Book 1 - Active Trust Read online

  2BED OF 3 Series

  ACTIVE

  TRUST

  Callie Alexandra

  © 2015 by Callie Alexandra

  www.calliealexandra.com

  Researched and written by Callie Alexandra

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  Victoria looked down at the street from her office window. She had always wondered what the view from the corner office looked like upstairs. She was on track to make partner at Briggs & Trice, and thought the name Briggs, Trice & Strauss had quite a nice ring to it. Having an office on the twentieth floor of the most elite law firm in the city was already an accomplishment in itself, but Victoria wanted more.

  Where the partners holed up on the 21st floor was where Victoria aspired to be. The corridor leading to the vast offices was lined with expensive paintings and the entire floor reeked of snobbery at its finest. Victoria had chosen commercial law as her field of practice and being an associate at Briggs & Trice afforded her opportunities to sink some pretty large fish. She was the head of the food chain in her own respect, but she’d always wanted to break the glass ceiling of the law firm headed by Mack Briggs and Nathan Trice.

  “Send them in,” she snapped at the little black box on her desk after being alerted to her client’s presence. Just then, her large door opened up and her Secretary Matthew escorted in a wealthy client from an investment company. The client was accompanied by a well dress middle-aged woman who had slick, black hair and glasses covering her striking blue eyes.

  “Mason Janus, I presume,” Victoria said as she offered him a seat. Mason sat down after unbuttoning his suit jacket and began speaking immediately.

  “This is my assistant, Marie. We can speak freely in front of her. Listen, I’ve got a lot of trouble brewing over an investment our company made. We learned that our competitor, Fassett & Lews had gotten into some trouble with insider trading. We made the same mistake, but no one is the wiser. We want to keep our names out of the media and try to brush this under the rug, legally. Can we amplify their bad news while keeping our noses clean?”

  He spoke quickly and to the point and Victoria’s response was on the same wavelength. “Sure,” she said as she agreed to do business with Mr. Janus.

  “I can downplay your legal woes in the media, highlight your accomplishments and plead your innocence.”

  She pulled out a piece of paper from her desk and had him sign at the bottom. “This will be our retainer of services. My billing hours are steep, but you won’t find a better lawyer experienced in this field in the city or state. What I’m telling you is that I’m worth it.”

  “Agreed,” he mumbled as he scribbled his name down on the paper. He knew that fast action was necessary in this situation and that if an indictment came down, it would cost his company three times what she billed per hour just to clean up the mess.

  Victoria smiled, “It is certainly better to be proactive in these situations, so we have to act fast. If you aren’t already doing any community involvement, you need to pick a cause and throw some money at it today. Shake hands with the mayor; get some good press. This needs to happen now.”

  Marie fiercely took notes as Victoria laid down the rules of escaping an insider trading scandal for the biggest investment company in their state. She readjusted her glasses once, but never spoke and followed Mr. Janus around closely wherever he went.

  Victoria stood from her chair and meandered toward the window. She told the investment firm’s CEO, “Whoever said that all publicity is good publicity lied. You need all of the good publicity surrounding you so that it melts away the negative view of your company in the eyes of the media. Promote a few of your interns and make a big deal about it. Also, pick a hardship case within your company and throw some cash at him or her. All of these things will trickle down to the media and will help promote your good name. Meanwhile, I will see to it that no charges are filed and that there is a lid put on all of the legal matters involving your company.”

  Victoria had always been a force to be reckoned with and when she had her mind set on something, her thoughts were set to go, go, go. She walked back around to Mr. Janus’ seat as he stood and offered his hand.

  “Call me when you have gotten your publicity train started and I will tip off the media,” she said as Mr. Janus and Marie made their way out of the door. It was her job to soothe wealthy clients into believing that all would be well with one call and a visit to her upscale office at Briggs & Trice.

  She’d quelled fears of commercial real estate company heads and settled expensive legal issues in the past. She was known at the firm for being a viper and no one in her professional life had ever heard a whisper about her personal life. Many were convinced that once she was in attack mode, anyone who got in her way just became collateral damage.

  In her past, Victoria had only used men for her own pleasure and then promptly kicked them out of her high-rise apartment in the city. She didn’t allow them the privilege of getting close and none of them had ever understood what kind of work ethic it took in order to succeed at what she does.

  She hired Matthew as her legal assistant because he was sex on a stick in a suit and he smelled delicious. Many of her colleagues had female secretaries, but Victoria always felt some power in telling a sexy man what to do.

  She began research on the insider trading kerfuffle and learned that the insider trading at Fassett & Lews went all the way to the top of the company. Frank Lews was in on the whole thing. Frank Lews was stuffy, older and super rich. Upon further research, she learned that Frank was the person solely responsible for the insider trading and was involved in embezzlement of millions.

  Victoria couldn’t wrap her head around why someone who was so wealthy would want to steal money and funnel it to their own accounts. Her thought process was interrupted by Michelle Mayor, her colleague.

  Michelle knocked and entered, per usual. “Want some lunch? I’m walking down to Vince’s for a bite.”

  “No thank you, I’ve got a full plate, so to speak.”

  Michelle walked out with her long, brunette locks flowing past her shoulders. She was perplexed by whatever it was that had Victoria working through lunch. They weren’t exactly friends, but they did eat together every
Wednesday. Victoria always viewed Michelle as competition in the partnership game and never wanted to let her get close.

  Michelle, on the other hand, always reached out to others, no matter their position in the firm. She prided herself on being someone that anyone and everyone could approach, no matter what, and receive a listening ear.

  She wanted to offer her help to Victoria, but her legal expertise resided with domestic accounts. She was considered the go-to expert for all things divorce and family related, but there was no mistaking that she was in competition to become a partner at the firm. Despite her aspirations to be made partner, her curvy body and conservative dress always made her appear welcoming to others in her presence.

  Victoria had gone through paperwork at lightning speed and wanted Matthew in there at a moment’s notice. Hitting her call button, she said, “Matthew, I need you in here.”

  He rushed on in without a moment’s notice and was quickly taking notes about everything she said. “Get this to Janus immediately,” she said, handing him a letter. “Do not open it under any circumstances and make sure you and only you deliver it to him personally. We wage war on Fassett & Lews today.”

  She’d located an article on a business website suggesting that Frank Lews was going to turn on another company as rumors of his indictment heated up. She had to warn Mr. Janus quickly, but didn’t want to do it on the phone and didn’t want to be implicated in the legalities of the matter.

  She found through even more research that the media was buzzing around Janus Incorporated over reports of insider trading and embezzlement. She needed to locate the source of the rumors and put a muzzle on them.

  Victoria began typing on her laptop furiously as she searched for news related to Fassett & Lews. She’d found that one of their Vice Presidents named Jackson Hurst had passed away a few months back, but didn’t give any thought to it. She curiously searched and searched, looking for information on anything she could find that would bring suit against their company. She found that Janus Incorporated was in bed with their rival company and she knew that she had to keep that part of the drama swept under the rug. She learned from an email from Mr. Janus himself that Frank Lews owed him a million dollars over an investment that he was told was guaranteed.

  She drew up papers for a lawsuit to be filed and quickly devised a plan to throw the entire blame on Fassett & Lews. She would sue them on behalf of Janus Incorporated and get that million dollars back and in turn, she would allege that her client had no knowledge of any insider trading and leave the burden of proof on the opposition’s attorneys.

  She left the document on Matthew’s desk with a post-it note telling him to fax the papers to the courts upon his return from Janus Incorporated’s building.

  She walked to the break room to get some coffee and noticed Michelle making her way to her own office. She walked by and saw Michelle greeting The Governor’s wife.

  ‘What could The Governor’s wife be cooking up?’ She wondered as she passed by. She knew that Michelle specialized in high profile divorce and custody issues, so there was some trouble brewing for their family.

  Michelle told her client to take a seat and then walked around to close the office door behind her.

  “Ma’am, here at Briggs & Trice, we offer a variety of family services. We cater to a specific sort of clientele, if you catch my drift.”

  “That jerk!” Donna McBride exclaimed, as she looked on the verge of bursting into tears.

  “If you tell me everything, we can help you,” Michelle offered as she extended a tissue to Mrs. McBride.

  “Please, call me Donna,” The Governor’s wife stated as she begun weaving her tale of romance between herself and The Governor.

  “You see, he and I have loved each other since high school…and all of the sudden, he gets this other woman pregnant?!”

  “Okay, we are dealing with a pregnancy and…possibly a divorce?”

  “I don’t see that he has left me any choice.”

  Mrs. McBride didn’t mince words and it appeared that the news of her husband’s infidelity hadn’t come as a surprise to her whatsoever. The only revelation that appeared to have stung was “she’s only 24-years-old!”

  That statement caused Mrs. McBride to tear up and wipe away the wetness gently to avoid a makeup disaster. “And then there’s the custody issue if we are divorcing. Who gets the kids? What do I do? Where will I live?”

  “All of this will be hashed out in a court of law, Mrs. McBride, but first we must enlist the help of a private investigator so that we can show the court proof of your husband’s infidelity. Right now, it’s a matter of your word against his and without proof, it’s not going to get you anywhere.”

  Michelle sat down on the couch next to Mrs. McBride and offered her more tissues and a promise. “If he’s out there cheating on you, we will find out and we will nail his butt to the wall, don’t you worry. This is my specialization. Once we get him on the adultery charges, things will spin out of control for him and he will have no choice but to give you full custody of the children.”

  Michelle was fully poised to take down The Governor for his misdeeds. She’d voted for him and stood by everything he put in his campaign to become an elected official, but no one knew what he was doing behind closed doors. That needed to change and Michelle was going to make that happen so that her client had peace of mind in knowing that herself and her children would be taken care of.

  Matthew had arrived back into the building and breezed past Michelle’s office, making a quick mental note of who Michelle Mayor was entertaining as a client.

  Faxing the documents on his desk over to the courts, he knocked on Victoria’s door and entered quietly.

  “Is that Mrs. McBride in Michelle Mayor’s office?”

  “You are quite the inquisitive one, aren’t you?”

  “Yes ma’am, but that’s her, right? I wonder why she’s here and talking to Michelle Mayor.”

  “Probably some sort of family issue, now back to the matter at hand. Did you deliver the letter to Mr. Janus himself or one of his lackeys?”

  “Mr. Janus himself,” said Matthew as he left a package from the head of Janus Incorporated on Victoria’s desk. She opened the letter and he let himself out of her office, closing the door behind him as he exited.

  She watched his behind as he left her office and thought about how cute he would be to screw his brains out in her office. He was sexy and that was the main reason she hired him. She hadn’t had sex in roughly six months, but his chiseled body was certainly tempting.

  She let her thoughts slip past her mind as she opened the package from Mr. Janus. Included in the documents in the sealed package were emails from a spy within Fassett & Lews. According to the emails, Frank Lews used Jackson Hurst as a scapegoat for fraud charges that were being filed with the company. Jackson knew too much about Frank’s involvement in the insider trading and it was beginning to look like his death may have been an accident. There wasn’t any solid evidence, but there was something definitely fishy going on with the details and she had to get to the bottom of it.

  ‘Holy crap, this is serious business,’ Victoria thought as she continued paging through the emails, one by one. What on earth would be worth killing someone over? She had to know and read each email personally so that the inner circle of people who had this knowledge would be small.

  Victoria sat and painstakingly poured over the emails until the day turned to night. She was abandoned by Matthew hours prior in favor of Chinese food and a date with his girlfriend. Somehow the pieces of the puzzle had yet to fit together.

  ‘There has to be a missing piece of the puzzle,’ she thought as she neared the end of the printed emails. ‘There is something that isn’t fitting here, but what could it be?’

  She stared off into the distance and her gaze was interrupted by Michelle’s unexpected presence.

  “I thought I was the only one here,” said Michelle as she stuffed the emails back into the p
ackage.

  “I was beginning to think the same thing, but then I noticed your light on, so I came to have a look. Do you have something that needs a second set of eyes?”

  “I’m good.”

  Victoria changed the subject quickly to avoid any further conversation about the emails as she stuffed the package into her bottom drawer.

  “So I saw that you had The Governor’s wife in your office earlier. What was that about?”

  “Well, personal matters, really. Between you and me, she is considering a divorce from The Governor.”

  Victoria welcomed the direction that their conversation was taking. “A divorce, huh? What was he doing, cheating?”

  “Exactly!”

  “Wow.”

  The day had worn on Victoria and she was thinking about her warm, cozy bed. She’d been billing hours for Janus at an alarming rate, but he said it was all worth it. Her thoughts ran rampant, but she was eager to put all of that to rest in order to get some decent sleep.

  “I can’t believe that he would cheat on her, they both just seem so nice when they’re together. He looks like a great guy in those TV commercials during election season. I guess everyone isn’t who they make themselves out to be.”

  Victoria trailed off and was suddenly let off the hook by her colleague.

  “You look beat and honestly, so am I. I’m gonna go. Have a great weekend, Victoria. See you Monday.”

  She waved Michelle off as kindly as she could and put her head down on her desk for only a moment. She needed to get her thoughts together, but waking and beginning her day at 5am was murdering the possibility of her thinking clearly. Looking down at her expensive Cartier watch, the time read 10:05.

  Her watch was an engraved gift from her mother Chastity to her for passing the bar exam. It was engraved with “victoria aut mors”, which her mother said translated to “victory or death”. Victoria liked it more because it was symbolic of her own name, which was something her mother was too daft to notice.