Chapter Forced to Submit
“Coming!” Daphne said as she heard a knock at her door. She opened the door to find James with his tie loose and a bottle of wine in his hand.
“Hi,” he said.
Daphne wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, letting the past couple of days go by the door.
James could see that she was stressed out as he was with everything that was happening. There was the possibility that they would have this case come back on the people who had started it and they had supported. James didn’t think that they were at fault—that was his gut reaction. It remained to be seen, though.
He hugged Daphne. Even with all of that, he felt safe with her in his arms.
“I’m going to owe Lucy a big one for looking after Julia all these times,” James said.
“Good thing that her daughters and son go to the same school,” Daphne said.
Lucy had been covering for James, looking after Julia when James went off for a date with Daphne or stayed over. He had looked after the kids for Lucy plenty of times when she and her husband wanted to go down to Niagara or have some alone time.
James walked into the apartment and closed the door.
“You made it just in time,” Daphne said as James saw the array of Chinese food on the counter.
“We’re going to have to teach you some cooking skills,” James said.
“Well, if someone wasn’t working me so hard, even getting me to do overtime, I might be able to cook something up.” Daphne giggled. It was clear that she wasn’t talking about the overtime for the legal case, but their dates spent together.
“Well, one must always seek counsel before moving forward.” James smiled. He ditched the coat and moved to get some food. “How’s it going with the new client?” He helped himself to food and Daphne found glasses for the wine.
“Clearwater Solutions? They’re really good. Got a smart plan to clean up waterways and it seems that they’re going international. There are groups in Bali that are interested in using them to clean up the plastics at different tourist attractions.” Daphne grabbed the glasses. “Thanks for putting me in contact with them.”
“No problem. I just sent them to the best legal team I knew,” James said. When it came down to work, they didn’t sugarcoat it for each other. He didn’t mess around and neither did she. They were both motivated; they had their own goals and they wanted to pursue them together if it was possible.
Daphne handed him a glass as he finished loading his plate.
“Thank you.” James took the glass as Daphne pulled him back. She surprised him with a kiss that was slow as she explored his mouth with her tongue before pulling back.
“Just wanted an upfront payment.” She smiled at James.
“Upfront, huh?” James smiled and moved to put his food down at the table.
They talked about work over dinner, and Daphne asked after Julia and James eagerly replied. They quickly went through a few glasses of wine. James’s eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to her unbuttoned blouse and the faint hint of her black bra, or look at her stocking-covered legs.
Daphne got out of her chair and walked past James. “Let me just go freshen up.” She kissed him deep and slow again before she went off to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.
James cleared up the plates and nursed the last of the wine as he looked at the bedroom door.
The door opened, showing Daphne wearing matching light-purple panties and bra, with mid-thigh length stockings.
James’s eyes raked over her body, taking it all in. To him, she was a goddess, the only thing in the room. He put down his glass, looking at her as she played with her hair and walked forward. With each step, blood rushed to James’s groin. He got so hard that it hurt and throbbed.
Daphne grabbed his tie and pulled him to her lips, kissing him with increased hunger. She pulled away, not letting his tie go as she pulled him forward, guiding him by the tie.
Her ass bounced with every step, looking so good he wished he could bite it. He grabbed an ass cheek, feeling the strength and elasticity in it.
“Naughty.” Daphne looked back at him as she pulled him into the bedroom. She pushed him onto the bed, making him sprawl out. She swayed in front of James before grabbing his knees, using her ass to grind against James’s groin.
James could feel the curve of her ass and the heat of her sex as his pants twitched under her teasing.
Daphne turned around, pulling off his shoes and working on his pants.
James pulled off his shirt.
Daphne pulled off her bra, letting it drop to the side, revealing her perky breasts and erect pink nipples. She turned around. Grabbing her panties from both sides, she dropped forward, giving James a full view of her sex from behind.
James grabbed himself and started stroking, the tension making it painful for him.
Daphne turned around, taking it slow step by slow step. She stood on the bed and walked until she was above James, giving him a full view of her from below. He could see the glistening juices on the inside of her legs.
“I’ve been working long and hard for you—feel it’s only right you do some work on me first.” Daphne dropped down, bringing that beautiful sight closer until her mound came into contact with his flickering tongue. A shocked noise escaped her lips as she dropped down more, pushing her mound to his mouth. His tongue flickered back and forth and prodded forward, lapping at her clit as she let out a low moan.
She shifted her hips back and forth; she gripped her hair and pinched her nipple, letting out gasps and moans. When she looked down, she would see James looking up at her, drinking in the sight of her.
She rolled off James, lying on her back as James rolled over and looked up from between her legs. She stretched her legs, exposing herself to him fully as she used her fingers to reveal her opening to him.
James didn’t need to be told anything as he rubbed his tip against her clit. He didn’t need to do anything; she was already wet as he pushed inside her fully.
She wrapped her hands around his neck, bringing him toward her. They kissed between their ragged breathing.
“Slower, deeper.” She guided him as he listened and followed what she said.
She arched her back as he hit her in the right places.
“Faster!” She gasped as waves of pleasure filled her body. Her body tensed as James’s beard ran over her breasts and his tongue circled her nipple as his thrusts became faster.
Daphne closed her eyes, unable to keep them open anymore as she rode the pleasure through her entire body.
“Yes, yes—aah, that’s it,” she said breathlessly as she got closer and closer. James’s lips moved to her neck, causing goose bumps across her body.
James shifted to slow and deep, all the way to the base as she let out huffing breaths each time he met her.
Hearing her cute noises, James could only grunt, trying to hold back as he fought to make her reach the end. He bit her earlobe and sucked on it, gaining pleasure from her own building excitement. He saw the stress on her before and he wanted to take it away, wanted to replace it with a face filled with bliss.
Looking at her, feeling her, drove him closer to the edge.
She bucked against him as she reached the end. Being clamped down on, James could only continue for a handful of more strokes before he pulled out.
Daphne was still twitching as James leaned forward, tired from it all as he used his hands to support him.
“Ohh.” Daphne let out a pleased breath that sounded like a cat purring. She grabbed either side of James’s face and kissed him. Their tongues intertwined and searched each other before pulling back and then searching and clashing again.
James thought that making out with someone was something that only teenagers and kids could do for hours. He had been wrong. With Daphne, every kiss left him breathless and wanting more.
Finally they released, the two of them breathing heavily. James rolled over, looking at Daphne and her rising and falling chest. His hands, traced down her body, slowly reaching between her legs, playing with her clit.
She shook, biting down on her finger as her hips moved of their own accord against his fingers as her body reacted beyond her control.
James teased and rubbed. When she reached her climax, she curled her toes and rose up from the bed, her back arched in a beautiful curve.
James wasn’t jealous. He was happy to have brought her over the edge.
“Come here!” Daphne turned to her side, seeing James there, and kissed him heavily.
James couldn’t help but smile at how fierce she kissed him, as if she wouldn’t let him go.
She pulled back, her eyes still dark and deep with desire even though her physical want had been sated for now.
He looked from those deep eyes to her parted lips that shone in the light and pulled her in for another kiss. Her naked body against him felt comfortable—it felt right and he didn’t want to leave.
***
The next day, Daphne received a new email.
“Oh shit. That’s good.” She looked at the information back from her expert. It was clear that what Aubier and the other residents were doing wasn’t good with burning all of their garbage, but the fact was that there was nearly no way that they would be able to create this amount of pollution as they had with just burning garbage.
She was sitting back in her chair, about to text James, when Reggie burst in.
“We’ve got them!”
“What?” she asked, forgetting her phone.
“I was just told by a friend that Mister Aubier’s legal defense told him to give up the Mera Corporation and had his sentence reduced. He admitted his guilt for altering facts, and he told us all that happened between him and a Mera Corporation representative. Now, while the person was not actually from the Mera Corporation, an arrest warrant has been issued. It looks like the federal government is looking to follow the trail back to wherever it comes from,” Reggie said.
“We can only hope that it makes it back to the Mera Corporation. If it does, then they’ll be found tampering with witnesses and altering facts. Then this case is going to drop on them.”
Daphne received a new email. She glanced over to it and smiled, clicking on it.
Reggie moved to her side so he could see the email.
“Looks like they want to settle,” Daphne said, reading the email from the Mera Corporation legal team.
“They must’ve got the news as well,” Reggie said. “What’s our play? Fight them in court to the end or take the out-of-court settlement?”
“We’ve got them on the ropes. We know that this pollution wasn’t caused by the people in the community. We know that their key witness was tampered with and accepted something to get up on that stand. If they’re coming to us with a settlement, it means that they don’t want this to go any further. Even if they make it seem that they’re coming from a position of power, we both know that it’s just a tactic to increase the chances of us taking their deal.”
Reggie nodded and smiled. “They probably think that because we’re a new and small firm that we won’t want to fight them as long as we can get most of what we want.”
“Right. They don’t think that we’ll hold them off. After all, this is the highest profile case that we’ve taken on so far and we’re talking millions in compensation,” Daphne said.
“That’s my girl—high-powered lady in charge.” Reggie snapped his fingers, cocking his head to the side, proud to see the fight in Daphne’s eyes.
“What do you think?” Daphne asked. It was his name on the company as well.
“I say that we beat this Mera Corporation into the dirt. We came to make a difference, not to just start out on our own,” Reggie said.
Daphne couldn’t help but smile, looking at Reggie. “We still need to pass this offer by the clients,” Daphne said.
“I’d strongly advise them to let us just beat the bastards.”
“I will too.” Daphne smiled.
***
The people in the lawsuit stayed the course and let Daphne continue to fight. The court said that they were pushing back the case by a few weeks so that they could review new information.
Now it was no longer the Wilderness Outreach that was scared about the increase in time but the Mera Corporation that was trying to edge in a deal out of court.
Daphne knew that she had them and she wasn’t willing to let them go. She held her ground, as did the people in the Kashechewan community and the Wilderness Outreach Incubator.
It was reaching spring by the time that they had their next turn in court. Dom and James came to the proceedings.
Daphne rose as the judge came in before regaining her seat.
“Due to some unforeseen circumstances, a judgment has been reached. Mister Aubier has confirmed that he was offered a sum of money to give his testimony that was meant to draw more attention to his own wrongdoings than to the Mera Corporation.
“This court rules that the Mera Corporation will pay out the full amount asked by the Kashechewan residents in the class action lawsuit in Innisfeild versus Mera. This will be figured out by the legal teams and paid within no more than five years. Thank you.” The judge slammed his gavel down on the wood block, stood and left the courtroom.
Daphne looked to Reggie with a big grin before looking back at James and Dom. Dom was head down, texting on his phone as James gave her a big smile and two thumbs up.
They’d won, and with it, they wouldn’t need to hide their relationship for any longer.
Daphne couldn’t help but beam back at James as they walked out of the court.
“Well, I think that it would be good to go and grab a victory drink,” James said.
“There’s still a lot of stuff to be filed and we still need to talk to their representatives and the courts to see how the Mera Corporation will be paying back the people of Kashechewan,” Daphne said excitedly. “When we get the first payments, then we can celebrate.”
“Always ten steps ahead, this one.” Reggie’s head tilted down, with a playful purse to his lips.
***
It was Saturday night and Daphne was over at James’s house. Julia was doing her homework as James cooked and she watched the television.
“This week, the Mera Corporation lost a lawsuit brought forward by the Kashechewan community, near one of their chemical plants. It was deemed that they were not adhering to health and safety regulations, endangering the community. Since then, information has come out with alleged witness tampering and failure to provide accurate information for the courts. A new filing has also been submitted by the Mera Employees Union, looking into conditions that the workers were working in,” the woman at the news desk said.
Daphne smiled to herself and drank from her wine glass.
It seemed that the Mera Corporation was being bombarded from every side now that the first case had gone through.
Environmental groups were talking about them and their practices, with different people running tests around their plants. Environment Canada and the federal health and safety agency had started investigating and politicians were having a field day, pushing for all kinds of investigations, using it as a stepping platform to show that they were with their people and they were not willing to let big business put the people, or the environment, in danger.
Using this momentum, Daphne was able to force the Mera Corporation into a corner, pushing them to create a fund that would pay out to the people of the Kashechewan community yearly.
“Seems that we’ve set a fire under their asses and everyone’s coming in to get their bit now.” James wiped his hands as he looked at the newscaster.
“Serves them right. They must’ve known about this but didn’t do anything about it,” Daphne said, having no mercy for them.
James only nodded, agreeing with her. “So, when can we make us official?” James asked.
“When the settlement goes through. Should only be a month or so.”
James leaned over the counter. “Hmm, don’t know if I can last that long.”
Daphne leaned over and kissed him. “Well, tough luck,” Daphne said, drinking from her wine with a smile on her lips.
“Merciless,” James complained.
“I’ll make up for it—later.” She winked as she heard Julia coming.
“Daphne, I can’t do my English homework. It’s so hard,” Julia complained with her binder and pen in hand.
“Come here and let me see.” Daphne pat the seat beside her at the breakfast bar as she put down her wine.
James smiled at the two of them and went back to working on dinner.
Daphne listened as Julia explained her problem, her hand resting on the girl’s back as she read the question and listened to Julia’s complaints. Her eyes moved up, seeing James working, and she fell into thought. It wouldn’t be a bad life, living like this. She smiled to herself and recalled what Julia had just said.
Julia made it seem as if the question was impossible. Daphne saw right through it and helped to guide her to the answer.
Julia seemed to have a flash of inspiration as she started writing furiously in her workbook.
James looked over. His expression seemed to read Daphne’s mind before he turned back to his meal prep.
“Wouldn’t be bad at all,” Daphne admitted to herself.
“What wouldn’t?” Julia asked, hearing Daphne.
“Nothing. Just talking to myself.” Daphne stroked Julia’s hair, making the young girl smile at the attention.