Chapter
Twenty-One

Nicole sat in her office, trying to get work done but instead staring out the window at the Atlanta skyline. It had been two days since she mailed the envelope of documents to the opposing counsel, and it was on her mind around the clock. She’d thought once she sent the documents that she’d be able to sleep again, but man, was she wrong.

Running on caffeine and sugar wasn’t good, but that was where she was. Her conversation with Miles still ran through her head. Would she be able to find another job?

That conversation had brought another revelation—Miles didn’t like being a lawyer. She couldn’t help herself as she laughed out loud. They were both chasing goals they didn’t really want. She needed partnership for the stability and to pay off her loans. He needed it to please his family.

A piece of her wished she had opened up to him. Maybe he would have understood, but it was too late now. She would just have to see how it played out.

Ethan showed up in her office about an hour later. It was even quicker than she’d anticipated.

“We need to talk.” He shut the door before taking a seat.

There was no doubt in her mind why he was there, but she was going to let him lead the conversation.

“I’m going to ask you a question, Nicole.” His green eyes focused directly on her. “And I need you to be completely honest with me. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “Yes, I do.” He looked even more nervous than she felt, and that was saying a lot. Her stomach churned.

“Did you send a set of MPC documents to Kate Sullivan?” His face reddened with each word out of his mouth.

She’d already decided there was no point trying to lie to him. “Yes, I did.”

He let out a breath, and his shoulders slumped. “What in the world were you thinking? Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“I didn’t make the decision lightly. I agonized over it, and I realize there will be dire personal consequences.”

“This isn’t just about you, Nicole. It’s bigger than that.”

“Ethan, it was wrong to withhold those documents. You and I both know it. I couldn’t live with myself, knowing I was party to that type of behavior.”

“So you thought doing something stupid was the solution?” he asked in a raised voice.

“Like I said, I knew there would be consequences, but I had to be able to get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror.” She paused, wondering how far to push this. “And I think, deep down, you wanted to do the same thing, but given your position, it was impossible. We want to win, Ethan. We want to defend our clients. But if we lose our integrity and ethics, then what do we have left?”

A vein in his neck popped out. “You really have no idea how big of a mess this is. There are going to be extreme consequences. The first being that you’re fired. You need to pack up and get out of here.”

“I understand.”

“No, I don’t think you do. Kate is going to file a motion for sanctions.”

Oh no. A sanctions order was highly damaging to the entire firm’s reputation as well as that of the lawyers involved in the case. It wasn’t just about the money. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Of course you didn’t. Because you weren’t thinking this through. I have to decide how to play this thing with the court, and even more important, the client.”

“You can throw me under the bus.”

He shook his head. “It’s not nearly that simple. If I tell your story, the true story, I’m implicating myself.”

“And what are you going to tell everyone here about why I’m gone?”

“That you left to pursue other opportunities.” He let out a string of curses. “I could never trust you again after this. You’ve put me in an awful position.”

The tears started to stream down her face. “I know, and for that I’m truly sorry. I don’t know what else I can say.”

“It probably works best for both of us if your name doesn’t come out in all of this. I need to figure out what the story’s going to be. Regardless, you can’t breathe a word about this to anyone. Am I clear?”

“Crystal clear. I’ll get out of here right away.”

He stood up and took a step toward the door before turning back. “You threw everything away, Nicole. I hope in the end you’ll think it was worth it.”

He closed the door, and more tears started to flow. What was she going to do?

Ethan splashed water on his face in the men’s restroom—a practice that was becoming all too common for him. Today was shaping up to be one of the worst of his career. He had big decisions to make, and he didn’t know which path to take. None of them were good options.

There was a good chance Royce would fire him when he found out about this. No, there had to be another way. A way to argue to Judge Freeman and convince Royce that his firm wasn’t behind these leaked documents and that, in fact, no one on his team had ever seen them. That they weren’t even authentic.

It was a pretty unbelievable explanation, but he did have something going for him. It was also unbelievable that someone from Ethan’s firm would have given those documents to the other side. No one except he and Nicole knew the truth. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Whoever reviewed the documents in the first place would know, but they were so low-level that they’d never see the courtroom or the client. He’d make sure of that. Damage control—that was what he had to do.

His larger problem was the content of the emails. He had to figure out what MPC had done with both drugs, because he suspected they’d gone well outside the law this time. He needed to understand the full story of what Ellie and Pierce were discussing in those emails.

Taking another deep breath, he exited the restroom and returned to his office. Royce was going to flip when he heard the news.

Then an idea hit him. He knew Royce was already locking things down at MPC. That he had suspicions about his employees. That was why the security guy Bradley had been so involved lately. Ethan’s best and only chance was to make Royce think that someone from his own team had leaked the documents.

The judge was going to be upset regardless, but Ethan could deal with that heat. What he couldn’t afford was to get fired off the case.

For this plan to have any shot at succeeding, he was going to have to go in hard at Royce. He couldn’t show an ounce of fear or the possibility that this could have come from his team. He would have to be angry and act like someone at MPC was trying to bring them down.

With that strategy in mind, he grabbed his keys and headed to Royce’s office. Best to show up unannounced and make a noisy entrance. If he was going to convince Royce, this had to be good.

By the time he walked into the MPC building, his confidence was building. His conscience, on the other hand, was taking a beating, but he could engage in self-loathing later. For now, desperate times called for even more desperate measures.

He strode up to Penny’s desk, and she looked up from her computer. “Oh, Mr. Black, is Mr. Hamilton expecting you?”

“No, but it’s an emergency. I need to speak with him right away.”

“Of course. Let me go check, and I’ll be right out.”

He could have just stormed directly into Royce’s office, but he didn’t want to overplay his hand. There would be plenty of time for theatrics.

Penny came back toward him, and she had Royce by her side.

“What’s all this about?” Royce asked him.

“We need to talk.”

“Come on back, then,” Royce said. “Matt and I were just going over the quarterly financials.”

Royce ushered Ethan into his large office suite. Matt was sitting at the conference room table with stacks of papers spread out in front of him.

It looked like Ethan would have to sell both of them on the story.

“Ethan has something urgent to talk to us about,” Royce said.

“We have a disaster on our hands,” he started.

“I presume you’re being a bit melodramatic?” Royce asked.

Ethan shook his head. “I only wish that were true. Someone from your company sent Kate Sullivan five documents containing highly inflammatory emails. Emails about Celix and Acreda. Emails that Kate now plans to take before Judge Freeman within forty-eight hours.”

“What? What kind of emails?” Royce’s loud voice reverberated through the office suite.

Ethan slapped copies of the emails down on the table. “Here. I need you to look at them. They’re full of innuendo, but I think I’m missing some pieces to this puzzle. If you guys have been holding back on me even when I’ve asked you not to, then you need to realize we’re at the breaking point. Take a look at these and start telling me what you know.” He watched them read, looking for any tells.

Royce walked over to his phone and hit the intercom. “Penny, get Bradley Cummings into my office ASAP.”

“Yes, sir,” she responded.

Royce started cursing and pacing as he reread the papers. Matt was his usual calm self, but a deep frown marred his face. So far, so good. At least as far as Ethan’s plan went. His larger problem still loomed, though. He had to figure out what in the world was going on.

Royce lifted one of the papers in his hand. “I have no idea what Ellie’s talking about.” He looked at Matt. “Do you?”

Matt shook his head. “This is all news to me.”

“You guys are the two most powerful executives in the company. I find it hard to believe you’d both be in the dark here. A jury will think the same thing and ask the same questions. All I know about Acreda is what you two have told me. I need you to fess up about how exactly Acreda is linked to this lawsuit.” He paused, trying to keep his temper in check. “We are way past the point of keeping these types of secrets.”

“I think what we’re trying to say is that we’re just as confused about these emails as you are,” Matt said. “Could these have been fabricated? What if Ellie had some sort of ax to grind that we don’t even know about?”

A knock on the door was followed by Bradley entering the room. “You asked to see me?”

“Fill him in, Ethan.”

He gave Bradley the rundown he’d given Royce and Matt plus a few details about the documents in question.

“Bradley,” Royce said, “there are two issues. The first is tracking down who in the company knows about any links between the two drugs. Second, it seems like we’ve got a mole, and we need to ferret him or her out ASAP. Because if they’ve done this, who knows what they’ll do next. Do you think Pierce could’ve done this?”

Bradley shook his head. “No. This kind of action doesn’t fit Pierce. He would never have gone to the other side’s lawyer, even if he had concerns.”

“Well, then it has to be another of your employees.” The lie rolled easily off Ethan’s tongue. “And this has put us all in a very precarious situation. I’ll get in trouble because it looks like we withheld evidence. MPC will get sanctioned too, probably.”

“I don’t care about a monetary sanction,” Royce barked.

“You might not, but I bet you’ll care about an adverse inference ruling by the judge. Kate’s going to go for the jugular on this. She’ll argue spoliation—the wrongful withholding or destruction of evidence.”

“What’s an adverse inference?” Matt asked.

“The judge could structure it a couple different ways. The worst-case scenario is that the judge tells the jury they can actually presume that certain facts are true because the evidence has been wrongfully withheld or destroyed. And those facts would be very bad facts against us. Even under the best-case scenario, the judge will allow the jury to presume that the evidence is favorable to the plaintiffs. So even without the introduction of the evidence, it could be game over.”

“You can’t be serious,” Royce said. “What kind of justice system is that?”

“One that doesn’t look favorably on withholding evidence, and it gets worse, because in this instance, the evidence still exists. Kate could argue that these documents should be introduced, and that she should also get the adverse inference because other documents might have been destroyed or withheld.”

Royce’s face turned scarlet, and he hauled off and punched his fist into the wall. Ethan couldn’t quite stop himself from flinching.

Bradley leapt forward. “Sir, are you okay?”

Royce said a few choice words as he shook out his hand.

Matt led Royce back to his chair. “Sit down and get yourself together. We need to think,” he snapped.

This was the first time Ethan had ever seen Matt frazzled. He wanted Royce to get riled up, but not so much that everything exploded right before his eyes. That could also lead to Royce making a rash decision. He appreciated that Matt hadn’t gone completely off the deep end yet. This was a delicate game Ethan was trying to play.

“Let’s back up for a minute,” Matt said. “What’s the significance of the forty-eight-hour clock?”

“Kate told me she was going directly to the judge to file a motion today. I asked her for time.”

“And she gave it to you, just like that?” Bradley asked.

“We’ve been friends for a long time. I tried to convince her that I had no idea what was going on. I also questioned the authenticity of the documents.”

“So she gave you the extension out of the goodness of her heart?” Bradley asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s just Kate.”

“I’m not buying it,” Bradley said. “Something doesn’t add up. If she wanted to go for the jugular like you said, then why even tell you about it?”

“Because Kate plays by the book. The judge would expect her to confer with me before filing the motion. She isn’t one to bend the rules, not even a tiny bit. And that kind of rule bending is exactly why we’re now in this predicament.”

“Enough squabbling,” Royce yelled. “We need to stop the bleeding and figure a way out of this mess. I want all our scientists who were on the Celix team put on lockdown and questioned. This has to be a top priority.”

“And exactly how do you think you can do that?” Ethan asked, truly curious how something like that could take place.

“Let me worry about that,” Bradley said. “We have contingency plans in case of dire security breaches, and I would call this one dire.”

“Is there anything we’re missing?” Royce asked. “Is there any other way those documents could’ve gotten into Kate’s hands?”

“Well, your boy here could’ve found them in our system through his document collection and given them to her,” Bradley said with a glare.

“That is beyond ridiculous,” Ethan replied. And that much was true. “That would be totally against my own self-interest. I want to win this case. There’s no way I would sabotage myself. We’re all on the same side here.” He tried to keep his voice down, but he couldn’t let these kinds of thoughts infiltrate Royce’s mind.

“If you ask me, you’re a bit too close to Kate Sullivan,” Bradley said.

“And our closeness has only worked in our favor up to this point. Why don’t you let me focus on my job as MPC’s lawyer, and you on yours? Get your people in line before it’s too late.”

“Ethan’s right, Bradley,” Matt said. “We need to get our house in order. Let Ethan deal with the legal ramifications. We simply can’t afford more of our dirty laundry to get out there.”

But the bigger question still loomed large in Ethan’s mind. “You have to figure out what’s going on with these two drugs. Because if you’re both telling me the truth, then someone else at this company may have made decisions that now threaten the entire corporation.”

“We’re on it,” Matt said. “I can guarantee you that.”

Ethan took a step toward the door. “If you find out anything new here, please keep me posted. My strategy will be to tell the judge that we’ve never seen these documents before. But I’ll plan for the worst-case scenario, because it’s highly unlikely he’ll think we’re innocent in all of this.”

“Do whatever you have to do. We’re at war,” Royce said.

And war it was. But Ethan was no longer sure who he was fighting against.

Kate picked up the phone on the second ring because she recognized Ethan’s number. The forty-eight hours she had given him was almost up, but she wasn’t surprised he’d taken nearly the entire time. She also wasn’t sure what he was going to come back at her with, but she figured he wouldn’t outright confess to wrongfully withholding evidence. The repercussions of that admission would be too severe.

“Kate, it’s Ethan.”

“I’ve been waiting for your call.” She flipped her pen around in her hand.

“You said forty-eight hours. I’m still under that.”

“And what do you have for me?”

“You can file whatever you think you need to with the judge. Our position is that a rogue employee sent you these documents. They were not collected by my firm and have never been seen in our discovery process. We were caught just as off guard as you. We’re not even sure they are authentic.”

Wow. He was digging an even deeper hole for himself. “Ethan, I’m going to give you one opportunity to take that back. As your friend, not as your opposing counsel, I’d urge you to reconsider your response.”

“I’m not reconsidering, Kate, because it’s the truth. I told you when you showed me the documents that I had never seen them before, and I’ve confirmed with my team that no one else has either. Someone on the inside at MPC who is motivated by ill will must have sent them to you.”

“How would this supposed employee even have access to these emails?”

“You and I both know there are ways to get into a company’s email server, especially if you’re on the inside.”

“Wait. Even if what you’re saying is true, and I have serious doubts about that, how does that make it any better? The documents still say what they say—which means that MPC knew about the side effects and had some sort of plan to launch Celix because Acreda would be there to pick up the pieces.”

“That’s a leap. You’re reading things into those documents that don’t exist. First, we don’t know that they’re authentic at this juncture, and second, they’re simply a back-and-forth between two scientists that contains pure speculation. There’s nothing concrete or specific in them. And none of my witnesses have any personal knowledge about them. I’ve already asked. I will lodge multiple evidentiary objections to their admissibility.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Who was this man, and what had happened to the guy she’d known all these years? Had the firm and MPC corrupted him so badly that he would go to these lengths to subvert the truth?

“I don’t think there’s anything else for us to discuss,” Ethan said. “I’ll respond to your motion once it’s filed.”

Kate hung up the phone and took a second to replay the conversation in her head. Would the judge really believe this concocted story? Was she reading too much into the emails? He was right that the documents didn’t spell out an exact link between the two drugs. But there was enough there to make her believe her theory was right. Granted, the discussion was only between two scientists, but she didn’t think a judge would buy Ethan’s desperate attempt to explain it away.

Regardless, now that she knew what he was planning to argue, she could try to preempt those claims accordingly in her motion. She needed more coffee. It was going to be a long night, because she wanted to file this first thing in the morning.

Around eleven o’clock, she heard a knock on her office door and knew it was Landon.

“You’re burning the midnight oil,” he said.

“Well, technically it’s not midnight yet.”

He laughed and walked over to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. “I worry about you. You’ve been putting in crazy hours for weeks now.”

“I told you this is just part of the lead-up to trial.”

“Yeah, but I can’t help being concerned,” he said softly.

He gently massaged her shoulders, and she closed her eyes for a second. If she kept them closed much longer, she’d fall asleep. Even though she’d been drinking coffee for the past few hours, her energy was quickly fading.

“How’s the motion coming?” He stepped back and leaned against the edge of her desk.

She forced her eyes open again. “Good, but I think I’m too emotionally invested. I want to make it perfect. I’ve dealt with some pretty dicey situations before in document discovery, but never anything this blatantly egregious. And I haven’t even told you the best part yet.”

“What’s that?”

She looked up into his dark eyes and realized just how much she enjoyed sharing her world with him. She hoped that once the trial was over, they’d still be able to continue building a connection. “I spoke to Ethan this afternoon.”

“Oh, this is going to be good.”

“He claims he has no knowledge of the documents and that some employee from MPC with an ax to grind sent them to me, and that the emails are pure speculation. He’ll try to get them excluded on evidentiary grounds.”

“Would that be possible?”

“The judge could exclude them, especially since I don’t have a witness to get the documents in through, with Ellie gone and Pierce MIA. It’s a brilliant plan on their part. That’s why this motion is so important. I need to get my hands on documents that include someone I can actually put on the witness stand.”

He took her hand. “I get that. But you also don’t need to stay here all night.”

“You’re right. I think it’s good to go. I’ll proof it again in the morning and then get it filed with the court.”

“Then Ethan gets a chance to respond?”

“Yes. But I’ve framed this as an emergency motion, so Ethan will have to file a response very quickly. I’ve asked for a hearing to be scheduled immediately, given the nature of the issue. Hopefully, we can get in front of the judge this week.”

“Let’s get you out of here and home safe.”

She wondered if she’d ever be safe as long as MPC had a target on her back—a target that had just gotten bigger.