The Up and Comer by Howard Roughan

Author:Howard Roughan [Roughan, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781841154664
Google: z1UNg9Dn79cC
Amazon: B009F7QIDC
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Published: 2002-02-14T08:00:00+00:00

I called Gwen from the street and told her that I wouldn't be returning to the office. "Is everything all right?" she asked me. It was a question I'd been hearing a lot in the last week. I told her that I appreciated her concern although none was needed. I could tell she knew I was lying.

Twenty blocks, I must have walked. The nine-to-fivers were beginning to spill out of the office buildings and fill the sidewalks on their way home. I, on the other hand, had no destination in mind. That is, until I looked up and saw the sign for an Irish pub. I ducked in and took a seat at the bar. Never was a drink-and-think session more in order.

The place was nearly empty. Hollow was more like it. Scattered patrons, mostly male and mostly older, talking either to each other or themselves. After the bartender set me up, I tried to sort through the events that had brought me to where I was — the proverbial back against the wall.

I got to thinking. To pay or not to pay?

If not paying was going to cost me my marriage and nothing more, maybe I could cope. Tracy and I didn't exactly have a never-ending love story going on. Losing out on the loft and all the money where it came from would be a tremendous kick in the wallet, but when all was said and done, I'd still be making a good living at Campbell & Devine.

Were it only that simple.

Lawrence Metcalf could giveth and he could taketh away. My screwing over his Precious would cost Campbell & Devine dearly. Beyond the clients that Lawrence had initially helped bring to the firm, he and his old-boy network would see to it that others walked as well, or never came aboard at all. You could bet on it. It was how the game worked. It wouldn't matter that we were the Green Berets of law. When you're blackballed you're blackballed, and as much as Jack Devine could be sympathetic to my plight as a guy caught with his pants down, he'd know there'd be only one way to halt the carnage. He may have thought of me as a son, but I had little doubt that when it came to his law firm, it was billings before any perceived bloodlines. I'd be out on my ass for sure.

Then there was Connor. It was bad enough that I was sleeping with his wife. As far as being a friend to him, I had no delusions. Still, how could I add insult to injury by allowing him to find out? There was no telling how hard he would take it.

No telling at all.

So I pay, right? As much as I loathed the idea of giving one penny to Tyler and being taken advantage of in that way, I'd suck it up. A hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars was a lot of money, but it was money that I had. Or at least had access to.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.