CHAPTER SEVEN

The whole next day, my conversation with Thomas played through my mind. In light of the things I'd felt last night, it was getting harder and harder to convince myself it was just sex with Sebastian. Our previous times together had been eye-opening, but this had been something more, something intimate. It filled a space inside me that I hadn't even known existed.

But there was no future there. Thomas had said it, as had Sebastian himself. Whatever I felt from him had to be my imagination. Letting myself think otherwise was a recipe for more heartbreak. And so I knuckled down and tried to concentrate on work.

A few mornings later, I received what appeared to be good news. In amongst the usual drudgery of my inbox was a request from Ernest to do some work on the Wrights case.

Hope this is more like what you were looking for. Enjoy!

I grinned. He'd come through after all! It was an important task too; hunting through client testimony and trying to distil it down to its core points. It was this sort of stuff that our case was built on. High five, Sophia!

Working as fast as I could, I ploughed through my other tasks. I figured I'd have them all done by midday, then I could spend the afternoon on the meaningful stuff. I should have realised that it was too good to be true.

At eleven thirty, I received an email from Jennifer.

Hey Soph.

Hope you're feeling better. Those prawns can be nasty things.

Need you to take care of something. This came down from Mr Bell himself and Alan asked that I get our best people on it, so naturally I thought of you. It needs to be taken care of ASAP. Have fun.

Attached was a series of case files for some tiny corporate litigation we were handling, with a note telling me to sift through and check for errors. It was lengthy, painstaking work, the kind most lawyers dread. To make matters worse, it took me all of a few seconds to see that the case wouldn't even make it to trial. There was barely enough evidence to make an accusation, let alone get a favourable judgement. She couldn't have crafted a more colossal waste of my time if she'd tried.

Although Ernest technically outranked her, Jennifer had invoked both Mr Bell's and Alan's names, which should have pushed it to the top of my pile. I doubted either of them had really laid eyes on it, but proving that would be annoying, time consuming, and probably fruitless.

I closed my eyes and attempted to contain my rage. It was impossible that it was mere coincidence. I finally received some real work, and out of the blue Jennifer miraculously conjured some mindless task for me. Not to mention her sickening faux chummy tone. She might as well have written " hahahaha" at the end of the email.

Before I knew what I was doing, I'd left my office and was storming across the floor to hers. Telling off a superior wasn't the smartest career move, but at that moment I didn't really care.

" Really? " I said, striding into her office unannounced.

" Sophia, " she replied, smiling up at me like that was the most normal greeting in the world. " What a pleasure. Is everything okay? "

" What do you think? I've just been assigned work for the most pointless case on our books. "

Somehow she managed to look perfectly innocent. " Oh? "

I glared at her. " The Phaidan File? "

" Oh that. Come on, you're being a bit dramatic don't you think? If anything it's a compliment. We needed someone with a good eye for detail, so I assigned you. "

I felt my hands contract involuntarily into fists. I was a hair's breadth away from leaping over the desk and rearranging the details of her face. " It's bullshit, is what it is. That case is never going to see the inside of a court room and you know it. "

" Oh I don't know about that. In any case, I'm just doing what I'm told. "

" Oh yeah? " I said. " Well I'm not. I'm not wasting my afternoon on that crap when there's real work to be done. "

She stared at me for several seconds, a calculating glint in her eyes. Eventually she shrugged. " Well, suit yourself. Obviously I can't force you. " Her voice turned sweet. " I just hope nobody upstairs hears that you're rejecting assigned work. You know how this place is; it's a slippery slope to the bottom. "

At that point I knew I'd played right into her hands. This was exactly the sort of reaction she'd been hoping for. It probably wasn't enough to land me in serious trouble, but causing me any kind of grief seemed to be a win in her books. She loved watching me squirm.

" Why, Jennifer? " I asked, hating myself for sounding so defeated.

For a moment a look of unrestrained glee spread over her face, but it was gone again in an instant. She was too smart to give up the game so easily. " Why what, Sophia? " she replied, her tone perfectly neutral.

Unable to stand another second in her presence, I spun and fled back to my office. Slamming the door behind me, I sat down and let out a long breath. Calm blue ocean, Sophia.

As much as Jennifer's antics angered me, I didn't know what I could do about them. The hierarchy was everything in our office, and despite how little she deserved it, she outranked me. That made her basically untouchable. Sure, I could try going to the higher ups, but it was career suicide to go behind a superior's back unless the problem was really serious. Once you had a reputation as a backstabber, nobody wanted to work with you. All I could really do was hunker down and try to roll with the punches.

I considered just giving in and doing the work she'd assigned, but try as I might, I couldn't make myself start it. Either way she was going to win. At least by refusing I kept some shred of dignity. I doubted she'd actually be petty enough to take it up the ladder, and if she did, well, it would probably only be a slap on the wrist.

So, gritting my teeth, I opened the Wrights files and began to work.