Bro Code(49)

And if it means I have to see him again, well, I certainly can’t complain.





Chapter Twenty-four


Barrett


Busy streets stretch out toward the horizon beyond my window, as hundreds of cars and people leaving work push their way through traffic to get back home to their loved ones.

There's no reason for me to rush out into traffic, no one for me to go home to, so I usually wait for the rush hour to die down before leaving the office.

I glance at the email I haven't been able to respond to all day. It's from my step-sister Kimberly asking if I'm planning on bringing a plus one to the wedding. In a perfect world, I'd invite Ava. We'd sip champagne, and share a sweet kiss on the dance floor. Being near her just feels right, even if it'd be wrong in everyone else's eyes. I can't help how I feel.

But…how I feel hardly matters at the moment.

All I have to do to make partner is do my job; the one I busted my ass for all these years. Writing up contracts is second nature, seizing opportunity, capitalizing on weakness the second there's blood in the water—it's who I am.

But how can I do that now? If this was any other contract, I wouldn't even be questioning it.

The door to my office swings open and I straighten in my chair as Mr. Lyons walks in with a smile and his three-thousand-dollar suit. He doesn't smile much unless there's money involved.

“Barrett, how's that deal coming?” The expectation in his voice is clear; there's only one answer I can give.

“Good.” I reflect the smile back, full of confidence. “One more signature and we'll have the whole thing locked down. A clean sale.”

“I knew you were the man to take care of this.” Lyons chuckles, satisfied with himself. “Since the day you started, I knew you had potential. All you needed was the right opportunity to prove yourself.”

My stomach tightens in disapproval. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity then, sir.”

“Of course. The partners have faith you'll see this through,” he says, then steps back through my door.

When the latch shuts again, I sigh, then crack open the folder on my desk. All the paperwork is in order, every contract signed and certified except for one. I reach for the phone on my desk, only for it to buzz with a call before I can pick up.

“Mr. Wilson,” the receptionist sounds a little surprised, and I can hear another woman insisting on something in the background, “there's an... Ava Saunders here to see you? She says it's urgent.”

Ava is outside my office? “Go ahead and send her in.”

Flipping the folder on my desk closed, I rise from my chair, ready to meet Ava at the door once she steps off the elevator.

It only takes a minute before I see her, but she's so harried that she nearly walks right past my office before I yank the door open and duck my head out. “Ava.”

“Oh, Barrett!” She turns around, clutching a manila folder tight to her chest. “Sorry. The receptionist just said you were on this floor, but I wasn't sure where.”

“Well, you found me.” I gesture toward my desk. “Come on in.”

She takes a seat in the chair across from mine, gathering herself together with a few deep breaths. I'm not sure I've ever seen her look so distraught before, but the reason is the contract she sets across my desk, fanning out the stack of papers like a handful of cards.

“Listen, I know I said I didn't need your help, but I was wrong.” She bites her lip, fighting to keep her voice composed. “This is a trap. I can sense it. The people trying to buy the factory from me keep pushing and pushing, but won't give me any straight answers.”

“Lawyers never give any straight answers,” I say, but the joke lands flat on its face when her eyes glitter with unshed tears. My heart thumps hard in my chest, and I feel like someone's just punched me in the gut.

“I'm so scared. I think they're going to take the factory and everyone's jobs, and I don't know how to stop them. All the fine print is...” She runs her fingers across the tiny letters, where the full details of the agreement are hidden in subheadings and legalese. “I can't make any sense of it.”

I know she can't. Not when I wrote out everything myself, crafting each demand the firm wanted in the most oblique terms. It would hold up in any court of law, but reads like nonsense to anyone who hasn't passed the bar.

Shit. Now that she's here, sitting right in front of me, I want to punch myself in the face.

A sharp knock on the door stops me from answering, and Mr. Roland walks in with a sly grin painted across his face. What the fuck is he doing here?

Completely ignoring the fact that I'm talking with someone, Roland walks right up to my desk, and knocks the rings on his hand against its smooth wooden surface.

“Barrett! The man of the hour.” He jabs a thumb on the stack of contracts on my desk. “You wrote that agreement so tight an ant couldn't slip through it.”

Ava's eyes lock on him, then jerk back over to me, panic flooding her pretty features.

Roland is still looking at me, grinning like a shark. “It's a good thing, too. We'll boot everyone working there out in two weeks and flip the property. The investors are already lining up.”

“Roland.” I grit my teeth, too on edge to even pretend to show him the respect I'm supposed to.