Chapter 36: Christian's POV / Lisa's POV

No no no. Fuck. No!

This, this is why I didn't want to come work here. Fifteen more firms offered me a position as a junior associate after I passed my exams. By some miracle, I made it in the top five. I'm still shocked that I did that well.

I was going to go with Kirkland Co. It's the second biggest law firm in the country and it does really well in corporate law. It's all the way in Washington, far away from Lucas and Charlotte and far enough for me not to constantly be compared to my brother. The entire country knows the Greyson name, but in New York there's no escaping its shadow. In Washington, I would have just been Christian. I would have been able to escape being a Greyson and being Lucas Greyson's little brother.

"No fucking way!" The guy sitting next to me grabbed my work assignment paper out of my hand. "Guess who's going to be Charlotte Ericsson's junior associate?" He screamed loud enough for everyone in the conference room to hear.

The entire room snapped their attention to him. Someone else grabbed the piece of paper out of his hand to make sure he wasn't lying.

Fuck. It's going to be a crappy first day.

"Of course you got Charlotte Ericsson!" Someone else took the piece of paper and scoffed. "She's going to be your sister in law, so I guess you're already getting special treatment."

"He's getting special treatment because he's a Greyson!" A girl chimed in before I could snatch the paper out of her hands.

I shouldn't have come here.

I didn't want to come to White & Co. A friend of mine saw me about to send an email rejecting their offer and smacked me in the head for even thinking of doing such a thing. He said only an idiot would pass the opportunity to work at the best law firm in the country just because I was asked to work at the branch that's based in the city where my brother and future sister in law are most feared.

So I held off on sending my rejection.

I took the next three days to do my research, talk to my friends, mentors and a few of my former lecturers. They all said the same thing despite how desperate I was for them to tell me it's okay to let the opportunity slip through my fingers. They insisted that only an idiot would pass up a chance to work at White & Co.

I should have called Lauren. She would have given me a thousand reasons why I shouldn't have come here.

No.

Lauren and her family are at war with Charlotte and by extention, they're at war with my family. Also, from what I've heard Lauren is claiming in her disciplinary hearing, Lucas is about to leave her family in ruins for saying the most outlandish things.

"It must be a mistake!" I snatched the paper and sat back down in my chair. "I was told I'd be with Carter Cornwall and his son, Connor."

Half of the room fell silent while the other half whispered among themselves.

"Have you been living under a rock?" The guy sitting next to me whispered loud enough for everyone to hear him. "The Cornwalls are no longer with the firm. Rumour is, they tried to strong arm the partners into voting Connor as partner. They did a whole bunch of dodgy stuff that the firm is trying to keep under wraps. I think both father and son are going to get disbarred."

All I could do was raise my eyes in shock.

This is already strike two for me and it's only Orientation day. First, I got placed with my future sister law and then I had no idea about what can only be considered a bombshell in the legal industry.

These people are going to eat me alive at this rate.

Everyone here made it to the top twenty with their exam results. These are the best young lawyers the country has to offer. They're ruthless and like Charlotte, they probably also don't sleep a wink at night.

I read over my work assignment again.

I only agreed to coming here because I thought I'd be as far away from her as possible.

I could hardly focus while someone from HR gave us the welcome speech. He was saying lies like "we just want you to give it your best" and "we picked you because you belong here. You've earned your place here." However, we all know that if your best is not good enough, you will be tossed to the side like yesterday's news.

White & Co. doesn't just expect perfection. The workload here is so much that someone like Charlotte leaves her home office at around 2am each morning. As much as I dislike her, she's smart and works fucking hard. If she's forced to work that hard for this firm, then chances are I might struggle a lot.

But that doesn't matter. That's just negative self-talk. I can do this.

Our first hour of orientation was followed by a mini tour of the firm. The place is huge with more than seven departments and Charlotte as the second department head in Mergers and Acquisition. No one her age should have a position like that, but of course there's nothing she can't do.

"Ritika and Christian", the person leading the tour called, "as you both know, you two will be working on this floor with the firm's newest and youngest partner to ever be appointed. One of Ms Ericsson's secretaries will come to get you two in a minute. The rest of us are off."

Ritika and I waited in the lounge on the eighth floor.

The rest of the group that started with a group of twenty junior associates when we were on the ground floor, was now left with only four people. Our guide kept dropping everyone off at their respective departments each time we got to a different floor.

"You nervous?" Ritika asked me.

She looked pretty calm considering that it's our first day. Her sleek pure black hair was tied in a tight bun at the back of her head and she had a red dot right in the middle of her forehead that blended well with her dark brown skin.

She was tall ...well as tall as me and wore a black and white dress that hugged her petite frame.

"Yeah." I decided not to lie. "You?"

"Yeah." She chuckled. "I've heard that Ms Ericsson doesn't tolerate stupidity or laziness. I know I'm not either of those two things, but I heard she can be intense. I'm afraid I'll screw this up."

"I'll put in a good word for you since she's practically family to me."

We both burst out in laughter.

"You shouldn't let them get to you." She put a hand on my arm. "Every single person in our cohort applied for a spot on Ms Ericsson's team. She only works with the best. If she chose you it's because she thinks you're good enough to work with her."

"Thanks, Ritika." I gave a sigh of relief. "Same goes to you, you know."

"I know." She shrugged. "Oh and since we'll be working closely together, you can just call me Ri. That's what all my friends call me."

"So we're friends then?"

"Depends if you're smart enough." She punched my shoulder and we both laughed.

We both instantly stopped laughing when a woman with bright blonde hair came walking into the lounge. She had dark brown eyes, a very full figure and looked way too happy for my liking.

"Our little grasshoppers!" She stopped herself from pinching our cheecks when Ri and I stood up to shake her hand.

"My name is Danika. I'm one of Ms Ericsson's secretaries and just so you know, I'm also the friendliest one in her team. If you're having a bad day or struggling with anything it's better to come to me than to go to Nathan, Rachel or Jona. Actually Jona is the last person you should go to if you're struggling. Only go to him if you have solutions or if you are certain that you won't be asking a stupid or lazy question. However, lucky for you two, Jona is not here at the moment so you have time to get smart before he gets back!"

Ri and I both looked at one another and started making notes in our work ipads.

Danika probably knows I've already met Jona, but she didn't say anything about it and I was really grateful for that.

The blonde, plump woman guided us through the M&A floor and introduced us to Rachel and Nathan. The other two secretaries may not be as chirpy as Danika, but compared to Jona, they're rays of sunlight.

"And here's the office you two will be sharing." She opened the door to a magnificent office that was probably a bit too big for newbies.

"We already have work assigned to us?" Ri asked as she went inside and started looking through no less than a dozen thick files that were on each of our tables and on the floor surrounding our desks.

"Of course!" Danika almost sounded offended. "The only reason this office is this big is because there are more files coming your way. By the end of the month you won't think it's that big. Trust me."

We both glanced at each other. We're nervous, but I think it's a good nervous. It's an excited nervousness.

"You two have two days to read those files, summarise them and prepare for a case discussion with Ms Ericsson the day after tomorrow. You'll be meeting with the client after the case discussion so make sure you won't embarass yourself."

I took a closer look at the twelve files on my side of the office.

They were all labeled for one client and for one matter. All of this is for one client and I've heard rumours that Charlotte has more than eighty clients.

"You're lucky Jona isn't here!" Danika chirped. "You would have had three times the workload. We're going easy on you so you can settle in."

She gave us another huge smile and closed the door to our office.

"Goodbye sleep." Ri laughed.

"And hello Hell." I laughed with her.

*******************************************

Lisa's POV

"I'm not cheating on you!" He screamed again. "It was lunch, Lisa. Can I not go out to lunch anymore just because you trapped me in this marriage?"

I put my hand over my mouth.

He can't say that.

I didn't trap him. He could have said no to marrying me. He said yes, chose me and not once have we ever had a problem with him flirting with other women. He promised he would never cheat on me.

"Take it back." I said softly. "I did not trap you, Justin. We both chose this marriage."

He sighed, shook his head and covered his eyes with one of his hands.

"Our families chose this marriage." He sighed again. "I don't love you, Lisa. I've tried, but you're not Sandra. You'll never be Sandra. I can't love you."

...

"Well, lucky for us love is not a prerequisite for a marriage to be successful!" I bit the inside of my lip. "I've stood by you for six years. I've made sure our house is a home, I built your political career with you, I gave you kids and I also gave up my career for you. If that's not love then I don't know what is."

"It's not love! He burst out in anger."All you've done is guilttrip me into staying with you! Every time I try to leave, you remind me of all these things you've done for me. You cling onto those things because you know they will anchor me to this facade of a marriage!"

...

"Have you ever wondered why I don't do anything for you?" He spat. "I've never held you, bought you flowers or even called to check up on you. Don't you want that for yourself? Don't you want someone who will care if you're sick or having a bad day?"

This can't be happening.

He just needs time. He'll love me if I just give him time.

"I want you." I tried so hard not to cry. "I've always wanted you, Justin. I've always chosen you and now I need you to choose me. Our kids need you to choose me."

He pinched the bridge of his nose in sheer frustration.

"The kids." He laughed with so much mock that he didn't bother to hide. "Are they even mine?"

"What?"

"Are. they. mine?" He gritted through his teeth. "I was never sober when you and I supposedly had sex, Lisa. All I know is I'd wake up with a fucking hangover each time, lying naked next to a woman I blame for losing the love of my life!"

I marched right up to him and slapped him across the face.

"My kids won't suffer just because you're having an early mid-life crisis!" I slapped him again. "They are yours and so are the babies I'm currently carrying! Are you going to abandon us for an old flame? I thought you're better than that!"

He started shaking his head and I swear tears started forming in those gentle blue eyes of his.

"I want a paternity test." He started walking towards the door. "If there's even a remote chance that I can escape this torment that is our marriage, I'm taking it."

I wanted to run after him, but I couldn't even breathe.

His political career will crumble if he leaves me. He can't leave me. He won't leave me.

This is a phase, a bump in the road. All marriages go through this.

He can't leave me.