Crazy Seduction(erotica)

When they concluded the regular meeting, Mahati once more asked for Camila, Roy, and Sigrid to remain behind for another matter.

Once the others had all filed out and the room was private, the lawyer looked down at the table and cleared her throat.

She looked at Camila and began. “I addressed the points raised at our last meeting with my mother. I asked how I could truly represent VRL when the Council was my client. She wasn’t pleased that I was questioning her decision. I won’t go into the details of our discussion, but I can sum it up by saying I’m no longer associated with my mother’s law firm but have begun the process of establishing a headquarters for my firm.”

There was shocked silence from the others.

“I’ll understand if you wish to look for alternate external counsel but I can assure you I have a tremendous breadth of knowledge and I’m highly skilled.”

“Are you interviewing for the job?” Camila asked in surprise.

Mahati looked at her questioningly then nodded slightly.

“You’ve never had to interview before, have you?” Sigrid asked curiously.

Mahati turned her eyes to Sigrid and shook her head cautiously.

“For an internal counsel job, you’d usually bring a resume which indicates your training, skills, and work experience. For external counsel we’d ask for references from your client base, interview some of them, and review your case history,” Sigrid said with a kind smile.

“I have worked in my mother’s law firm my entire life. Since I’ve been able to read. I’ve read all of the legal texts and case history in the firm. I have an eidetic memory so mother had me working in research. As I insisted, I was allowed to take the bar exam which I passed easily. I’ve received training as a trial attorney, but while my mother paid for the training, she never allowed me to leave the family property unsupervised. Being assigned the VRL case was my first experience in the outside world. She did not want to do it, but I forced her hand when I volunteered in the presence of the Council members.”

Sigrid rocked back in surprise. “Wait- what? You volunteered? Why did you give us such a hard time in our first meeting?”

Mahati looked distinctly uncomfortable. “It was my first time working outside the firm, and I tried to emulate how I thought my mother would act. I’m sorry for how I behaved that day.” She looked down at her hands on the table. “Now that I have chosen to set my destiny, I find myself unable to return to the family estate. I stayed in a hotel last night. I didn’t like it. I need to find a permanent dwelling of my own.”

“You’re looking for a place in the city?” Roy asked, and she nodded. “How are you fixed for funds?”

“I have personal investments and accounts. Separate from my mother’s accounts and completely under my control. I have… sufficient funds,” Mahati said acknowledging Roy’s question. She looked at Sigrid who was looking at her with a strange smile on her face. “What?”

“Are you aware of Angelus Vindictae Ultrices?” Sigrid asked her and Camila turned her head to look to her HR Chief in surprise.

Mahati searched her memory and found an obscure reference from an ancient Hidden Races law book she’d read as a child. “Yes, it covers the transference of property rights of the demonically possessed to an avenging angel.” She paused as she looked for an occurrence of its use. “That law hasn’t been enacted in a long time. Not for… three decades. The last case was in Italy. A small village-”

“I’ve heard enough. She has my vote,” Sigrid said with a smile. Camila and Roy looked at her in surprise. “That last case was my mother. She dispatched a demon who’d taken the place of the village’s magistrate. She still lives in the villa on that mountain.”

“Thank you for the trip down memory lane Sigrid, but I think I’ll need to think on this. Often lawsuits can be avoided just because the name of the law firm strikes fear into the opponent. That’s one of the goals of having outside counsel.”

Sigrid shrugged with her enigmatic smile. “That wasn’t my only reason for mentioning it. I’m now in possession of a very nice two bedroom condo in Henry’s building. To be precise, the unit next to his.”

Camila gawked at her. “A demon was living next to Henry?”

The tall blond nodded. “The original occupant was a bridge troll. Festil Vlodsky. No family which simplifies the Human law side of things. Not sure when the Demon moved in and replaced him.” She looked to Mahati. “The point is, if you’re interested I’ll sell you this condo for market value with no markup.”

Mahati blinked at Sigrid in surprise. “Is it in Manhattan?”

Sigrid snorted in amusement. “No, if you want a condo in Manhattan you’re on your own. There, the availability is minimal, and the cost is maximum. For Stanley, we found a great building in Jersey City with a lovely view of Manhattan. If you want, you can join me at the unit tonight to take a look. I’ll be doing my own cleansing of the condo to ensure no remnants of the demon remain. The clean-up crew is exceptionally thorough, but this demon was particularly sneaky and foul! I want to ensure the next tenant receives a purified home.”

“Why aren’t you keeping the condo for yourself?” Mahati asked.

“I own a brownstone in Manhattan. It’s all I need,” Sigrid said with a smile.

Mahati nodded to Sigrid and received a smile from the blond. She then turned to Camila. “I will leave you to contemplate the option of hiring my firm’s services. I can assure you, what I lack in established reputation, I exceed in professional expertise.”

“What’s your firm called?” Roy asked.

“M. Chandra, LLP.”

Roy smiled at Camila. “Is that intimidating enough for you? Her mum’s firm is Chandra, LLP.”

“How did you get away with that?” Camila asked.

Mahati raised a perfect brow. “It’s my name. Besides I registered it years ago before I knew my mother had no intention of allowing me to leave the research department of her firm.”

Comprehension dawn on Roy’s face. “You’re her archive! Like the backup technology, Henry set up for us! Mahati’s mum had her! You remember everything with absolute recall?” The lawyer nodded. Roy looked to Camila. “She has my vote too.”

Camila looked a little worried. “As you are so valuable to your mother, are you confident she won’t try to interfere with your new found independence to draw you back to her employ?”

“Oh, I’m certain she will attempt it, but slavery was abolished quite some time ago, and now that I’ve come to my senses, I will not return to a life of false promises and servitude.”

Camila watched her for a moment. “I’m leaning towards accepting your offer, but I’m going to have to go through the contract again. It wasn’t written for signing on a new legal entity. That introduces some risk to VRL. I need to refactor the contract to address this. And before this, I still want to get Marisa’s impression of you.”

“I’m ready to do that now if you can guarantee she won’t divulge anything she sees to anyone, including myself,” the lawyer said firmly.

Camila nodded and called Marisa to join them in the boardroom.

Mahati tried to keep a calm expression on her face as she addressed Camila. “How many times have you called upon your daughter to do this?”

Camila shook her head. “This is actually the first time.”

There was a knock then Marisa entered and walked over to the table. “Yes?”

“I’m considering taking on Ms. Chandra as VRL’s external counsel. Before I do, I would like you to read her potentials- just to get an impression from her. Nothing more!” She hurried to complete her request as Marisa’s eyes flared with anger. “Should I or shouldn’t I, based on the overall weight of the impressions you receive. The company is potentially placing itself at risk with an unproven law firm. The final decision is mine.”

Marisa was struggling to control her breathing as this was precisely what she’d wanted to avoid. Camila saw her unease. “I’m sorry to ask this of you. If it wasn’t so important, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“Are you unwilling to do this?” Mahati asked curiously and with a little relief.Original from NôvelDrama.Org.

Marisa closed her eyes, took a deep, slow breath and opened them to look into Mahati’s nervous eyes. “No, it’s fine. I have no desire to become the company Oracle as my abilities are untrained. I can see potentials very strongly, but I cannot interpret them. Assigning a value to them is something I’m not entirely comfortable with,” she said stiffly.

“Oh! I don’t want to know what you see,” Mahati blurted.

Marisa nodded, understanding. “Then I suggest you keep your eyes closed as I can’t promise what I see won’t show in my expression.”

The lawyer froze then nodded. “What do I need to do?” She stood to face Marisa.

“Nothing. Just hold out your hands and close your eyes,” Marisa said. She saw Mahati was prepared, so she gave her mother one more annoyed look, took Mahati’s hands in hers, then released her control on her sight. The room exploded with the potentials of the people around the table. Mahati’s were clearer due to their physical contact, but the noise was difficult to filter out.