No Control, so waiting is your only option

The issue with being an intern, of course, is that you’re usually the last to know anything. Even with the surreptitious heads-up that Becks had given you that Bellagamba was back in the building, not only was there nothing you could do about it but there wasn’t even a way for you to get an update on what was going on short of barging into Garrison’s office.

“I hate this,” Gemma grumbled. Work between the three of you had ground to a halt. She was slouching in her chair, shooting dark looks at her phone as if willing it to receive a text or call with an update.

“Nothing we can do,” you sighed. “Unless you want to revisit the **** plan. Maybe cut the elevator wires when she’s about to reach our floor?”

Gemma snorted. “I like the way you’re thinking.”

“Nah, it wouldn’t work,” Eric said. “The elevators have to have automatic brakes on it in case of stuff like that.”

That turned the three of you to Googling modern elevators and whether the classic scenes in movies were realistic or not. It turned out that most elevators didn’t have automatic brakes - which seemed insane to you - but most of them did have emergency precautions including a sort of piston brake at the bottom that would soften the landing of a free-falling elevator car.

With that idea off the table, the three of you started brainstorming other ways to **** Bellagamba in the office without being caught. The top contenders were drowning her in the ladies' toilets, which came with the added shame factor, or luring her to the roof somehow and pushing her off. The problem with the roof was you couldn’t know if people would see you from other buildings, or if there were cameras anywhere.

“I’m telling you, **** her on toilet water is the best one,” Gemma said. “**** by swirly. I guarantee you it’s happened before in the world.”

“What the fuck are you guys talking about?” Sabrina asked, stepping through the door to the conference room with a confused look on her face.

“Sabrina,” Gemma said, standing and immediately going to her, wrapping her up in a hug. “What happened? Are you OK?”

You stood up too, but didn’t circle around the table - there were still plenty of people out in the hallways working away in the firm and you couldn’t be too obvious about your connection. Sabrina gave you a reassuring half-smile to let you know she knew what you really wanted to do.

“Well, I’m sure you guys were guessing this, but I had to meet with the lawyer the firm hired. Her name’s Lydia Stratham and she works for Montebeck & Partners, and I guess she’s some sort of up-and-coming hotshot because she’s only, like, 27 but comes highly recommended.”

“Is she hot?” Eric asked.

Sabrina snorted and nodded as she smirked. “She is, actually. Smokin’ hot. Tall, Long blonde hair, sharp jawline, big tits.”

“Dude,” Eric said.

“I don’t think she’s your type though, Eric,” Sabrina said. “Though, I guess you could surprise me.”

“Tall, blonde, big tits? How is that not my type?” Eric asked.

“Well, she’s trans,” Sabrina said.

Eric’s expression fell from hopefully optimistic to disappointed.

“That’s mean, raising his hopes like that,” Gemma chuckled. “So how did the meeting go, and what took so long?”

“It was more like three different meetings in a row,” Sabrina sighed, settling into her seat. “The first part was a meet-and-greet, signing paperwork, etcetera. Then she had me tell her what happened in my own words like half a dozen times - we even went over to where it happened and I acted it out for her. John, she’ll probably want to interview you too at some point. Anyways, the next part of the meeting was drafting the response we need to file to the suit. We’re obviously going to fight it, and Lydia is prepping a counterclaim to slap Joy and her mom with on behalf of the firm. I didn’t suffer any personal injury so I can’t file a counterclaim. Garrison told Lydia I led our debate team to a win, so Lydia had me doing some extra Precedence research looking up quotes and stuff. She joked that if I needed a job during the year I could be her personal paralegal, and I had to tell her I wasn’t going to school here in the city.”

“Hey, that means you were impressing her, though,” you said. “Awesome job, Sabrina.”

“Thanks,” she grinned. “Anyways, we were pretty deep into drafting the response when the third part of the meeting happened - a negotiation meeting between Bellagamba and her lawyer, and Lydia and the firm. Garrison and Patterson sat in for the firm, and I was there since I was named in the suit.” Sabrina snorted and smirked. “Garrison decided to keep Bellagamba waiting down in the lobby for almost fifteen minutes just to get her ticked off. It definitely worked.”

“We know,” Gemma chuckled. “Becks gave us a call on her cell and let us overhear Bellagamba complaining at her. She wanted to give us a heads up.”

“Awe, that girl,” Sabrina said. “I need to figure out something to give her before we leave. Remind me, baby?” She directed the last bit at you.

You cleared your throat, looking pointedly at the open door to the conference room, and Sabrina blushed a little realising she’d gotten too comfortable. “I will,” you nodded.

“Right, so we got into the meeting and I never had to say anything - it wasn’t a deposition or anything. Bellagamba talked over her lawyer half the time, making demands. Garrison let Lydia do all the talking, and Lydia started to run circles around Bellagamba. The whole thing was honestly a waste of time; Bellagamba didn’t want to hear anything about how frivolous the suit was, or how Joy’s criminal case pretty much ruined any shot at her getting monetary compensation. She was trying to strongarm the firm into a settlement and it’s definitely not going to work.”

“Wait, we now know for sure that Joy is charged?” you asked.

Sabrina grinned. “Yup. Breaking and entering and corporate espionage. Apparently one of the offices she went into was Van Horne’s, and he’s been working on some big trade secrets cases - she messed with his files, and that made it a federal crime.”

“No fucking way,” you said.

“Yeah,” Sabrina laughed.

“I mean, she’ll never be a lawyer, right?” Gemma guessed. “It’s impossible. She couldn’t pass the ethics check for the bar.”

“Nope,” Sabrina grinned.

“Holy. Shit,” you said. “The witch is dead.”

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