Chapter Nineteen
“Eddie, I’d like that cell phone number we discussed.”
There was a pause as Stephanie listened for a moment.
“I don’t care what you think. I paid you good money and I’ve been paying you good money for five years. My father has practically financed your daughter’s college education single-handedly. Give me the number. Now.”
Stephanie leaned over her desk and wrote down the number. She clicked off without another word.
“You know, Miss Lindstrom, you may be overreacting just a bit.”
“Shut up, Paul. You heard her. She humiliated me in front of my friends and business associates.”
“Well, just playing devil’s advocate here, it’s not as if you didn’t provoke her.”
Stephanie tossed her clutch onto the desk. She’d dragged her escort back to her office. “C’mon, Paul. Get real. She’s nothing but a gold digger. Anyone with half a brain can see that. A poor girl who wants to make it big. She’ll take Gabriel for everything he’s got and break his heart. She’s probably already gotten herself pregnant. Why are men so damn stupid?”
Stephanie’s associate rolled his eyes. He hadn’t noticed anything of the kind. The young woman was very attractive. Farm girl or no, she was obviously intelligent, and she and Gabriel Abbott seemed quite well matched.
“Are you in love with the man?”
Stephanie sighed. “I don’t know. I just know I don’t want him with her. I had a chance with him until she showed up. I’ve had my eye on him for years.”
“What exactly do you think you can do about it? Pretend you’re in high school again and talk behind her back? Start a slam book? Really, it seems like a pointless exercise. They’re a couple. Let it go.”
“No, I don’t want to let it go.” Stephanie sounded like a petulant child.
“Miss Lindstrom, Stephanie, you are a very successful, accomplished, beautiful woman. You could have practically any man in this city panting at your feet. Why waste your time on Gabriel Abbott? Sorry to be so blunt, but he obviously doesn’t want you.”
“But he did, Paul. He did. I didn’t imagine that. What does this… this Eva Raines woman have that I don’t have?”
“I have no idea and I don’t care. I don’t think it matters. There’s such a thing as chemistry. Maybe the two of them have it. I advise you to drop it.” Paul walked to a sidebar and helped himself to a bottle of sparkling water.
“When you become a partner, you may advise me. Until then, keep your mouth shut.”
Paul sipped his sparkling water. “Yes, Miss Lindstrom.”
Stephanie paced in front of her desk for a moment, staring at her cell phone.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to figure out a way to make her crawl back under the rock she came from.”
“Well, Miss Lindstrom,” said Paul as he set tossed his now empty bottle into a recycling bin, “I’ll say goodnight. I’m going home. Would you like me to send my cab back for you?”
“Wait. Paul, when do you expect to make partner? Six years? Seven years?”
Paul gazed in silence at the woman, careful to keep his face neutral.
“I can make it happen by the end of this year, if you’d like. If you’d do me a favor.”
“What kind of favor, Miss Lindstrom? I’m not a hit man.”
“Of course not. Don’t be silly. I have no intention of hurting the woman. I’d just like to push her a little. Encourage her to show her true colors. You wouldn’t even have to go anywhere near her. At least, not immediately.”
“When you come up with something, let me know and I’ll consider it, but I won’t do anything illegal and I won’t hurt her. Right now,” he waved dismissively, “I’m going home. Do you want that cab or not?”
“No thank you,” replied Stephanie, her voice sweet.
Paul strode from the office and hit the elevator button. What a f*cking bitch. He was concerned that anything Stephanie came up with could backfire big time and land him in hot water. He’d graduated number one in his law class and he’d worked hard to get where he was. Paul was quite certain he’d make partner within three to four years without her help. The problem was, if he didn’t cooperate, she could get his ass fired and impugn his reputation. Who was the man she’d talked to? She’d called him Eddie. Probably the private investigator she hired from time to time. What was his name? Eddie Jamison? Edward Jamison, that was it. He glanced back over his shoulder. Stephanie’s office door was still shut. He walked quietly to her assistant’s desk and pulled out her rolodex. Edward Jamison. Several of his business cards were stuck on the little ring. Paul quietly removed one and slipped it into his jacket pocket. The elevator door opened and he hurried to get inside before it closed.