The Undefeated Lawyer: Vince

Our Petty System

“I heard it was one of our top investors,” the man said in a whisper before rushing out of the office.

Vince sat back on his chair and focused his attention on work. He closed his eyes for a few minutes to remind himself to act very neutral around his grandmother. Thankfully, his office was quite secluded to draw much attention to him.

His focus was solely on getting Bernard to trust him more. If pulling out his sentiment was the way forward, he wouldn’t mind, after all, it was actually Amber’s case. Thinking of that, wasn’t it quite unethical to delegate such important work to a desk staff?

A loud banging of the table sounded from somewhere close, he heard his grandmother’s thunderous voice and he smiled inwardly. No wonder they called her “The Fox of Peak Law Firm."

Vince was still rewriting the paperwork when someone burst In through the door. He had gotten used to his boss’s annoying behavior, but he didn’t speak. Amber rushed in with a disturbed look on her face. Her initially flawless makeup was getting soaked with sweat.

“Vince, can you quickly run by these files? It is very important,” she said sharply.

“Miss Reed, I have a lot of ……”

“Run the damn thing Vince! I do not have the time for this, the fox will show up at my office soon.”

Now it was clear to Vince. Kate was the only person that got them riled up this way. His mind was jolted by the time he worked as a rookie lawyer at the firm before his arrest. He knew their bosses always feared someone would be coming, but he had never been curious about it up until now.

He picked up Amber’s files and ran through them. He circled out a few errors that he spotted and handed them over to her before she scurried away. A few minutes later, the lunch period was on, so Vince walked out of his office.

He was yawning freely, stretching his arms when he ran into someone, his grandmother, Kate Finn. She gave him a long look. “What department do you work for?”

“uhm…a…I mean, I am a desk clerk of litigation.”

Kate’s eyes rummaged through his wrinkled oversized suit and boring eyeglasses. She had to hold back her laughter. Vince stood stoic on a spot, acting overwhelmed. Most of the other staff watching their charade kept praying inwardly for Vince, who acted very innocently.

They hoped he wouldn’t hear an earful from her.

“Does this look like the litigation department?” She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“No ma’am, but it is lunch so I….” The words died in his throat as his eyes met with his colleagues. The expression they wore made it clear that he had given a terrible response.

Tension rose in the air. Some of the staff pretended to be focused on their computers, but they were certain she was literally going to roast him with words. All of his superiors had already treated him like a mere pushover and now, if the founding mother found him annoying, he could as well kiss his meager job goodbye.

“I sent him to get some files on a case.”

Everyone turned around to see Amber walk up to them. Even Vince was taken aback and so was Kate.

Why on earth was Amber defending him?

“Does he work under you?” Kate asked, getting over the shock.

“Yes ma'am, I am Amber Reed, a senior attorney from…...”

“I know who you are!”

With that, Kate walked away, leaving them behind. Some of their colleagues at the scene let off the long breaths they had been holding. Vince stared at Amber, who returned his stares.

“This is where you say the word, thank you.” She said sarcastically, eyeing him.

“This isn’t enough to make us even, Miss Reed.” Vince responded calmly and walked out on her.

Amber was furious, she regretted interfering immediately. As much as she wanted to kick his cheap ass out of Peak Firm, she knew he wasn’t going to get job opportunities anywhere else.

And moreover, having him around strangely had been helpful, making up for the intellectual divergence that she lacked.

Vince had always been her savior since law school. He worked on all her assignments, and when they came for an interview at Peak law firm, he had treated the likely interview questions with her beforehand. Using him to climb to the top wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“What was that ?” Amber turned around to see Vince standing in front of Bernard, who looked pissed.

She wasn’t sure how long Bernard had been standing there, but she was certain that he was going to throw a fit later about her defending Vince, her ex-husband. She looked up to see that there were numerous eyes watching them, she just walked away pretending not to care.

Amber had always feared that people knew about her secret relationship with her boss Bernard but she still doubted the possibility of that. They had kept it all private, no social media frolicking, no public display of affection but somehow, Bernard gave off the idea of it effortlessly.

Bernard walked out on Vince whose expression remained neutral. Afterwards, he made for the firm’s cafeteria to get his lunch. The moment he walked in, the top chef who had newly been reinstated rushed over to him and engulfed him in a tight hug.

“Mr Finn, welcome back! I heard the rumor of your return and I was totally grateful to God.”

“Thank you ma’am, how is your daughter now?”

“She is doing great, she has gotten over her phobia now.” She disentangled herself from him and showed him to a seat.

“That is so great to hear.”

The head chef told one of the other chefs to serve him a decent meal.

“Wouldn’t that be preferential treatment?” He said, looking at the others sitting and eating their meals.

“No Mr Finn, this is a welcome back lunch.” She said with a bright smile warming his heart.

This was it! Vince thought inwardly, the missing piece of his plan. He needed alliances to make a flawless landing in his path. He picked up his spoon and munched on his food while staring at the older woman, wondering where he was going to fit her in.

Two years earlier, he was the one who saw a loophole in a settlement agreement her daughter’s attempted molester drafted. With the loophole, they argued the case in court and won against the p*****t. Since then, she had felt indebted to him but she wasn’t able to pay him back in any way, before she heard about his jail sentence.

The woman walked up to him right in time. She was smiling enthusiastically when Vince threw a bombshell in her face.

“Can you keep a secret head chef?”

*****

Author’s Note:

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