Page 4 of Dial L for Lawyer
So I do. The emergency meeting. The email from Victoria Chase offering triple my salary. The five recruitment attempts over eight months. Patricia's cold efficiency. Richard's disappointment. The security escort when it was all over. The way my team tried not to look at me as I left…
"They had digitally tracked access logs," I say, voice hollow. "Someone used my credentials. Someone who knew my passwords, my schedule. Someone I trusted."
The elevator opens and Audrey rushes in, still in her lab coat from Carmichael Innovations.
"I left in the middle of a neural mapping session," she announces, dropping beside me on the couch. "Layla said code red. Tell me who I need to destroy."
Despite everything, I almost smile. "The entire board of Luminous, apparently."
"Done. I'll start with targeted neurotoxins."
"Audrey," Bennett warns.
"Kidding! Mostly." She turns to me. "But seriously, what do you need?"
"A lawyer," Layla says before I can answer. "A really good one."
"The best," Bennett corrects. "This is corporate espionage, intellectual property theft, possibly conspiracy. You need someone who can navigate all of it."
They exchange looks. All three of them.
"Don't," I warn.
"Caleb," Audrey says anyway. "You need Caleb Kingsley."
"No."
"Serena—" Layla starts.
"No. I'll find someone else. There are hundreds of lawyers in Chicago."
"Not like him," Bennett says quietly. "There’s a reason I trust him with my entire business. If you want to win this, get your name cleared, and not have the next decade of your life ruined, you let him take the lead. Trust us.”
"I don't care if he's Clarence Darrow reincarnated. I'm not calling him."
"Because you ghosted him?" Audrey asks, pragmatic as always. "That was six months ago. He's probably over it."
Bennett makes a choking sound that he tries to cover with a cough.
"What?" I demand.
"Nothing. Just... he's definitely not over it."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," Layla says carefully, "that he asks about you. Every time he sees any of us."
My stomach flips. "He does?"
"'How's Serena? Is she seeing anyone? Is she seriously busy or just actively avoiding me?'" Audrey does a surprisingly good Caleb impression. "It's actually kind of pathetic. But sweet. Pathetically sweet."
"Or sweetly pathetic," Layla adds.
"The point is," Bennett interrupts, "he'll help you. Without question. Hell, he'll probably drop everything the second you call."
Drop everything.The phrase makes my skin crawl. That's how it starts—someone dropping everything for you, then expecting you to do the same. Then one day you wake up and realize you don't exist anymore, you're just an extension of someone else's identity.
"That's what I'm afraid of," I mutter.
