“Someday you’re going to lose a case, Nicole. The justice system is imperfect, and you’re one of those rare lawyers with a moral compass. I imagine one day you will be stripped of that, too.”
“Too?” she asked, her turn to raise an eyebrow.
“Like the rest of us,” he clarified, crossing one leg over another. “Now enough talk about philosophy. Why don’t you let me take you out for a drink?”
Nicole hesitated. She’d already seen firsthand what happened when getting into close contact with an employer. Her heart would never forgive her for it. Still, Will was an older gentleman. Maybe he was just being friendly?
Her phone buzzed on her desk. Glancing down, Nicole saw Bahir’s name flash up on the screen for the millionth time. Didn’t the guy know how to take a hint?
“I would love that,” Nicole said, silencing the call.
She rose and shrugged into a bright red pea coat, and Will gestured for her to exit first. He followed close behind, and Nicole tried not to wince as he stood a little too close as they rode the elevator down into the lobby. There was an old tavern next door to the building, and Will led the way inside. They had been there as a team a couple of times, but never alone. Nicole was trying not to overthink it.
They found a table and sat down, ordering a round of beers before Will turned and stared at Nicole.
“So when are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I’m sorry?” she asked, confused. Their beers arrived quickly and Will took a sip of his before expanding on his query.
“Oh come now. You accept my job offer and tell me you can start the very next day? Everyone knows that’s not a thing. So, what happened? I know you worked directly with Bahir Al-Jabbar. Was he awful to you?”
Nicole pondered that for a moment. Was he awful? Yes, but not in the way Will meant.
“He was a very reasonable employer. It simply wasn’t a position I wanted to be in.”
Will stared at her, then, his eyes piercing through her. She didn’t want him to see what was hidden behind her carefully guarded expression—a woman broken by a man who could never love.
“You know, as much as I hate to admit it, there are gossip mills at our level of employment, Nicole. I’ve heard that a love affair might have blown up, causing you to hit the eject button.”
“I’m surprised at you, Will. Someone of your stature should be above malicious gossip. Simply because I am a woman working for a man doesn’t mean there is something romantic going on.”
“And yet,” Will said, leaning in. “You have all the signs of a woman nursing a broken heart. You barely eat. Those circles under your eyes indicate that you haven’t been sleeping, and you throw yourself into work as though to think of anything else might kill you. I know the signs, Nicole. You have a broken heart.”
“And who’s to say that Bahir is the reason for it?” Nicole snapped.
She didn’t like being evaluated this way. Will had clearly been watching her in a way that wasn’t professional, and Nicole instantly questioned her decision to work for him.
Seeing her distress, Will sat back, and grinned. “You think I’m after you, don’t you?”
Nicole stared at him, her silence providing an answer.
Quite without warning, Will burst into a fit of laughter that went on for several minutes.
“Nicole, you’re not exactly my type,” he said finally, catching his breath.
She frowned, and he put up his hands.
“No, no, not like that. You see, I have a boyfriend I love very much, too.”
Nicole’s trepidation melted at that confession. She had misread him. She was exhausted and on the defense. She should have known better than to think every boss she’d ever had would desire her like Bahir did.
She took a sip of her beer. “Why would you need to keep that a secret? This is Seattle, not Alabama,” she grinned.
Will smiled met her grin with a good-natured smile of his own. “I know, but I’ve lost a lot in my life when I came out. I’ve lost jobs and friends. I know times have changed, but when I was younger it just wasn’t acceptable. So I tend to be careful before telling people about Jonathan, and he does his best to understand why.”
Nicole stared into the amber froth in her frosty mug, thoughtful. When she looked back up at Will, his expression was expectant.
“So why are you telling me?” she asked.
“There’s the question, isn’t it? Let’s just say I’ve had my heart broken before, too. I know when someone needs a friend, and I would like to be that friend, if you’ll let me.”
Nicole thought about it. She could tell him everything. How she had landed in that stupid PA job. How Bahir had wooed her with his good looks and witty commentary. How he’d somehow convinced her to marry him, sleep with him, and then walk away. How he’d ignored her one wish, that he employ her brother, and how he’d completely forgotten about it after he’d gotten what he’d wanted.
“Maybe someday,” she sighed, not wanting to say any of it out loud.
Will took a gulp of his beverage, finishing it. He threw a couple of bills on the table and stood. “Well, if you’re ever ready, and you need someone to confide in, I hope you’ll consider me. You’re on my team now, Nicole, and on my team we look out for one another. I hope you know that now.”
“I do. Thanks, Will,” she said, and he nodded and bid her goodnight before heading out the door.
Nicole sat in the bar for another half hour or so, sipping slowly at her beer until it was gone. When the waiter arrived to ask if she wanted another, she shook her head and rose, feeling lightheaded from just the one due to how little she’d been eating.
She stood on the corner of the block with her hand up and hailed a cab, sitting in silence as she was driven back to her apartment. When she opened the door, the familiar scent of home filled her senses, and she allowed herself to feel comforted. She made quick business of changing into her pajamas and brushing her teeth before collapsing into bed. She had made a friend in her new boss, that night, and his words had been like a balm to her aching soul. She hadn’t realized how good it felt to be told she wasn’t alone, and that if she needed help, she had somewhere to go.
It was with that thought that she fell into a deep, blissfully dreamless sleep, and didn’t wake up again until seven the next morning.
SIXTEEN
By 8:30 AM, Nicole was back at her desk, poring over documents. Will and a few other partners knocked on the door, ready to do some work as a team as Nicole continued to get acclimated to the case and their office culture. Surrounded by older men, Nicole held her own when speaking about the legal processes they could take as they approached the hearing.
Nicole was writing furiously on a notepad when she was startled by the slamming of a pile of papers on her desk. When she looked up, her eyes widened.
It was Bahir. His eyes were like fire, though the dark shadows beneath them gave him away. He’d been just as sleepless as she had—though Nicole doubted that had anything to do with her. Around them her new team stared in bewilderment.
“Is that…Bahir Al-Jabbar?” one of them asked in a whisper.
Blinking, Nicole realized that they had an audience. “Gentlemen, would you please excuse us?” she asked, not breaking eye contact with Bahir.
“Of course,” Will said, pointedly. He rose, signaling the others to follow him, and after ushering them out he closed the door quietly.
Bahir and Nicole stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. Then, finally, she glanced down at the papers.
“What is this?” she asked, her voice cold.
Bahir sat down in one of the sofas opposite her desk. She noticed that he looked disheveled and unkempt. His chin was peppered with stubble. His hair was tousled. His clothing was wrinkled, even though it was a nice suit.
“They’re divorce papers,” Bahir said, his voice rough. “You would have known that if you’d answered my phone calls.”
Nicole’s breath sucked straight from her lungs as she looked at the signed divorce papers. For a time, she had allowed herself to forget that she had been married to this man. She let herself pretend that it wasn’t legally binding, but simply a make-believe trip to some faraway island; that no one would ever know. How could she have believed that this wouldn’t have to happen?
“I need air,” she said.
“You can’t run away from me, Nicole. Not this time.”
“Fine, but let’s go to the roof, then. I can’t talk about this in here,” she said, breathing heavily.
Bahir nodded and followed her out of the office and up the staircase to a large door, which opened to a view of the Seattle landscape.
Nicole kept her back to him for a moment before turning back to look at him, ready to fight.
“I’m sorry,” Bahir said, instantly taking the wind from her sails.
“You’re what?” she asked, not sure she’d heard correctly.
Bahir kept his distance from her, as though afraid he would scare her off. “I’m sorry, for everything. I’m sorry that you were put in a situation that you didn’t want to be in. I’m sorry for the way I handled the aftermath of that situation. And I’m sorry I didn’t remember about your brother, even though I managed to right that wrong, at least.”
Nicole gaped at him. “What?”
Bahir’s eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at her. “You don’t know? Your brother interviewed with Futurescapes before we even got back from Dubai. He’d already been hired. I thought he would have told you.”
Nicole frowned. The truth was, Ryan had been calling her too. Not as often as Bahir had, but she couldn’t seem to make herself answer the phone. She couldn’t hear the disappointment in his voice again. She didn’t want to hear him tell her how much he was struggling while she had failed to do what she could to help.
“You’re telling me you hired my brother without knowing you did it?”
Bahir shrugged. “I’m the CEO of a multinational conglomerate, Nicole. Sometimes I drop the ball. I’m standing here saying that I’m sorry about that.”
Bahir rubbed a hand across his eyes, clearly exhausted. Nicole certainly knew how he felt.
“Anyway, you saw the signed divorce papers down in your office. All you need to do is sign them yourself and we can be done with this whole mess.”
Nicole hesitated. Then she asked, “But what will happen with your visa?”
Bahir stared at the ground. “I don’t know, but it’s not your problem, and I never should have made it so. You’re a good person, Nicole. I am not, but I want to be better, and you deserve some compensation for what you went through, so please accept this as a token of my gratitude.”
Bahir pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.
With trembling fingers, Nicole took it and pulled it apart. It was a check for five hundred thousand dollars. She stared at the expensive piece of paper for a few moments before meeting Bahir’s gaze and holding it back out to him.
“I don’t want it,” she said, her voice trembling. When he didn’t reach out to take it, she let it fall to the ground.
“Don’t you understand, Bahir? I make plenty of money. I didn’t marry you because of the financial rewards. I married you because…” she faltered, choking back a sob.