“And Elias.” No way was he going into the lion’s den alone.
“Yes, of course. Elias.” She tossed her hair and laughed. “I almost forgot about him.”
Jay was damn sure she hadn’t forgotten about Elias at all. “I should get back to the table.” He moved to leave but she blocked his way.
“I’m so glad we’ll be working closely together,” she said, fingering his tie. “Daddy thinks the world of you.”
“I respect his work.” Sweat beaded on his forehead and his nerves went into overdrive.
“We’re very close,” she said. “If I’m unhappy, he’s unhappy.”
Jesus Christ. Was she threatening him? Even after he’d told her he was with someone? Elias needed to get his head in the game. “We’ll do our best to keep you happy, Brittany.”
Her smiled widened until he could see every one of her pearly white teeth. “I’m so glad to hear it.”
* * *
? ? ?
Zara tried to take in everything at once when she walked into the office after a long day of negotiations. She was half an hour late to meet Parvati for their shopping trip. But what she hadn’t expected was that the more eccentric members of the firm would come out in force to keep her friend entertained.
“Sorry I’m late.” She gave Parvati a quick peck on the cheek as she dodged Tony’s lightsaber. “I was negotiating a contract for a stuntman who was afraid of heights, high speeds, loud noises, flying, water, fire, smoke, spiders, and scorpions and camels. It took forever.”
“No problem,” Parvati said. “Faroz and Tony have been educating me in proper fencing technique.”
“It’s all in the wrist.” Tony’s lightsaber made a sweeping arc, stopping only a few inches from Parvati’s neck. To her credit, Parvati didn’t move.
“Impressive,” muttered Faroz, perched on the edge of Janice’s desk. “You didn’t even flinch.”
“He’s wearing a Yoda hat and swinging a toy sword,” Parvati said dryly. “I didn’t think he was a real threat.”
“This isn’t a toy.” Tony stared at her aghast. “It’s a custom-crafted fully functioning piece of art. Michael Murphy created this lightsaber from the same vintage Graflex camera flashes used to create the real prop, complete with a sophisticated sound board, advanced motion tracking, custom chassis, and crystal chamber that hews to the official source material.”
Parvati yawned. “Can it kill me?”
Faroz pushed away from the desk. “Hit someone over the head hard enough with any solid material and you can do some serious damage. I saw a man killed with a plastic toy pail at the beach when I was in Guam.”
“What were you doing in Guam?” Parvati studied him with interest. Zara made a mental note to pick up some earplugs on the drive home. No doubt Faroz would be spending the night.
“If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.”
Parvati snorted. “You wouldn’t be killing me with a plastic toy pail. It’s not physically possible.”
“It was full of rocks.”
“Then he was killed by the rocks and not the pail.”
“The pail held them together.” Faroz grabbed a few decorative stones from the plant display along the wall and dropped them into his paper cup by way of demonstration. “He wouldn’t have died if someone had thrown the rocks at him one at a time. So, therefore, he was killed by the pail.”
“If you throw one of those rocks at me, I’ll show you ways to die you never even imagined,” Parvati warned.
Faroz’s face brightened. “I thought I knew them all.”
“Did you know about death by lightsaber?” Tony asked. “Many people think it’s the same as a laser beam but lightsabers consist of a plasma blade powered by a kyber crystal. It makes for a cleaner cut.”
“Either way, it’s a shit way to die,” Faroz muttered. “When it’s my time, I want to go out fucking.”
“You can’t swear in a law office,” Tony warned. “Decorum.”
Faroz chuckled. “I heard you negotiating a settlement with the Hammer this morning. I’d say the bar is pretty low.”
“Is it always like this?” Parvati whispered to Zara.
“Yes.”
“Then you’d definitely better start rustling up some clients because this is where you belong.”
Zara dropped her files off in her office and ten minutes later they climbed into Parvati’s car, a black BMW convertible that she’d bought at auction.