As much as Kelly disliked Spencer, it was hard not to admire his work ethic. They’d both been working in Chambers & Quinn for just close to a month, but the man had already cleared three cases and won them all. He was often the first at the office and among the last to leave while preparing his cases. And when he was in court… well, it was a sight to see.
“Ladies and gentlemen, a man is dead. And my client took his life.” Spencer paused to let his words sink in as his gaze swept over each member of the jury. He paced in front of the jury box. “But we’re not here because my client took that man’s life. We’re here because the prosecution thinks that my client deserves to go to jail for it. But does he?”
One by one, he stared at the members of the jury as he continued, “Mr. Assistant District Attorney here keeps on waxing on about the sanctity of Derrick Mosley’s life and how my client, Brian, didn’t respect it.” Spencer turned to face the A.D.A. “But what about the sanctity of Brian’s life? What about the fact that Derrick Mosley trampled on the sanctity of my client’s life over and over again, in every way possible, short of killing him?”
The jurors glared at the A.D.A as if he was personally to blame for this situation. Though the A.D.A maintained a stoic expression, you could tell that Spencer’s words were getting to him.
His tone grave, Spencer continued, “This man whose sanctity of life my client was supposed to respect abused my client for over sixteen years. Brian is twenty-two right now, which means he was six years old when Mr. Mosley began to sexually abuse him. Six years old.”
Several jurors winced. The A.D.A frowned.
“The A.D.A wants you to be offended that Brian defended himself after sixteen years. You know what offends me?” Spencer spun around to fix his piercing gaze on the A.D.A. again. With a sneer, he said, “That there were several reports made to the government in the course of those sixteen years about my client’s abuse. That his teachers and neighbors said something was off in that family and yet no one did anything.”
Frowning, he continued, “If the government had investigated just one of those reports, we wouldn’t be here today. If they had taken my client out of that house, Derrick Mosley wouldn’t be dead, and my client wouldn’t be dealing with the crippling effects of sixteen years of abuse. But hey, let’s spend over fifty thousand dollars to prosecute the boy because he finally got big enough to defend himself because they wouldn’t. Hey, let’s spend another fifty thousand to imprison him because the person he dared to kill is the nation’s most beloved football coach.”
This time the A.D.A. actually squirmed in his seat.
“If this was any other man, the prosecution would’ve put a lid on it.” Spencer laughed but there was no amusement in his tone. “Let’s face it, the only reason we’re here is because Derrick Mosley is a celebrity. His death makes for good TV. It’s a good platform for the District Attorney’s office to flex its muscles and show us that they’re doing their job. But the only thing they’ve shown us today is that a celebrity’s life is more sanctified than that of everyone else, than ours. That the celebrity can do anything to us, to our children, as long as he keeps bringing us those trophies…”
Kelly, who was watching Spencer weave his spell around everyone in the courtroom, was in awe. Though she was his second and had watched him prepare for this trial, she still couldn’t quite believe how good he was. Goodness, the man had a tongue like the devil; seductive, eloquent and oh so convincing.
And the jury ate it all up.
They were listening keenly, and some were now even nodding in agreement as he spoke. Any fool could see that he had them right where he wanted them – in the palm of his hands. No wonder he’d had a ninety percent conviction record when he was at the District Attorney’s office. He was a beast! When she grew up, she wanted to be just like him.
Ugh! What was she saying? She gave herself a mental slap. She wanted to be nothing like Spencer. Nothing. So he was good in court – big deal. She’d seen better. Okay fine, she hadn’t seen better but whatever!
“That was a good speech you gave in there,” she complimented Spencer once they left the courtroom.
“Good?” Spencer’s eyes twinkled in amusement and his lips lifted in a smile. “Don’t you think that’s an understatement?”
That smile! The man was already devilishly handsome; did he really need to smile like that? And why was her heart skipping so oddly? He really needed to stop smiling.
Kelly didn’t even realize she was just staring at him until he clicked his fingers in front of her face. “Kelly?”
“What? What?” She took a step back.
He was still smiling. “Where did you go?”
Immediate heat rushed up her face. She really needed to stop this. Lately, she’d found herself watching – okay, admiring Spencer more times than she cared to admit. It was bloody annoying. Why did Spencer have to be eye candy? And why the hell was he so nice these days? She preferred when he was a smarmy jackass who acted like the world revolved around him. This version of him was so damn hard to hate.
Looking everywhere but at him, she mumbled, “Nowhere.”
Spencer looked like he was about to say something but right then his gaze skated past her. Kelly turned to see what he was looking at and found Elijah Harris, the A.D.A. who was handling Brian’s case, waving for Spencer to head over.
Spencer grinned. “He probably wants to talk plea deals.”
Kelly smiled in response. “They’re feeling the heat.”
“They should.”
“Are we going to take the deal if they offer it?”
“Let’s first find out what it is,” he said. “Why don’t you head to the office first? I’ll meet you there when I’m done with Harris.”
Kelly nodded and minutes later, she headed back to Chambers & Quinn. If she thought that just having come back from court was an excuse to take a break, she was wrong. As soon as she got to the office, Angelina handed her a file for their newest case and ordered her to start on research. Considering that the pre-trial was scheduled for the next day, it meant that Kelly was in for a late night at the office.
With a sigh, Kelly trudged back to her office.
No wonder she couldn’t take Sin’s advice to terrorize Spencer. Who had the time or the energy? Even worse, Spencer consistently treated her professionally and as nothing more than a colleague. It would’ve been the height of pettiness not to do the same.
About an hour later, Marie skipped into the office, drawing the attention of everyone there. But she had eyes for only one person. “Kelly?”
“Yeah?” Kelly looked up from her computer to find the receptionist’s eyes glittering with unrestrained excitement. “What’s up?”
“Someone’s asking for you at the reception.”
“Who?” Kelly frowned. With so much work to do, the last thing she needed was an interruption. However, given Marie’s excitement and the fact that she’d come personally to announce the visitor instead of just calling, the guest had to be someone interesting.
“You won’t believe this.” Marie paused for dramatic effect. “Yuri Yoneshige.”
“Who?” Kelly blinked. She had no idea who that was.
But her male colleagues did. Their gasps and questions met Marie’s announcement. “Yuri Yoneshige?” “No way.” “Kelly, how the hell do you know Yoneshige?”
“I don’t know him,” Kelly said causing even more stunned looks and gasps. Their strange reactions were enough to make her ask, “Am I supposed to know him?”
“He’s only the most recently minted billionaire,” Casper explained. “You’ve heard of Rainsoft, right?”
“Rainsoft, Rainsoft, Rainsoft,” Kelly tested the name on her tongue. Where had she heard the name before? “Oh, the tech company that makes those games?”
“Those games?” Duke stared at her like she’d just insulted his mother. “They’re the best games on the street right now. The dude is a king in the game world. He-”
“Yoneshige is the CEO of Rainsoft,” Russell cut Duke off mid-sentence. “How do you know him?”
“I don’t. Maybe he’s mistaken me for someone else.” Kelly rose from her desk and followed Marie to the reception.
The only person in the reception was a tall, pony-tailed man who appeared to be in his early forties. He looked like he’d just dropped in while on his way to a rock-concert; stud in his ear, barbed wire tattoo peeking beneath the sleeve of his black, graphic tee, metal wristband, and ripped skinny jeans that clung to his thin legs like a second skin.
Had Yuri left? Kelly wondered as she looked around the room waiting for a CEO-like man to emerge from somewhere.
“Here she is, Mr. Yoneshige,” Marie smiled at Mr. Punk Rock even as she pushed Kelly forward.
Still shocked that he was a CEO, Kelly tentatively greeted. “Hello?”
“Kelly?” Yuri’s eyes lit up in obvious glee as he rose up to greet her. “It’s great to see you again.”
Again? Had they met before? If they had, she didn’t remember. However, the man was smiling at her like they were long lost friends.
Aware of Marie watching her every action, Kelly forced a smile and took Yuri’s outstretched hand. “It’s great to see you too, Mr. Yoneshige.”
“Just call me Yuri.” Yuri studied her for a long and, frankly, uncomfortable moment. The corners of his mouth turned up in a slow smile. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Was she that obvious? Kelly offered him a sheepish smile. “No. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Yuri laughed. “I’d be more surprised if you remembered me. The last time you and I met, you were four years old and still totting a plastic stethoscope around so you could be like your dad.” He gave her an appreciative head-to-toe once over. “You’ve certainly grown up well.”
“Thank you,” Kelly responded absent-mindedly still stuck on the fact that they went so far back that he even knew her father.
Before she could ask further questions, the elevator pinged. When the doors opened, Lawrence stepped out of the elevator, a huge grin already plastered on his chubby face. Usually when he came to their floor, it was to see Spencer, but today it was obvious that he was here for Yuri.
“Yuri Yoneshige. As I live and breathe.” Lawrence pumped the other man’s hand enthusiastically. “I thought you said you’d rather swim in a river filled with rusty, tetanus-infected razor blades then step into Chambers & Quinn.”
Yuri grinned. “You finally got something I liked, so I changed my mind.”
“Would that something be our very talented new associate?” Lawrence waggled his brow suggestively as his gaze switched between Yuri and Kelly.
“Something like that,” Yuri hedged.
Somehow, someway, Kelly found herself being herded to the fifth floor with Yuri. She even got to see Lawrence’s luxurious office for the very first time. Yuri was such a distinguished guest that soon the other two managing partners showed up to greet him and chat. It would be a lie to say that Kelly wasn’t intimidated by all the successful men in the room. Next to them, she was just a puny prawn seated between sharks.
“So how do you know Kelly?” Lawrence asked.
“This one?” Yuri offered Kelly an affectionate look. “I met her when she was an itty bitty little thing.”
“Really?” Lawrence stared at Kelly like he couldn’t quite believe that she knew someone like Yuri. “Do tell.”
“It’s an old story. I was sixteen and running with a gang down in Hell’s Kitchen,” Yuri explained. “They were bad news, so it was no surprise when I got banged up pretty bad. I couldn’t go to a real hospital because they tend to ask too many questions when you come in with gunshot wounds. Somehow I ended up on her dad’s table.”
Ah! Now that made sense. So he was one of her dad’s ‘patients’? The information was enough to peak Kelly’s interest even more. She snatched a glance at Yuri. Sure, he wasn’t your ordinary suit-wearing CEO, but never in a thousand years had she imagined that he was a former gang-banger.
“Your dad saved my life in more ways than one.” Yuri offered Kelly a soft smile. “He stitched me up then convinced me to get on the straight and narrow. He even got me my first legal job.”
That was just like her dad, Kelly thought fondly, an instinctive smile lifting her lips. Though circumstances, namely her mother’s cancer, had dragged him into the underworld, he’d still tried to be the best version of himself while he was in there, and even tried to get others out of that world. Even though he wasn’t here, his kind actions still left a ripple-effect around her.
Her father was a good man. And thanks to Spencer, he was now gone.
* * * * *
“I TOLD YOU, didn’t I?” Lawrence greeted Spencer with unrestrained glee when he turned up at his office. Settling down on the leather couch, the older man added, “I told you Kelly was a good investment.”
“Did you?” Spencer’s eyebrows shot up. As he recalled, his godfather had proclaimed that Kelly was a risky-hire whose law degree was as good as useless. Some references had even been made about toilet paper, right?
“I did, I did. I said she was a good investment,” Lawrence insisted, his heavy jowls shaking with his excitement. “Because of her, we finally hooked Yuri Yoneshige.”
When Spencer had come back to the office, Yuri’s presence in the building was already the hot topic, so this wasn’t news to him. Lawrence’s sudden adoration for Kelly wasn’t surprising either. The way to Lawrence’s heart was always to make him more money, and Kelly had just done that. Spencer wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that the two were planning to golf together over the weekend.
“I can’t wait to rub this in Earnest Gambler’s face.” Lawrence rubbed his hands in gleeful anticipation. “Pivot & Scott have been trying to get Yuri since forever. I hear they spent over twenty thousand dollars schmoozing the top guys at Rainsoft just so they could convince him to retain them. All we had to do was hire Kelly. Ho ho.”
“Congratulations,” Spencer said, an amused smile playing on his lips.
Frankly, Spencer was happier for Kelly than he was for Lawrence. Though Kelly had proven herself to be a hard worker, there had been a few whispers here and there about how she’d been hired because of her past with him and Angelina. Bringing in a whale like Yuri Yoneshige would help legitimize her hiring and silence the whispers.
Lawrence took a few more minutes to wax on about how Kelly was the greatest thing since electricity before finally leaving Spencer to his work. As usual, Spencer was among the last people to leave the office later that evening. Just before he left, he noticed that the lights were on in the junior staff’s office. It was lucky that he snuck a glance into the room first instead of announcing his presence. Who knew how Kelly would’ve reacted to the news that it was just the two of them in the office. She was so busy studying something on her computer that she didn’t even notice him.
He could’ve left then, but it was going on ten. There was no way he was leaving her all alone here. He quietly wandered back to his office and busied himself with some paperwork while he waited for her to finish whatever she was doing. About an hour and a half later, he finally heard the sounds of her leaving; a door closing then heels tapping as she headed out. Spencer grabbed his satchel, switched off his lights and rushed after her.
She was waiting for the elevator to stop at their floor. When he came up beside her, she turned her head, a ready smile on her lips. When she saw that it was him, the smile sunk like an anchor in deep water. With a sniff, she turned back to face the elevator doors.
“Working late?” he asked.
“Obviously,” she snapped back.
“What were you working on?”
“A case,” she retorted, her voice tight with anger.
Spencer frowned. What was the anger about? In the last few weeks their relationship had settled into a kind of cease-fire. Though Kelly wasn’t friendly with him as she was with their other colleagues, the bite in her tone had eased perceptibly. Why was it back? He racked his brain, trying to figure out what he could’ve done to piss her off this time but couldn’t find anything.
The elevator came to a stop, the doors opened, and they both walked in. When Kelly pressed the ground-floor button, Spencer pressed it again to make sure the elevator wouldn’t stop at the ground-floor.
Pressing the underground parking-lot’s button, he said, “I’ll drive you home.”
With more force than necessary, Kelly stabbed the ground-floor button again. “No, thanks.”
“I’m not offering because I’m itching to get you in my car.” Spencer disengaged the button again. “I’m offering because it’s close to midnight. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t even take my subordinate home when it’s my work that kept her in the office so late?”
“You’d be the kind of man who minds his own business,” Kelly snapped before reaching for the button again.
This time Spencer caught her wrist. “Don’t be so stubborn.”
“Hey.” She jerked her arm, trying to dislodge his grip. “Let go.”
He held on tighter. “I’m not letting you go home alone.”
“Let go,” Kelly insisted, but unfortunately for her the elevator slid the ground-floor right then. She glared at him with so much annoyance in her eyes, he was surprised he didn’t burst into flames. “Now look what you did.”
“It’s just a ride, Kelly.” He finally let go of her wrist. “I won’t eat you.”
But Kelly wasn’t one to give in easily. When they got to the underground parking-lot, she refused to get off the elevator. To counter her, he stayed in the elevator too, pressing the open-doors button to keep the elevator from moving. With a glower, Kelly finally got off. But she wasn’t done with the shenanigans. When he followed her out of the elevator, she suddenly darted back in. Fortunately, he caught her before the elevator could close.
“This is unlawful imprisonment,” she complained even as she allowed him to march her to his car. “I’m going to sue you.”
“You can certainly try.” He opened the door for her.
After shooting him an eye-roll that left him with no doubts about her opinion of his actions, she got into the car. The mood in the car was thick with tension, and the uncomfortable silence that settled between them didn’t help things either.
Trying to ease the tension, Spencer said, “I heard you brought a new client to the firm.”
There must’ve been some pretty interesting buildings on Kelly’s side of the road because she didn’t even bother to look away from her window when she grunted, “Mm.”
“Congratulations.” Spencer ventured on, “Lawrence was very happy and you might even get a bonus out of this.”
“Oh.”
Because he was a sucker for punishment, he tried again, “Is it true that Yuri knows you because of your father?”
“Mm.”
Spencer smiled. “I guess it pays to be Jesse Garner’s daughter.”
Kelly turned to face him so fast he was surprised she didn’t break her neck or at the very least get whiplash. She bit out, “What did you just say?”
“I said…” he started then saw the look in her eyes and realized that he’d just put his foot in his mouth. It took him a little longer to figure how he’d put his foot in his mouth.
What the hell had possessed him to mention her father? Though Kelly had never explicitly expressed it, any man with an ounce of common sense would already know that Jesse Garner was a no-go topic between them. And now that he thought about it, he realized that Jesse might also be the reason she’d been angrier at him today. Yuri’s presence at Chambers & Quinn must’ve brought up memories of her father and thus resurrected memories of the part Spencer had played in her father’s death.
He was an idiot. He shouldn’t have brought up Jesse’s name.
Wincing, Spencer said, “I’m sorry.”
But the damage was done. For the rest of the drive, Kelly completely ignored him. If the car was cold before, it was now icy and freezing. Thankfully, the drive to her place was short.
“We’re here,” he said.
Without a word, Kelly unbuckled her seatbelt, but just as she was about to exit the car, a commotion on the street made her still. Two brawny men were arguing loudly just a few feet from Lani’s entrance. In fact, they looked like they were about to come to blows. Kelly didn’t say anything, but Spencer saw her body tensed and the immediate nervousness that flitted over her expression.
“I’ll walk you to your door,” Spencer offered immediately, knowing that if he’d asked she would’ve said no even if she was so obviously scared.
Though Kelly didn’t respond verbally, her body language said she wanted him to walk her to the door. They both exited the car and started towards the café’s entrance. At first Kelly kept her distance from him as if to let the world know that they were not together. But when the two men started shoving each other, she steadily sidled closer to him until their arms were practically brushing. Spencer hid a smile. It was good to know that despite hating him, she still trusted him to protect her.
Fortunately, the two arguing men didn’t even notice their presence. Spencer and Kelly skirted past them without any issues, but just to be careful, Spencer walked her around the café to the back where the stairs leading up to her apartment were.
“This is far enough,” Kelly said when they got to the bottom of the stairs. “I’m not planning to invite you up for coffee.”
“I didn’t ask you to.” He gave her a level look. “Goodnight.”
He turned and started to walk away, but stopped moving when Kelly called out. “Spencer…”
“Yeah?” He turned to look at her.
She was standing on the top step looking down at him. She hesitated for a moment before saying, “Thank you.”
Spencer couldn’t help the smile that immediately lifted his lips. “You’re welcome.”
That smile remained on his lips even as he drove home. Thank you. They were just two words but they gave him unbelievable pleasure. All the other times she’d said thank you, it was accompanied by a rancorous tone and a ‘but…’. This thank you had none of that. Progress, right?