Anything Less than the Best is a Felony
Based on Suits Meme Prompt:
Louis has a dark secret from his past and that is why he became a lawyer.
Please don't judge me for the title. Warnings for angst and what could probably be considered abuse.
If anyone were to ask Louis Litt why he became a lawyer, he would smirk and say that the answer was easy. Louis would say it was the recognition, the thrill of winning, hell even the money. Whatever Louis said would be a lie.
If anyone were to ask Louis Litt about his relationship with his parents, he would say they were a holidays and occasional weekend kind of family. He would remind whoever it was that he, as a Junior Partner, had a very important job. One that required him to be in the office quite often and that didn't allow much time off. And while both these things might be true, it was certainly not the whole truth.
If anyone asked Louis Litt about his childhood he would tell them it was the same as most other people in his social circle. His parents were wealthy and usually distant. He was an only child. He learned to sail and play tennis and excelled in both. He went to the same grade school and secondary school his father had, graduating with top honors before moving on to his father's Alma Mater, Harvard. It was no secret that Louis had Harvard blood coursing through his veins.
What no one ever asked and what Louis Litt never told anyone was that he never wanted to be a lawyer. Louis wanted to be an accountant. Louis loved numbers and math and equations and the consistency that you just couldn't get from law. Louis loved that math was never changing and that everyone in the world used the same math, even if the labels varied. Louis loved that he could be good at math because he understood it. What he loved most was that there wasn't a math problem too complex, too intricate for him to master.
When Louis was fourteen, he had told his parents that he planned to become an accountant. His father had simply narrowed his eyes and said that Louis would become a lawyer, just as every male in their family had for generations. He told Louis that there would be no arguments, no excuses and that if Louis didn't have what it took to become a lawyer, he was welcome to leave and never come back. Louis was determined to show his father that there was more to life than law. That what he wanted should be more important than family tradition.
The first person to ever hit Louis was his father. It surprised him at first, enough that it knocked him to the ground. He looked up at his father, eyes narrowed in confusion as he dabbed at his now split lip. His father simply looked down at him with disgust before walking away. Louis never brought up accounting again. He would study law and one day, he would show his father that he was not as weak as he looked.
Louis was twenty-four when he graduated law school. He was the youngest in his class, a feat he was extremely proud of. His father's firm offered him an internship and Louis eagerly accepted. It only took four months for him to gain (secret) access to the firm's accounting information for the past ten years. It only took him four hours to figure out that his father had been embezzling money for the past six. He gathered all the evidence he need, put it in a plain manila folder and anonymously turned his father in. The six months his father spent in jail was satisfying. Seeing him go bankrupt was better.
Louis joined Pearson Hardman as soon as his internship was finished. The interview, conducted by Erik Hardman himself, went extremely well. Louis was excellent at answering interview questions and nothing ever tripped him up. The last question of the interview was always the toughest; this Louis knew from experience. With law there was an exception to every general rule and when Hardman asked why Louis wanted to work at Pearson Hardman, the answer was simple.
"I did the statistics on every firm in the city and Pearson Hardman is the best. I will not settle for anything but the best."
Hardman smiled, shook his hand and thanked him for coming in. Louis knew he had the job and was not surprised when not even a week later he received a call offering him an associate position. Louis accepted, got the details about the paperwork he would need to come fill out and hung up. He poured himself a glass of scotch to celebrate, drinking slowly. Pearson Hardman was exactly what he needed to become a great –no, the best—lawyer in New York City.
Louis Litt did not become a lawyer for the money. He did not become a lawyer for the recognition or the thrill of winning. Louis Litt became a lawyer for pure, sweet revenge. Everything else, well, those were just perks.