. But Rose wasn’t about to give up the case just because Susan was a jerk to work with.

As she arrived at work, Rose finished up her notes and still had time to make the coffee in the break room and watch a little of the morning news. It was always depressing to see what the news stories were, though. It was like putting a magnifying glass on a family that was in the midst of turmoil and asking everyone in the world to gawk at them. She didn’t like the news or the media much at all.

When she flipped the television off, Rose noticed Susan walking down the hall with a man and a woman. Anger started to stir as Rose realized Susan was trying to meet with their client before she thought Rose was arriving. Susan didn’t even know the case at all. She hadn’t spent the entire previous day reading, and she hadn’t even had a chance for Rose to give her the summary notes. Rose wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she knew that she wasn’t going to just stand by and let Susan take the clients all for herself.

Quickly, Rose grabbed her summary sheets and her coffee and made her way to the conference room. Susan looked pretty damned surprised as Rose walked in, but Rose did a great job of controlling her face and not showing expression. There was absolutely no way that Rose was going to let Susan just walk all over her like that. Rose was much more prepared, and she was going to take the lead on the case, even if Susan got to keep the official title.

“Hello, I’m Rose Tate; I’ll also be working on this case with Susan,” Rose said as she extended her hand to the woman in the room first.

Over the last year, Rose had learned that the wife always needed to be greeted first. By doing that, Rose was acknowledging that the woman was there. Often times, the male clients would take hold of a meeting and not let their wife get a word in edgewise, but Rose liked to make sure everyone had a chance to describe what was going on.

In almost everything Rose did, she felt worried about how the women in the room were judging her. The thoughts had only started in the last few months, and Rose just couldn’t work through them.

In the past, Rose hadn’t cared at all what others thought. She didn’t care if women hated her or their husbands loved her. But she was making a new life for herself and getting on the good side of the women she worked with was certainly a big goal Rose had.

Women were notoriously much harder to get along with than men. Rose knew this, and she was going to make an effort to get Abby Stern to like and trust her. If the wife could trust Rose, the negotiations would go by much easier.

“Abby Stern,” the young woman said as she shook Rose’s hand.

“Theo Stern,” the man said when Rose moved down the table to him.

Abby was a knockout brunette with a curvy figure and amazing bright blue eyes. She seemed rather shy but confident all the same. Theo was tall, slim, and he had a bit of scruff for a beard; he was very confident and had the intense eye contact with both Susan and Rose to prove his level of comfort.

“We were just getting started, glad you could join us,” Susan said with her fake smile.

“Me too,” Rose responded without looking at Susan at all. “First off, I need to know if you guys are considering a settlement on this case.”

Susan seemed shocked as she looked at the couple and then over at Rose. The last thing they wanted to do was settle the case without a courtroom battle. The only way Rose and Susan would make money would be from hours billed. So a long courtroom battle would mean more money for the both of them.

The problem that Rose saw was that Abby was guilty. Sure, she might not have been charged legally, and she probably didn’t do the actual deed, but she did murder the man. There was no doubt about it. The actions that Abby took on that night had led to the death of a man. Rose couldn’t guarantee a win. It was a hard mental defeat for her, but the next step was to see what the couple wanted to do. If they wanted to fight in court, Rose and Susan would happily help them, but Rose didn’t think that would be necessary.

Theo and Abby looked at each other and then nodded. It was nice to see the connection between the two of them. Rose could tell that they were deeply in love. Abby held onto her husband’s hand and glanced at him for wisdom, but Theo also looked to Abby for wisdom as well. It seemed like the perfect relationship; at least from what Rose could see. She was very aware that behind closed doors, people often had much different relationships.

“We would consider it, if it was reasonable,” Theo said. “But it’s my understanding the woman is asking for fifty million dollars.”

“That’s certainly not reasonable. We can help you. It might take a few months, but we can get you into court and let a jury decide the truth,” Susan said.

Unfortunately for Susan, she hadn’t read all the file information and really didn’t understand the facts in the case. Rose strongly believed they had just as much chance of losing a jury vote as they would of winning, and those were bad odds when fifty million dollars was in the mix. The problem was that losing wasn’t in the cards for Rose at all. She had only lost a couple cases since joining the firm and wasn’t about to lose such a high profile case. Rose genuinely thought the couple should settle.

“Here, Susan, I have the summary notes you requested,” Rose said with a smile. “Mr. and Mrs. Stern, I don’t want you to settle if that’s not in your heart. I’ll fight with you to the bitter end. But I have to be honest. I don’t know if you’ll win. I came into this case thinking that I would be able to help you avoid paying anything at all, but I am just not sure anyone can guarantee you that.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Abby said quietly.

“I know dear,” Theo said as he held onto her hand.

“What Nicole is charging is that you were negligent in your behavior, and her husband ended up dead.”

“But Nicole is the one who killed him or the bullets from the police. I’m not really sure. All I know is that I didn’t do it.”

“Okay, let’s take a step back. Why is Nicole coming after you guys right now?” Rose asked as she pulled a pen out.

“She wants money,” Theo said plainly.

“Why does she want money? I mean her husband was filthy rich, wasn’t he?”

Rose knew the answer to her own question, but she wanted to give Theo and Abby a chance to come to the conclusion themselves. It was always easier to negotiate a settlement when the client understood the true motives of the person who was suing them.

“His funds were all seized after his death and taken because of his drug business,” Susan chimed in.

Rose smiled at her. It was nice to know that Susan was reading the notes Rose had provided.

“Exactly!” Rose said. “I don’t think Nicole wants this to go to court. I don’t even think she wishes either of you bad will. I think she has no job, and no one wants to hire her after what happened. I think she needs money to live, and you’re her only chance.”

“Oh, I didn’t think about that,” Abby said as tears welled up in her eyes. “Nicole is the only reason I’m alive. Because of what she did, I’m here.”

“We can’t just give her money because she wants it,” Theo said sternly.

“Why not? You give millions to charities all around the world. This is a woman you know. Someone we both feel bad for because of what she’s been through. And she’s the one who saved your wife’s life,” Abby said as she crossed her arms.

“Very true, but we can’t afford fifty million dollars.”

“How about I have her come in, and we bring a negotiator and see if we can’t settle this?” Rose suggested.

“I know a negotiator we can get on short notice,” Susan added.

Rose and Susan looked on as Theo and Abby talked quietly to them. It felt like they were actually working as a team. Rose could see the defensive wall figuratively crumbling between them.

“Thanks for the notes,” Susan said with a genuine smile.

“No problem.”

“I can’t afford more than five million,” Theo finally said as he broke from his huddle with Abby.

“I think she’ll take it. I think if we get her in here and you three together; I think she just wants this all to be over. Are you alright with me calling her?”

“Yes,” Abby said firmly.

Rose got up and went out to her desk. She was able to get Nicole and her lawyer into their office within the hour. The mediator was late, though, so the group sat in the conference room together for a bit before Susan had a bright idea.

“Let’ s get the lawyer out of the room and let them talk,” she said quietly to Rose.

“Great idea.”

“George, would you like something to eat?” Susan asked. “We have a whole table filled with bagels and other morning snacks.

“Sure, as long as we are waiting,” the lawyer responded.

As soon as the lawyer and Susan were out of the room, Rose found a reason to excuse herself too and left Theo, Abby, and Nicole alone to talk things out. She could only hope that the three would be able to come to some sort of kind understanding about the situation.

Fifteen minutes went by, and as the mediator arrived, Susan stopped stalling the lawyer, and they all went back into the room. Rose looked at Theo and Abby for some sort of clue to what was going on, but they weren’t saying anything with their faces.

“Nicole, I need to thank you for what you did to save my wife that night. I hate that we are here, and if it would help you out, I’d settle this claim so we can all move on.”

“Oh, no, Ms. Gioacchino isn’t going to settle,” her lawyer started to say, but Nicole put her hand on his arm to stop him.

“I’d appreciate that. What number are you thinking?”

“What number could represent the life of my wife?” Theo said. “I don’t know, Nicole, but I can’t pay fifty million; you know I don’t have that.”

“How about two million?” she asked.

“Yes,” Theo quickly responded. “Yes, I would settle this right now and have the money wired into your escrow as soon as the papers were signed.”

“Nicole, if he’s willing to give you two million just like that, we have a good chance at court. Let’s take this to the courtroom,” George, the lawyer said.

“I have no need for courtrooms,” Nicole said as she stood up and walked around the table. “You’re a good man, Theo. I know why Aldo loved you so much. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Nicole,” Theo said as the two gave each other a big hug.

It was an emotional moment for Rose. Both parties had reason to draw the whole case out and drag each other through the mud, but there they were hugging each other and agreeing to a reasonable settlement. It gave her a little hope for humanity.

“We will have the papers drawn up and a messenger over to your office,” Rose said to George.

George didn’t look happy at all at Rose or Susan. Their little stunt had just cost him thousands of dollars in billable hours. But Rose felt good about what they had done. Not every case needed to go to court. Litigation was about more than dragging each other into the dirt. Each party just wanted to be heard, and when level heads were involved, both parties could end up winning.

“Elaine’s going to kill us,” Susan whispered. “We probably just lost a million dollars in billable hours.”

“Yeah, don’t worry; I’ll take the fall.”

“No way. I loved this. If you go down, I’ll go down with you.”

“Well, Susan, hopefully, neither of us will go down.”