A few people peek their heads out of the offices.
“Katie, call security,” Troy orders.
As one, Novy and Sully step forward and tip their boxes over. The Katies gasp as the floor is littered with a rain of confetti from one box and pictures from the other. The grainy photos of Tess and I from the last several weeks go sliding across the shiny floor. I pulled out all the graphic ones, but the effect is the same.
The Katies both stand, peering over the desk to look at the mess. The people who were peeking out their doors are now moving down the hall, curious to know what’s happening. Good. I want an audience for this.
“Recognize your handiwork?” I say, gesturing at the mess. “The divorce papers you shredded and delivered on Tess’s doorstep? How about the illegal photos you had taken of us for weeks?”
Troy huffs, arms folded across his chest. “This is all bullshit. We fired Tess for breaking our morality clause. She’s a messy whore. Who’s to say where the hell these photos came from?” he says, gesturing at them with a sneer. “You surely can’t trace them back to me.”
“You think so?” I challenge. “Maybe you haven’t heard that we caught your peeping Tom photographer friend yesterday.”
Troy blinks, his gaze darting from my face to the guys, looking for confirmation.
I step forward, crossing my arms too. “Yeah, he was set up real cozy in the back bushes, ready to get more shots for you. He sold you out, Troy.”
A flicker of worry crosses his face, but he quickly recovers. “You’re just trying to entrap me. You want me to admit to something we both know I didn’t do.”
I flash him an incredulous look. “Entrap you? What, are you some kind of Bond hero now? Troy, you’re a third-rate lawyer working at your mommy’s firm. You barely close three mil a year in deals. I make that just with my endorsements,” I taunt. “You’re a shit businessman and an even worse con man. You’re pathetic. Is it any wonder she left you?”
Troy simmers with rage now, and I have to admit, this feels kind of good. But he’s a narcissist through and through, so this is all fleeting. He’ll blink this away and go back to playing the righteous victim within the hour.
“And we can’t forget about this,” I say, pulling a new copy of the restraining order from my pocket.
He smirks. “And what is that? Why don’t you open it and read it out for us.”
“You got sloppy,” I say, ignoring his jab. “You processed this TRO in Tess’s name against me, acting as her legal counsel. You have no proof I was stalking or harassing her, and she’s already contesting it. You manipulated your position into getting this approved, didn’t you? Does Mommy know you’re trading on her name to get judges to approve baseless TROs against the wife you like to batter?”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Troy counters. He glances around, glaring at the faces of his colleagues who all regard him warily. “He’s just some dumb hockey player. He doesn’t understand anything—”
“I don’t,” I admit, cutting him off. “But he does.” I gesture behind me to MK. “Troy, meet my sports agent. He’s a lawyer who’s actually good at his job.”
MK steps forward and gives Troy an awkward wave. “Hiya. Mike Kline, Elite Athlete Management.”
“Tell him what you told me,” I say.
“Oh, yeah—well, it looks like you committed some pretty serious legal malpractice,” MK explains, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Add to that the fact that it was perpetrated against your intimate partner, and there’s a history of abusive behavior, they’ll likely disbar you. There may even be some jail time if she decides to press charges for the assault…which happened here on company property, right?” He looks to me.
“Yeah, it did,” I reply.
Behind the desk, the Katies both gasp. Troy’s other colleagues are all looking at him with wide eyes.
“That’s a fucking lie,” Troy declares. “Tess will say anything to undermine me.”
“She’s telling the truth, and so am I,” I counter.
“Is that why you came here? You came to my place of business to try and humiliate me with these lies? Did you bring all these hockey goons to rough me up? Please, make my fucking day. I’d love to see every one of you carted out of here in cuffs for trespassing and assault.”
“No one here will harm you. They all just wanted to meet you,” I explain. “See, they were all super-curious to put a face to a name, especially when they learned how you like to abuse your partners.”