Chapter 2
660 Words
Less than ten minutes after I returned to the office, Daniel pushed the door open and walked in.
He locked the door and sat down across from my desk.
He didn't speak immediately. He sighed, took off his glasses, and wiped them with his shirt.
"Victoria, you were too impulsive in the meeting just now." Daniel tugged at his tie and leaned forward. "Vivian was sent by headquarters; she answers to New York. You talked back to her in front of everyone. It'll be very hard for me to mediate on your behalf."
"How do you plan to speak for me?"
Daniel softened his tone. "First, narrow down the scope of the problem. That $58,000 figure is a terrible look. You should admit that a few entries in it were not handled properly.
"For example, the crisis management retainer and the client's secretary relocation expenses. Carve those out first, and admit they were personal technical errors. As for the bulk that's left, I'll go talk to Harold about it."
He paused for a moment. "Look, I'm doing this for your own good. You're too sharp. You never leave any room for compromise. That makes you look immature in the eyes of management. If I hadn't been protecting you all this time, you would never have been able to gain a foothold in Los Angeles.
"Just listen to me on this. Sort out the contact information of the Nelson family's private witness, as well as the background materials for the upcoming M&A case.
"Vivian just got here. She needs a big project to establish herself. Hand these over to her, and I guarantee you will definitely be on the partner promotion list next month."
The last time was the Chicago medical group compliance case. I spent eight months on due diligence and drafting legal opinions, but only his name appeared on the attribution line. He said, "You're still young. Don't be too high-profile for now."
The time before that was the Dallas energy merger. I pulled three straight weekends of all-nighters to put together the antitrust analysis, which he took and used for his presentation at the year-end partners' conference. He said, "This is for our future."
But this time was different.
"Okay." I nodded.
His phone suddenly vibrated once on the desktop.
The screen lit up. It showed Vivian's name.
He flipped the phone face down in one sharp motion.
He stood up, walked around the desk, and tried to hug me. "Victoria, I knew you'd be reasonable."
I turned aside to avoid him and picked up the water glass on the desk.
"As for the 58,000 reimbursement, I'll do as you say and drop it." I looked at him. "But since these expenses are non-compliant, all subsequent legal liabilities won't have anything to do with me, right?"
"Of course. As long as you sign the handover form, the project team will take responsibility for any issues that come up later." Daniel was so caught up in the joy of getting the big project that he didn't think twice about it.
"Good. Sign it." I opened my email and sent him a handover agreement I had prepared long ago.
It was a standard template commonly used by law firms, with the title, version number, and CC field all properly formatted.
Only in the third clause of the agreement had I added a line of disclaimer: The receiving party shall assume full responsibility for all compliance and operational risks of the project, and agrees to fully indemnify, defend, and hold the transferring party harmless.
Daniel took out his phone, pressed his fingerprint, and completed the signature in three seconds.
He didn't even open the attachment.
The system popped up a notification: Handover completed. Permissions changed to read-only.
I flipped my phone face down on the desk and leaned back in my chair.
They thought they had snatched a gold mine.
The countdown was already on. They just hadn't caught on yet.
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