“Yes!” I practically shouted. “Yes, I want the job!”
She grinned. “Excellent. Hand off your current workload to someone else and clean out your desk. My secretary will show you your new workspace next to my office.”
I was moving up the the sixteenth floor. I was going to be in court with Kathryn McDonald. For that, I would have taken a pay cut, but instead I was getting a pay raise. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I wanted to pinch myself, but I didn't dare. I didn't want to wake up from this. “Yes, ma'am. I'll tell Mr. Smith about dropping the mentor program on my way.”
“No need,” she informed me as she stood and put her chair away. “I told Elijah to pick someone else for your spot last night.”
“But you just asked...”
Kathryn laughed and her green eyes shone with cleverness. “I already knew you were going to take the position. I was counting on it. This was just to make sure you knew where to look for your new desk.”
***
One hour later I stepped into Kathryn's office, ready to start my new job. I was all moved in to my new office space just outside of Kathryn's corner suite. Even the desk was bigger and better than anything we had down stairs. Alexa's desk was just plywood with a nice paint job—this desk was solid wood the whole way through with the McDonald, Smith and Ward MSW logo on the front. I kept expecting a camera crew to jump out at any moment and tell me it was all just a big prank.
“All settled?” Kathryn asked coming around to greet me. “What do you think?”
“That you're going to realize I'm just a paralegal and send me back,” I answered honestly.
Kathryn evaluated me with keen eyes. “Do you know how much money and time you saved my clients by finding those pictures? Millions.” She motioned to a stack of files nearly ready to fall off her desk. “Every single one of those files has your initials all over them. I know good work when I see it. If you think I would make a mistake as big as hiring an incompetent personal paralegal, then you should leave right now. Go back to The Dungeon.”
I stayed put. I wasn't lower level.
“That's what I thought,” she murmured as she sat at her desk. “Now, you see that stack of files? I need you to go through them and get me ready for trial.”
I swallowed my stomach back down. I could do this. I was ready.
Opening the first file, I smiled. This case was easy. I recognized it as the case I had worked on for Joffrey.
“Yes, ma'am. I'll get right on this.” This is what I was made to do.
Chapter 8
After three days of officially working as Kathryn's paralegal, I still felt like I was a very small fish in a very big ocean. I knew almost all her cases from front to back, but the newness of the position and the sudden change from nobody to somebody was messing with my head.
It wasn't that I didn't know what to do, quite the opposite really. Working for Kathryn let me use all the skills I had accumulated the past few years. By the end of my first day, Kathryn was already telling me how pleased she was and how I had accomplished more than she had even hoped I would.
It was just that I had this terrible fear that I would be fired from my dream job at any moment. This was just so wonderful that I couldn't see how I deserved it. It was too perfect. I kept pushing the limits of my skills, expecting to fail like I always did. Yet, Kathryn kept telling me what a wonderful job I was doing and how I was making her life easier.
“You are afraid of success,” Darcie told me that morning on our way up. I loved getting to ride the elevator with her the whole sixteen floors now. “You have got to believe in yourself. Kathryn believes in you, I believe in you, and that piece of paper from cute Book Guy you keep in your pocket believes in you.”
“I hate you sometimes,” I informed her. I had no idea how she knew about the paper.
“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “Just wait until I sign you up for that ball kicking class. Then you'll love me again.”
With that I rolled my eyes and started my third official morning as Kathryn's paralegal. I walked in to her office and she looked up from her writing and frowned. I smoothed my hands down my slacks, suddenly feeling under-dressed and unworthy in her gaze. I knew it had been too good to last.
“We need to get you some new clothes. I can't have you dressing like that in front of clients.” That was not what I had been expecting. She picked up her phone and hit a button. I looked down at my clothes. I had on simple black dress pants and a cute polka-dot blouse. I thought it was a very work appropriate outfit.
“I have suits I can wear,” I offered. I was determined to make this work. I wanted to keep this job.
“Are they Prada?” Kathryn raised her eyebrows as she waited for the other line to pick up.
“No. JC Penny,” I admitted. There was no way I could afford anything close to Prada level suits on my salary. Maybe one or two with my new salary, but definitely not any with the old one.
“I need you to look like you work for me. My clients pay a lot of money to have the best, so I need you to look like the best. Consider it another perk of the job,” she explained.
I looked down at the spot where her desk met the floor. I had no way to pay for an expensive suit.
“It goes on the company credit card,” Kathryn informed me. “Don't you worry about the money. It counts as a business expense.”
I shifted my weight as she focused her attention to the phone conversation. I liked my clothes, but I understood Kathryn's point. It was time to dress to impress. With clients worth billions of dollars, she needed me to look like I belonged among them.
“Claire, schedule a fitting with Raoul this evening for Lena...” she ordered. The person on the other line responded and she frowned before putting her hand over the mouthpiece. “What are you doing right now?”
“Um, whatever you tell me to.” I shrugged nervously. “I just finished the last item on the list you gave me”
Kathryn's eyebrows raised in approval. “Excellent. Remind me to give you more tomorrow.” She focused back on her phone. “Yes, now will work.”
The phone call ended with a click. My palms were sweaty and I was glad I had double checked all my work. If I hadn't, I would have really been freaking out that I had missed something. As it was, I was just partially freaking out. I wanted to be good at this.
Kathryn scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. “You are to go to this address and do whatever Raoul says to do. He's going to make you look like the McDonald, Smith and Ward employee that you are. Understand?”