Page 175 of The Monster and the Masochist

“When the reverend first approached us, we were… hesitant to accept his case for the very reasons the two of you have previously voiced. However, when it became clear that we were on the fence, Mr. Sterling started… dropping names.”

‘This is very interesting,’ my monster hummed, and I almost outwardly nodded in agreement.

“What names?” Nolan asked, sounding just as suspicious as I was feeling.

Vivian downed the rest of her martini before setting her empty glass on the table in front of her.

“He mentioned he had a close relationship with Victor White.”

What?!

My mouth dropped open in shock before I had a chance to school my face.

“The fucking attorney general?” I asked, completely taken aback.

Vivian nodded gravely. “The implication was that it would be in our best interest to keep the reverend happy, lest we find ourselves on the receiving end of an investigation.”

“What the fuck does some megachurch leader have that would put him in the same room as the attorney general?”

But even as Nolan said the words out loud, all four of us seemed to quickly put the pieces together.

We all glanced down at my now dark phone, which had several videos of the reverend grooming and sexually assaulting young girls on it.

It wasn’t a stretch to believe that if the reverend felt comfortable enough throwing Victor White’s name around, it was because he had something on the man… And considering what we knew about the reverend, it was easy to come to the conclusion that Victor might be involved in whatever sick ‘program’ Sterling was running.

If the attorney general was involved in this, that meant whatever I’d just stumbled upon was much bigger than I’d originally thought, and I would need to let Vox know before I moved forward with my plan to get rid of the reverend for good.

I needed to figure out just how deep all this went, and quickly, before more people got hurt.

“Well, regardless of his connections, we still need to report this. Not even the attorney general could easily wipe a case with clear video evidence like this. Not without a great deal of public backlash and speculation,” Nolan pointed out, and Vivian nodded.

“Indeed. It would appear our hands are tied.”

“This is a nightmare,” Edmund muttered, getting up to make himself a drink. “An absolute fucking nightmare.”

“You think this is a nightmare? Imagine how all those little girls are feeling!” Nolan growled, glaring at Edmund like he’d lost all respect for the man.

Edmund sighed, and suddenly, he didn’t look like the powerful, untouchable man I’d spent my career looking up to. He just looked tired.

“It’s not that I’m not sympathetic. I am. But this could ruin us,” he said. “You both want to make partner? Well, there needs to be a firm for you both to be partners of.”

Nolan didn’t reply, and I found myself reaching out to place a hand on his clenched fist in an effort to soothe him. He jumped slightly and shot me a surprised look, which I returned with a soft smile.

“Relax, dearest,” Vivian said to Edmund with a wave of her hand. “What matters is Mrs. Walker was able to dig this up before opposing counsel could blindside us with it in court. We can draft a termination of representation letter to Sterling, then release a statement to the press announcing that, due to new evidence, we can no longer represent the reverend in good faith.” She stood up, smoothing out her pantsuit brusquely before sliding her bag over her shoulder. She looked pensive for a minute, then continued.

“We have leverage now that we didn’t have before, thanks to Cassandra, and frankly, I’m glad to have a reason to publicly distance ourselves from this case. Once the press release is out, I think we should throw a fundraiser. Perhaps we can donate proceeds to a foundation that supports survivors of sexual assault as a way of giving back to the community.”

Edmund gave Vivian a relieved smile before taking a sip of his scotch.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Viv.” He grinned, and while I was annoyed that they were clearly only throwing this fundraiser as a PR stunt to paint the firm in a more favorable light, I supposed this was really the best-case scenario.

I had what I wanted.

I wouldn’t need to represent that fucking asshole in court, and I could spend the time I would have wasted building a case for him carefully planning his death.

“Well, it seems my EA has a busy week ahead of her. Cassandra? If Alyssa has some bandwidth, do you think she could support Sophie with planning the fundraiser? I’d like to get it organized as quickly as possible to proactively combat any negative press this entire ordeal might kick up.”

I nodded, knowing that Alyssa would actually love to be assigned a task like this. That woman loved event planning, and without the reverend’s case on my plate, it would clear up both our calendars quite a bit.