“Have you read all the documents that your client needs to sign before I’ll see him?” I countered.
“He has signed all of our documents,” Penny said. She held up the folder with our standard documents in them. When I squinted my eyes at her, she shrugged.
“Did he read all the documents?” I asked, addressing Mr. Warren again.
“I read all of those documents, as did my assistants. We have given them a good going over.” Mr. Warren replied and looked to his two assistants in turn. The brunette nodded once, very businesslike. The Bird-Man nodded his head so many times I thought he was trying to peck at me.
“And what protections do those documents not provide your client?” I asked and without thinking, I crossed my arms in front of me, just under my breasts.
“Well, you see, Mrs. Davenport…”
“Miss.”
“Yes. Miss Davenport, your agreements do not stop you from mentioning that Mr. Baxter is your patient, even in passing with another member of your staff… or in discussing his case with a colleague,” he said.
“I don’t discuss my clients with anyone,” I replied. My tone didn’t hide the anger that was boiling up inside of me. The insinuations were ridiculous.
“Even if you didn’t mention my client by name, just the mention of your conversations and the wrong details to the wrong person could cause damages to my client that would far exceed your annual income. So you see…”
“I don’t SEE anything, Mr. Warren.” I had dealt with all kinds of individuals in my practice, most of them wealthy. Some of them were ridiculously wealthy. Not one of them had ever demanded a non-disclosure agreement before. I was literally flabbergasted. One finger tapped my arm.
“Well, I want to be perfectly clear, Miss Davenport. My client, and I, expect you and all your employees who might come into contact with him or any of his documentation, clinical notes, administrative documents, health records, etc. to sign this NDA.”
“Who is this Mr. Baxter, and why does he think I would agree to this?”
“Miss Davenport, it’s not that he thinks you will agree to this, it is a pre-requisite for him to work with you. Without the NDA, he will leave today and not come back. He will find another individual to work with.”
“He won’t find anyone as good as me to work with, Mr. Warren. I can guarantee that.”
“He agrees. That is why we are here.”
I fumed with my arms crossed, finger tapping, leaning onto one foot, glancing from Mr. Warren to the brunette to Bird Man. They all returned my gaze except for Bird Man.
I turned to Penny and shrugged.
“Are you okay with signing this?” Even if I agreed to this, Penny and maybe Chastity would also have to sign an NDA. It wasn’t even the NDA I was concerned about. It was the consequences of breaking the NDA that suddenly worried me.
“He will pay extra,” Penny replied. She handed me a first check for ten thousand dollars made out to my practice from the Derek Baxter Personal Trust.
“How many sessions is this for, Mr. Warren?” I asked the lawyer.
“That is for today’s session. He will pay the same for each other session. That is twenty times your normal posted hourly fee.” Mr. Warren told me this with such a smug tone.
“My top fee for special clients is two-thousand per hour, Mr. Warren. Ten times that fee is twenty thousand.” I saw Penny’s eyes go wide. I wasn’t lying, and she knew it.
High-profile clients who could afford it paid two thousand per visit. The higher fee gave me the incentive to take them on and compensated me for the eventual paparazzi who would stalk me outside my office early in the morning or late at night.
Mr. Derek Baxter seemed like an even worse pain in the ass, and I intended to be well compensated for my troubles with him. Besides, I had a bad feeling about seeing him and by doubling the stakes, perhaps Mr. Warren and he would fold.
“Are you saying you will sign the agreement and see Mr. Baxter for twenty thousand dollars per session?” Mr. Warren asked.
His facial expression hadn’t changed this whole time. No shock on his face. No anger at my audacity at doubling his client’s fee.If the man played poker, I would hate to be in a showdown with him.
The room was silent. I faced Penny, who gave me the fuck-yes-girl look before turning to Mr. Warren.
“What does this NDA require of me or restrict me from doing?”
“You will not speak with your staff about your private visits. Your staff will not speak to each other about his visits. You and your staff will not speak to anyone about your visits or even that Mr. Baxter is a client here. You and your staff will not discuss the details of his visit to anyone. This includes family, friends, lovers, spouses, insurance agencies, newspapers, reporters. Anyone. For that, Mr. Baxter will see you a minimum of ten times for the agreed upon rate of twenty thousand dollars per visit and will agree to your treatments within reason.”
