Seph had just come out of the room, looking across the open plan part of the office where the secretary pools and IT team were based. His eyes fell on me and every nerve became aware, my stomach taking its very own gulp.
I’ll have you know my performance is always exceptional.
“You okay?” I mouthed across the room.
He smiled, but it wasn’t as broad as usual. I tapped Eli’s arm and walked over, Seph waiting for me at the door.
His voice was low as he spoke. “David is freaking out. He’s worried Ron’s got a bigger team of solicitors than he has. Do you mind going in and introducing yourself as part of the commercial team? Take five minutes.”
I nodded. I had no problem being a distraction, which clearly this was.
David was sitting at the large conference table when I entered, his eyes focused on a piece of paper that he obviously wasn’t reading.
“Hi, Mr Hartford, I’m Georgia Marsters and a new partner here. I’ll be one of the solicitors assisting Seph on your case.” I smiled, realising that I was still carrying the bag with the books for Rose.
David Hartford looked at me and stood up. “I hope Seph is as good as his brother said he is.”
Seph was still outside; he hadn’t followed me in.
“He’s one of the best technical lawyers I’ve worked with.” It was an honest response. I’d seen enough of his work this last week to know how much he knew, how detailed he was, and a perfectionist.
David Hartford judged me. His eyes took in my suit and hair and landed for a little too long on my tits. I didn’t move and I didn’t drop my gaze from him. It was an unsurprising appraisal, a man of his age – which was always the excuse – making a judgement based on how I looked because he wrongly assumed he had the power to make that judgement.
David nodded. “Where did you work before? Is this your first job since you qualified?”
I decided to take it as a compliment that I looked so young.
“Eversley Harrop. I was a partner there.”
He looked surprised for about half a second. “That’s a big old firm. Why did you leave there?”
“It was a careful career decision. I’m just one of seven solicitors who work in the Commercial Litigation department here. Have you met the rest?”
He nodded, even though I knew he hadn’t.
The door opened and Max came in. “David, there’s a cab waiting for you at the front. I can delay it if you need a while longer.”
The client shook his head. “I’m ready to go. Make sure Seph gets back to me tomorrow. I might need to look at an injunction against that imbecile of a brother. I’ll instruct you later.”
Max gave a discreet nod and held the door open for David, Seph’s voice audible as David stepped out.
“He’s not too bad when you get past the misogynistic, sleezy front. Trust me when I say his brother’s worse.” Max's words were quiet, discreet. “If he pisses you off, say. Seph will drop it.”
“I’ll be fine.” Because that’s what we were trained to be. I was a woman; a certain degree of sexism and being objectified came with the boobs. We knew it shouldn’t be acceptable, but we’d learned to accept it anyway.
Max nodded again and Seph stepped in, Max swapping places, leaving the room.
“Looks like I missed the show.”
I didn’t like how Seph looked. His usual relaxed shoulders were tensed and his smile was erased.
“How can adults be such dicks?”
“Because they have money, and people with money believe that buys them the right to act how they want.”
Seph inhaled. “I have money, Georgie. So does Max, Jackson, Ava – we all do. It buys me the right to treat people exactly as I would like to be treated, including my family and not making a show of myself like that.” He shook his head. “I don’t get it. They’re brothers and they’re both trying to undercut the other. I don’t get it.”
“You don’t need to. You just need to do your job.” Because that was what it came down to. We did our job. It wasn’t up to us to be a moral compass for our clients, that was what churches were for.
