Book 1 - Active Trust

©
 
2015 by Callie Alexandra

www.calliealexandra.com

Researched and written by
Callie
Alexandra

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Victoria looked down at the
street from her office window. She had always wondered what the
view from the corner office looked like upstairs. She was on track
to make partner at Briggs & Trice, and thought the name Briggs,
Trice & Strauss had quite a nice ring to it. Having an office
on the twentieth floor of the most elite law firm in the city was
already an accomplishment in itself, but Victoria wanted more.

Where the partners holed up on
the 21st floor was where Victoria aspired to be. The corridor
leading to the vast offices was lined with expensive paintings and
the entire floor reeked of snobbery at its finest. Victoria had
chosen commercial law as her field of practice and being an
associate at Briggs & Trice afforded her opportunities to sink
some pretty large fish. She was the head of the food chain in her
own respect, but she’d always wanted to break the glass ceiling of
the law firm headed by Mack Briggs and Nathan Trice.

“Send them in,” she snapped at
the little black box on her desk after being alerted to her
client’s presence. Just then, her large door opened up and her
Secretary Matthew escorted in a wealthy client from an investment
company. The client was accompanied by a well dress middle-aged
woman who had slick, black hair and glasses covering her striking
blue eyes.

“Mason Janus, I presume,”
Victoria said as she offered him a seat. Mason sat down after
unbuttoning his suit jacket and began speaking immediately.

“This is my assistant, Marie. We
can speak freely in front of her. Listen, I’ve got a lot of trouble
brewing over an investment our company made. We learned that our
competitor, Fassett & Lews had gotten into some trouble with
insider trading. We made the same mistake, but no one is the wiser.
We want to keep our names out of the media and try to brush this
under the rug, legally. Can we amplify their bad news while keeping
our noses clean?”

He spoke quickly and to the
point and Victoria’s response was on the same wavelength. “Sure,”
she said as she agreed to do business with Mr. Janus.

“I can downplay your legal woes
in the media, highlight your accomplishments and plead your
innocence.”

She pulled out a piece of paper
from her desk and had him sign at the bottom. “This will be our
retainer of services. My billing hours are steep, but you won’t
find a better lawyer experienced in this field in the city or
state. What I’m telling you is that I’m worth it.”

“Agreed,” he mumbled as he
scribbled his name down on the paper. He knew that fast action was
necessary in this situation and that if an indictment came down, it
would cost his company three times what she billed per hour just to
clean up the mess.

Victoria smiled, “It is
certainly better to be proactive in these situations, so we have to
act fast. If you aren’t already doing any community involvement,
you need to pick a cause and throw some money at it today. Shake
hands with the mayor; get some good press. This needs to happen
now.”

Marie fiercely took notes as
Victoria laid down the rules of escaping an insider trading scandal
for the biggest investment company in their state. She readjusted
her glasses once, but never spoke and followed Mr. Janus around
closely wherever he went.

Victoria stood from her chair
and meandered toward the window. She told the investment firm’s
CEO, “Whoever said that all publicity is good publicity lied. You
need all of the good publicity surrounding you so that it melts
away the negative view of your company in the eyes of the media.
Promote a few of your interns and make a big deal about it. Also,
pick a hardship case within your company and throw some cash at him
or her. All of these things will trickle down to the media and will
help promote your good name. Meanwhile, I will see to it that no
charges are filed and that there is a lid put on all of the legal
matters involving your company.”

Victoria had always been a force
to be reckoned with and when she had her mind set on something, her
thoughts were set to go, go, go. She walked back around to Mr.
Janus’ seat as he stood and offered his hand.

“Call me when you have gotten
your publicity train started and I will tip off the media,” she
said as Mr. Janus and Marie made their way out of the door. It was
her job to soothe wealthy clients into believing that all would be
well with one call and a visit to her upscale office at Briggs
& Trice.

She’d quelled fears of
commercial real estate company heads and settled expensive legal
issues in the past. She was known at the firm for being a viper and
no one in her professional life had ever heard a whisper about her
personal life. Many were convinced that once she was in attack
mode, anyone who got in her way just became collateral damage.

In her past, Victoria had only
used men for her own pleasure and then promptly kicked them out of
her high-rise apartment in the city. She didn’t allow them the
privilege of getting close and none of them had ever understood
what kind of work ethic it took in order to succeed at what she
does.

She hired Matthew as her legal
assistant because he was sex on a stick in a suit and he smelled
delicious. Many of her colleagues had female secretaries, but
Victoria always felt some power in telling a sexy man what to
do.

She began research on the
insider trading kerfuffle and learned that the insider trading at
Fassett & Lews went all the way to the top of the company.
Frank Lews was in on the whole thing. Frank Lews was stuffy, older
and super rich. Upon further research, she learned that Frank was
the person solely responsible for the insider trading and was
involved in embezzlement of millions.

Victoria couldn’t wrap her head
around why someone who was so wealthy would want to steal money and
funnel it to their own accounts. Her thought process was
interrupted by Michelle Mayor, her colleague.

Michelle knocked and entered,
per usual. “Want some lunch? I’m walking down to Vince’s for a
bite.”

“No thank you, I’ve got a full
plate, so to speak.”

Michelle walked out with her
long, brunette locks flowing past her shoulders. She was perplexed
by whatever it was that had Victoria working through lunch. They
weren’t exactly friends, but they did eat together every Wednesday.
Victoria always viewed Michelle as competition in the partnership
game and never wanted to let her get close.

Michelle, on the other hand,
always reached out to others, no matter their position in the firm.
She prided herself on being someone that anyone and everyone could
approach, no matter what, and receive a listening ear.

She wanted to offer her help to
Victoria, but her legal expertise resided with domestic accounts.
She was considered the go-to expert for all things divorce and
family related, but there was no mistaking that she was in
competition to become a partner at the firm. Despite her
aspirations to be made partner, her curvy body and conservative
dress always made her appear welcoming to others in her
presence.

Victoria had gone through
paperwork at lightning speed and wanted Matthew in there at a
moment’s notice. Hitting her call button, she said, “Matthew, I
need you in here.”

He rushed on in without a
moment’s notice and was quickly taking notes about everything she
said. “Get this to Janus immediately,” she said, handing him a
letter. “Do not open it under any circumstances and make sure you
and only you deliver it to him personally. We wage war on Fassett
& Lews today.”

She’d located an article on a
business website suggesting that Frank Lews was going to turn on
another company as rumors of his indictment heated up. She had to
warn Mr. Janus quickly, but didn’t want to do it on the phone and
didn’t want to be implicated in the legalities of the matter.

She found through even more
research that the media was buzzing around Janus Incorporated over
reports of insider trading and embezzlement. She needed to locate
the source of the rumors and put a muzzle on them.

Victoria began typing on her
laptop furiously as she searched for news related to Fassett &
Lews. She’d found that one of their Vice Presidents named Jackson
Hurst had passed away a few months back, but didn’t give any
thought to it. She curiously searched and searched, looking for
information on anything she could find that would bring suit
against their company. She found that Janus Incorporated was in bed
with their rival company and she knew that she had to keep that
part of the drama swept under the rug. She learned from an email
from Mr. Janus himself that Frank Lews owed him a million dollars
over an investment that he was told was guaranteed.

She drew up papers for a lawsuit
to be filed and quickly devised a plan to throw the entire blame on
Fassett & Lews. She would sue them on behalf of Janus
Incorporated and get that million dollars back and in turn, she
would allege that her client had no knowledge of any insider
trading and leave the burden of proof on the opposition’s
attorneys.

She left the document on
Matthew’s desk with a post-it note telling him to fax the papers to
the courts upon his return from Janus Incorporated’s building.

She walked to the break room to
get some coffee and noticed Michelle making her way to her own
office. She walked by and saw Michelle greeting The Governor’s
wife.

‘What could The Governor’s wife
be cooking up?’ She wondered as she passed by. She knew that
Michelle specialized in high profile divorce and custody issues, so
there was some trouble brewing for their family.

Michelle told her client to take
a seat and then walked around to close the office door behind
her.

“Ma’am, here at Briggs &
Trice, we offer a variety of family services. We cater to a
specific sort of clientele, if you catch my drift.”

“That jerk!” Donna McBride
exclaimed, as she looked on the verge of bursting into tears.

“If you tell me everything, we
can help you,” Michelle offered as she extended a tissue to Mrs.
McBride.

“Please, call me Donna,” The
Governor’s wife stated as she begun weaving her tale of romance
between herself and The Governor.

“You see, he and I have loved
each other since high school…and all of the sudden, he gets this
other woman pregnant?!”

“Okay, we are dealing with a
pregnancy and…possibly a divorce?”

“I don’t see that he has left me
any choice.”

Mrs. McBride didn’t mince words
and it appeared that the news of her husband’s infidelity hadn’t
come as a surprise to her whatsoever. The only revelation that
appeared to have stung was “she’s only 24-years-old!”

That statement caused Mrs.
McBride to tear up and wipe away the wetness gently to avoid a
makeup disaster. “And then there’s the custody issue if we are
divorcing. Who gets the kids? What do I do? Where will I live?”