Page 128 of Masters of Control

“Please do,” Camille said fervently, sounding pleased. “That would be great. My patience with Donaldson is at an all-time low. I honestly don’t know how I’ve been working there this long. It’s like I’ve been in a fugue state or something.”

“I bet it wasn’t as bad when you first started,” Freddy replied. He’d seen it happen a lot, not just in abusive relationships, but in toxic workplaces. “Things tend to get worse as you get used to it, and inertia can make it hard to get out, and the next thing you know, you turned around and you’re the frog in boiling water.”

“The what?”

He laughed at her scandalized question.

“You haven’t heard that before? If you put a frog directly in a pot of boiling water, it jumps out immediately. But if you put it in cold water and slowly turn up the heat, it adjusts and doesn’t realize it’s in danger because it’s a slow process.”

There was a long moment of silence. Hopefully, he hadn’t grossed her out, but it was a true fact and a good metaphor for a lot of situations.

“You know, I think that’s exactly it,” she said thoughtfully. “Because it wasn’t this bad at first. They were never the best employers, but they’ve gotten steadily worse, month by month, and they sure as hell didn’t treat me this way when I first started working there. I got used to more and more bullshit from them, and it was so normal, it’s as though I didn’t notice it anymore.”

“I’ll talk to Zoey tomorrow and get her friend’s firm’s name,” he promised.

“Thank you.” He couldn’t see her smile, but he could feel it.

“Of course.” He chuckled. “Maybe you’ll have a new job before the Alexanders are done, and you can pass them off.”

She laughed.

“One can only hope. The way Mr. Alexander is dragging this out, there might be more truth to that than I would wish. I’m so done with his bullshit, though, so I’m going to push for him to wrap things up. And not just because of… us.” She said the last sentence a little hesitantly.

“Trust me, I don’t blame you, and I would never think that you would undermine a client professionally because of a personal relationship,” he reassured her. “You’re too ethical and too good a lawyer for that. There really isn’t much you can do for him, and honestly, I’m going to be pushing to move things along faster. At this point, I think it’ll be easier to hash things out in court than dealing with him directly, though I hate to do that to you.”

“Do what you need to do. I’m going to try to get him to sign, though. Then if we go to court to fight about it, we go to court. If he annoys the judge as much as he annoys me, there’s a chance they’ll close things out even faster.”

Wasn’t that the truth?

“That would be nice.” He cleared his throat, making a completely awkward segue, but they’d exhausted this topic, which wasn’t much fun to talk about, and he wasn’t ready to get off the phone with her yet. “How’s your mom doing?”

“She’s good, thank you.” Camille’s voice warmed, changing to a completely different tone with the new topic. “I’m going to see her tomorrow.”

They ended up talking for an hour, not about the Alexanders or work, but about their lives. He was perfectly happy to sit and listen to her talk about her mom and some of her childhood, and he shared some of his stories as well.

Hearing about how she’d decided to become a lawyer resonated with him. She wanted to help people, which he could definitely see as part of her personality. Working for Donaldson must be killing her. First thing tomorrow, he was going to talk to Zoey and get things started for Camille—any firm would be lucky to have her.

It was infuriating that the partners at Donaldson either didn’t recognize her worth or, worse, realized what she was worth and handed her a bunch of crap, anyway. By the time Freddy went to bed, his mind was swirling with the possibilities.

Did he want to be Mistress Camille’s white knight in shining armor, coming to her rescue?

Yes. Yes, he did.

Chapter Seventeen

Camille

Mr. Alexander finally got his wish—Mrs. Alexander showed up to sign the agreement that Camille and Freddy had hashed out with input from Mr. Alexander. As Freddy had told her, Mrs. Alexander had been perfectly happy to relinquish rights to Mr. Alexander’s company. She wanted nothing to do with it or him. She just wanted out.

He'd finally agreed to things as long as they both signed in person together, so he could watch her do it.

At some point in the time since they’d been separated, Mrs. Alexander had gotten her backbone. She met his gaze evenly, perfectly serene, no matter how hard he glared at her. If he wasn’t Camille’s client, she would have been amused. Thankfully, he kept things civil without her having to come down on him. It was as if he’d finally realized he’d lost.

When everything was done, Mrs. Alexander and Freddy got to their feet. Mr. Alexander sat next to Camille, still pouting, as she got to her feet as well. She pushed away the urge to kick him. If his momma never taught him manners, it wasn’t her job to take up the slack.

For a moment, it looked like Mrs. Alexander was going to say something, then she shook her head and turned her back. Maybe it was Camille’s imagination, but it looked like the woman’s steps were lighter and her head higher than when she’d come in.

“Thank you very much,” Freddy said, giving Camille a head nod. He didn’t offer the same courtesy to Mr. Alexander, not that it mattered. The man was sitting with his arms crossed, glaring at the wall as if it had personally offended him. “Have a good rest of the day.”