Thanks to Superman, she got her wallet back. But her suit was scuffed and dirty, and she smelled like cappuccino and garbage. Her only good briefcase was completely ruined. Luckily she didn’t have her laptop with her, she had forgotten it at home, and she only carried some case files in her attaché. It’d be a headache if she lost her electronics too. She had been saddled with her mom’s medical bills, so she had to be extremely frugal until the bill was paid off, or she found another job.
It was a little after noon when she entered the law office of Hoffman, James, and Associates. The building occupied a corner street in Lenox Hill. Immediately, her only friend in the office, Emma the receptionist, noticed her disheveled appearance.
“What happened to you? Are you okay?” Emma asked.
Arielle nodded. “I got mugged. That’s all.”
“That’s all? Did you get hurt? What did the police say?”
“I didn’t report it. I got my wallet back. That’s all that matters. Is Sabrina here yet?”
Emma’s demeanor changed abruptly. She shuddered visibly, like a wet dog trying to shake off the water from its fur. “She’s been on your case since this morning. She wants to know where you are. I told her you’d be at the courthouse filing the papers. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“My phone is on my desk. I forgot to bring it home yesterday because I was charging it.”
“You’re the only paralegal I know who isn’t permanently attached to their phone, Arielle. She was
convinced you’re avoiding her.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why would I avoid a call from work?”
“I know, right? I wonder why she didn’t hear your phone ringing. I took a peek earlier and she was in and out of your office multiple times.”
Arielle thought on it for a second. “I think I put it on silent. I didn’t want to be bothered with phone calls while I prepared for that deposition yesterday.”
“Well, good luck.” Emma gave a mock salute as she smiled in sympathy. Sabrina Hoffman was the infamous goddess bitch who ruled the office and she did so with an iron fist, so if she was angry with you, it was best to hide under your desk.
Ever since her dad, Robert Hoffman, the founder of the firm, retired, she inherited the company as the chairman and had been running the ship, but not in a good way. Edward James, the other founder, was only a partner on paper and never showed up at work, nor did he make any decisions regarding the firm. As long as his check deposited regularly into his bank account, he was a happy camper.
Sabrina was a mediocre lawyer at best, but she won many of her cases via her good looks and feminine wiles. She was also known as man-crazy, and greedy for attention.
Arielle would need more than just good luck to face Sabrina.
She got into the elevator and rode the two floors up from the main lobby. The moment the elevator doors opened, she saw her boss was strolling down the hallway. She was a leggy blonde swathed in Yves Saint Lauren from head to toe. Sabrina spotted her and quickly launched into her usual berating. But she finally paused when she saw Arielle looked like hell.
“What happened to you?” There was relish in her tone.
Arielle only waved a hand, as she didn’t feel like telling the story again, when she’d just recounted the whole thing to Emma. “Long story short: I’m having an epic bad day.”
“Did you file the papers?” Sabrina wanted to know.
“I did.”
“How come you didn’t pick up the phone when I tried calling you this morning?”
“Sabrina, I left my phone on my desk yesterday.”
“Oh.”
Sabrina wasn’t satisfied unless she had a reason to chastise Arielle over an imagined mistake. She had been extremely vindictive since the day she took over the firm. Arielle had been her father’s protégé—she was on the fast track to partnership when her mother was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Arielle took sabbatical leave from work for seven months to take care her mother. When her mother passed away, Sabrina had taken over as chairman and Arielle’s position had been scrapped. Sabrina would love to be able to fire her, but Old Man Hoffman put his foot down. The firm, Sabrina decided, didn’t need any third year associates and she was offered a position as a senior paralegal as an insult. Sabrina expected her to quit, but her plan backfired. Arielle swallowed her pride and took her demotion in stride because she needed the money to pay her mother’s astronomical medical bills and while she had applied for other work, nothing had come through yet.
That was six months ago.
Ever since that day, it seemed Sabrina had made it her mission to make Arielle’s life as miserable as she could. And Arielle had vowed she would annoy Sabrina by staying at the firm for as long as she could manage. Why would she leave the firm so she could give Sabrina a victory? She planned on staying for the foreseeable future. Once she paid off the medical debts, though, she’d look for a new position somewhere else.
Sabrina followed Arielle into her office. She pointed out a stack of documents on Arielle’s desk. “Check out the first folder. It contains a summons for Frank Darbo, the owner of the After Dark club. We need you to deliver it to him.”
“Why me? Don’t we have a process server available?”