Marc learned from a very young age that no one valued the passage of time as much as he did, except in job interviews and other formal appointments in which first impressions should be favorably covered. Few took punctuality into account, what interested them more was the absence of it, and sometimes not even that.
He had studied human behavior in detail like the best experimental scientist he was n't . In this way, he noticed a particularity that helped him form the most characteristic aspect of his personality. Who hasn't heard of the "elegantly late" excuse? Who had not once uttered that famous proverb that said: "good things are hard to come by"? It had been years since Marc, bearing in mind that lack of punctuality was valued much more than punctuality, appropriated tardiness to define himself. That's how he was known: as the man who was always late for appointments and who was expected because it was worth it. You could even say that he deserved double for the minutes he charged for his pretty face.
However, that day was special, not only because the hot city of Miami had woken up cloudy in mid”March, nor because he had to settle for a tie that did not suit him because he forgot to go to the laundry, but also because of the clock. .
Although Marc weighed the traffic among other variables why he was likely to show up a while later, he had arrived at his destination earlier. Not at the right time, but almost twenty minutes in advance. Marc could love that the whole world lost orbits because of his grace, but he wouldn't go around to kill time “and his entrance was epic” so he decided that Tuesday would be a great exception.
He took another look at the clock and went through the revolving door of the monumental building, one of many skyscrapers dedicated, for the most part, to telecommunications offices and other business associations. On the penultimate floor he would find one of the few law firms that competed with his.
Well, maybe that one of yours was an exaggeration. Neither he raised it nor had he been on the staff for much more than nine years, but everyone agreed that he was the face and the thinking mind behind the corporation. Just as his enemy was from the company he was working for, that asshole Caleb Moore who graduated with honors in his same year and dared to compete with him since they met the first time. The visible difference between the two was that the name of the latter shone on the letterhead with no other to overshadow it.
“ Lawyer’s firm , opposite Ambani & Moore SLP , and that while Marc had to pay homage to the one who was and believed to continue being his mentor, Caleb's ass rested in the management office.
He had nothing to envy him because they had the same power... Except that he managed it in the shadows, and he planned to demonstrate it in their reunion, a shoddy meeting to negotiate an agreement on behalf of the respective clients.
I'd be lying if I said he wasn't thrilled with the idea of going head”to”head with the big boss. Of course, he would deny it if they asked him; he tried to hide his interest under layers of premeditated arrogance. Even knowing that she could crush him with a single finger, as she had hundreds of times before, Moore was a match for her.
Marc was a dedicated winner, and he owed his victories to the mental agility he had inherited from one of his parents, to the help of other professionals and, of course, to his not very orthodox methods to get what he wanted. He was trying to get out of as many lawsuits as quickly as possible, which means he was there to settle quickly and fairly with Moore and then move on to other stories. For a lawyer, he hated trials, they bored him greatly, and what's more: he saw them as unnecessary. Turning to a third party to solve a problem between two did not sound like a resource that Marc would use. Moore was the other side of the coin. He enjoyed postponing litigation, studying for months and why not… winning it in the end.
There were people for everything, but Marc wasn't going to waste valuable months waiting for the resolution to be able to... encourage him and his client to do the opposite.
Unfortunately, he knew Moore wasn't bribable, and Marc didn't like calling himself the guy who corrupted his opponents either. Yes, it was practical, and he imagined that everyone had a price. And if it didn't, he was counting on Moore being smart enough not to get in his way. Especially when he already had a slight idea of what would await him if he challenged him.
Marc reached into his briefcase and showed the badge to the guard on duty who softened his brows when he read his name. She showed the respect that the boy who had been looking at her for a long time had forgotten, and who took advantage of the pause to throw himself on him. He was armed with a wad of card”sized cards, and the scuffed toecaps of his Converse indicated that he was nothing more than a teenager.
“Good morning sir. In case you need insurance.
Marc smiled politely and tucked the insurer's name into the outer pocket of his jacket. The boy blushed and lowered his head. What a cutie , he thought in the elevator. He punched number seventeen and stood between two business”dressed women, both of whom were noticeably nervous.
One of them had her bow shifted a little to the right, and the other had her blouse on inside out. They might be applying for the secretary position, judging by the scant lines on the résumé they held in their hands and the store”bought skirts bought at second sales. With the naked eye, he swore they would hire the one with the bow.
The elevator was about to close when a tiny hand got between the sensors. A slant”eyed girl slipped into the cubicle, surveyed the floorboards, and smiled guiltily.
"Sorry..." And God knows why he was apologizing. It's just that I'm late, I couldn't wait for the next one. Hello.
"Good morning," Marc greeted, glancing at him. He had a weakness for exotic women, but this one in particular amused him more than anything else. She wore ripped stockings and only one painted eye, and yet she faced the day with optimism. It intrigued him that she had freckles on her nose, contrary to the myth that Asian women had perfect skin. First day of work?
“Uh…” He glanced over his shoulder, just in case he was addressing someone else, “no, not really. I come to see my older sister. They have thrown a surprise party for him and he was going to give him his little gift. She lifted the bag from her elbow. I see we're all going to the penultimate floor. You have the face of a lawyer, I'm sure you work here or at least you know it. A few fingers shorter than me, much prettier...
“Are you sure about that? I see difficult.
It was funny how he blushed and muttered something under his breath to end up taking him for crazy. The girl wasn't pretty by his definition, but she was pretty cute. Big mouth and long legs. With that I already had a five out of ten.“Yeah, yeah, sure... Her name is Yuri, doesn't it ring a bell?“Yuri. Of course I know her.Marc was an excellent liar, and his specialty was half lies. He didn't know Yuri personally, but he knew so much about her that it was as if he did.Before visiting the enemy, he made his inquiries. Now he didn't just know who worked at the firm. Also in which section, how many years they had been, their names and even their note in the BAR. His secretary was good at getting into other people's lives and he was the king exploiting the virtues of his employees. Although Verónica Duval, his dirty laundry girl, was an innate gift that Marc decided to appropriate before they hired her as a fixture at the corner supermarket. They might call him a savior for rescuing a
Or perhaps he had returned from a trip. He sensed her as a cosmopolitan woman, and it would not be difficult for him to imagine her with a camera on her, stopping at every corner of Montmartre, having a coffee in the Trastevere square, or sitting on her lap, completely naked.I was thinking about it when the threads of chance did their thing. Yuri's eyes locked on him. Her eyelids tugged more than usual as she acknowledged him.They looked at each other through the glass without smiling. Marc listened to the wheels of his mind turning and was pleased to imagine that he was liking what he saw. He barely noticed her eyes slide down his jacket and land on the protruding card. After that he saw her exchange a few words with her sister, apologize and leave the room with a serenity that kept him mesmerized. The rippling of her hair in a casual ponytail and the soft scent that filled his senses as she stood before him heightened his interest.She was even prettier up close."You must be Alle
“Look... I already had everything discussed with Mr. Harris. He only had to give him a piece of documentation, sign, and the story would end there. The only thing left to close were the rates.“I was asking about life insurance for a woman with a chronic illness. I know it's going to be very expensive, especially after a relapse, but I want my parents to get some benefit out of…” She shook her head. The normal thing is that the money goes to the husband or the children. I don't have one thing or the other, so I talked to Allen so that my mother and sister would be the ones to collect the equivalent of the insurance. I've also heard that people on my cases can't buy insurance, but I've had one since I was twenty and I think it's unfair to revoke it now."Enough information".Much more than enough to tell Moore, even if she didn't know yet how that might affect him. She could ask, find out what the disease was, why she was hiding it from her boss and best friend”it was even rumored that
Yuri stopped on the hall carpet, surprised by that light bulb that had just come on. Was that possible?He had never stopped to wonder the reason for his lack of emotional attachment. In part it was because her job didn't allow her to stop for a second, and even less to ask metaphysical questions like the origin of the universe, what was after death, or why the hell she even got bored with herself.But it could be true. Any romantic heart would wither if it received daily showers of reproaches, showers of tears, or even showers of punches. His acting range included from couples who couldn't stand looking at each other's faces, to those who went out together for a few beers. It was a rather depressing scenario and perhaps their constant succession had gradually dampened her illusion of fulfilling the typical fantasy of the average girl: finding the love of her life.Well... Let's say that before that, Yuri had dreamed of being a milk lawyer, completing a wardrobe of shoes and eating wi
“Yes, the truth is yes.“Well, when that exists, I can't settle for someone who makes me smile. I guess that makes me picky. Not in physical or sentimental terms... It doesn't matter if he's blond, dark, or bald; if he goes to the gym or weighs a hundred kilos, as long as he can get me out of my boxes. Don't you agree with me? In the end I will have to create it from artificial intelligence. He would be intelligent and mysterious, and he would not spend the whole night praising my virtues.The elevator bell cut through his fantasy.“Does matters. In the end it will turn out that I do have too much time to dream about that wonderful HE. The summary is: what if I find it and reject it because it's not capable of hooking me, or I can't recognize that it's made for me? In other words... What if Prince Charming appears in disguise?Yvonne looked at her funny."What could he dress up as?"“I don't know... From the devil, for example. It would be horrible to find him and not recognize him be
He did not hear the sigh of his secretary and the comment of the one who accompanied him, because just as he turned towards the entrance of the meeting room, he intercepted the only male figure that was crossing the corridor in his direction.Yuri remained at the doors of the office, more surprised because it had taken her so little to recognize him than because of her internal reaction. The irritation didn't catch her off guard. She suspected that if she ever ran into him again, he would tell her four things for cheating on her at a vulnerable moment.It was him. The scoundrel who pretended to be the deputy head of the insurance company for reasons yet to be determined, and who didn't interrupt her while she was explaining her pathetic situation. The perfect actor. She wouldn't have found out if Allen hadn't called her to close the deal and insist that she hadn't sent anyone to the firm. She spent the next few days freaking out wondering why the hell she would have done that. Was he
Yuri cleared her throat as she looked at him as if he were a threat. Between the fact that she was quite petite and he was quite tall, he was already impressive. His blond hair was somewhat long, an ash hue that matched his fine beard a few shades darker, and his light tan. His knife”like eyes intimidated her more than twenty thousand soldiers. Because yes, those eyes were armed at both corners, full of ambition, secrets, and a darkness that counteracted the sweetness that they should inspire due to their singular clarity.It was... Perfect . Just like the disposition of his three”piece suit, in a flattering navy blue, and the tie placed with care on a chest that was intuited worked. Just like his confident walk, his slow and direct way of speaking. And that perfection that would cause rage in anyone could only have a name, or rather a last name: Ambani. Only he would respond to all the descriptions he had heard from Caleb, from his secretary, from the chief's assistant... From all th
Marc waited for the future divorcees and the lawyer to leave the room to do it himself. It wasn't a polite gesture or a learned rule, but another strategic move in favor of his "wicked goals," as Nick liked to call them. The way in which the parties said goodbye and if the lawyer had sweated the seat were key clues to know what their chances were.Seeing that "the Campbells"“it would be better not to say that in front of Carol Price”would not approach each other and avoid looking at each other even in the face of even a basic courtesy such as "see you tomorrow," Marc imagined that he could destroy to her client's ex”husband without her making any qualms. In fact, he was grateful that Carol was one of those shallow, even unscrupulous women whose only goal in asking for a divorce was to keep everything and bring the gentleman down. It never hurt to have ambitions in common with someone who was going to pay him a substantial amount.As for the lawyer... There was no trace of sweating on