Chapter 7

In Company

After Karma took Julie from the courtroom the defendant asked for a recess and the court broke until 1pm since Judge Ashby always granted a recess and everyone knew he was prone to. It was no surprise to anyone that Morris Vector asked for a break, he was easily losing a case he should win. Mr. Oilridge may have a family that supports him and a face that easily looks apologetic and pitiful but Mr. Oilridge had been in charge when his lower employees were treating others below them unfairly. Karma felt justified in the case because she knew in her heart that Mr. Oilridge would've changed things if he had known. But someone needs to pay for all the people who were harassed and later fired without good reason or pension. If Amy knew anything about the case she wouldn't like it. Mr. Oilridge was in charge. All of these things happened under his watch. These things still happened whether he was watching or not. His oblivious nature could not take back the things that had happened to the people who once trusted him and carried him up on their backs.

Luckily, Amy knew next to nothing about Mr. Oilridge. Riding the elevator up with the others, Amy felt tension and a heavy sadness. She wasn't sad herself but Karma and Liam obviously were. It was the kind of thing that sort of choked a bystander right away. Amy stood there and saw, watching their body language and how even that was telling. Karma's red dress with the white polka dots and her hair with its breathtaking waves. Amy found herself staring from her place behind Karma in the small moving room. Karma was really pretty, like, insanely pretty. The more Amy looked the more she felt for her. It was odd to feel so much for a complete stranger. Amy was starting to understand how Karma could win so many cases. It was hard not to trust her and like her, hard not to side with her. Every moment with Karma seemed connected, and it flowed. In the elevator Amy couldn't help but think of their first meeting in the mansion and their small confessions and then Karma's face as she walked away.

Amy stared in a way that was embarrassing. Luckily, Karma and Liam did not see. Lauren, however, hit Amy's arm hard. Amy was all too tactless. Lauren gave her a look that said, "OH COME ON! YOU BETTER NOT BE THINKING WHAT I THINK YOU'RE THINKING!" Then the lift stopped and they all got out.

On the top floor of Harvey, Ashcroft, and Booker, the group exited the elevator and an upset Karma began to yell.

"God Liam, you couldn't even pretend to help?!" Karma shouted. The courtroom was very close to the Harvey, Ashcroft, and Booker main office since only the rich could pay to stay close. It was a different environment to Shane's entertaining mansion but the office was still fancy as hell and Amy was scared to touch things almost. When Liam opened the firm his father put down a pretty penny for their current space and that had always been held over his head even though he paid him back in full in just under two years with no gratification for the deed.

"Come on Karma, gimme a break," Liam shrugged.

"Give YOU a break?! When do I get a break, Liam?! When am I EVER going to get a break?!" Karma had been carrying the firm for a while. It was obvious to everyone. Liam wasn't in it since nothing he did could ever make his parents happy. And he had done it for his parents he really had. Then there was Shane. He was more into the networking aspects, the drama, and the parties. This San Francisco thing wasn't uncommon, not in the least. Just like it wasn't uncommon for Shane to just DISAPPEAR for months at a time!

But that wasn't really the problem. It wasn't just that Karma was carrying the firm. That wasn't why she was so upset all the time and broken. For as long as she could remember now Karma had been carrying her relationship too. Trying to make something great out of a love that Liam no longer felt invested in.

Karma's life WAS stress. She was the only partner who stayed and gave 100% every time. Shane and Liam would bring these clients in and she would be given the task of closing multiple cases with little to no help from her partners. It was a mess, a bloody mess. PLUS they had employees. The office was empty for the week because Shane had given the ENTIRE office a PAID week off after one of the secretary's whined about some holiday they all had to work.

It was just SO typical, Karma could scream!

"Should we go somewhere else?" Amy asked. She felt weird tailing behind her two fighting bosses.

"What are you talking about?!" Karma spat, looking back at her in anger. Once she caught Amy's face though she felt bad. Amy Raudenfeld didn't deserve much of her wrath. She deserved a little wrath for not even trying to be liked. But that was it, that was all. Karma felt stupid for yelling. But she was mad at her friends and beginning to wonder if they were even friends of hers at all. That was important at the core. The friendship had always been most important. With Liam she had been in love. But she still wished to always be loved. The capacity? That didn't' much matter to her, as long as she was loved. And now love was basically absent from them as a pair and her world was crashing down around her while Amy, the new girl, just watched.

"She's just confused," Lauren said. "And you guys aren't really making this seem like a great place to work, I'm not gonna lie." Lauren didn't care, she was used to the fighting. Just as she was used to the fact that her name wasn't up on the building or on the headlines in the paper. She had helped Karma win many things but she was still a less than and that angered her. Shane wasn't trying. Liam just so happened to be rich. Karma worked real hard but she wouldn't let anyone forget it. Lauren just felt like leaving it all behind when the day was done. It wasn't worth it to stress on where her name was or wasn't. She got her paycheck. She did a good job. She had her dreams and they all included marriage and kids and houses and clichés. None of her dreams really included fame. She was okay with it but it was pretty dumb.

So yeah, her place of employ wasn't the best, but it paid. But they weren't showing Amy any perks at the time. Amy's first day with Ashcroft and Booker had gone just as bad as a day could.

"Yeah, well, it isn't," Karma scoffed bitterly, agreeing with Lauren's comment that Harvey, Ashcroft, and Booker was not looking like a great place to work. "No one has your back here and everyone's out for themselves." Karma said it bitterly but she was staring at Liam and Lauren knew the comment was made at him.

"Wow," Amy sighed. All the stories she had heard about this big firm made it sound like they worked as a team. All the stories made them seem together in their absurdity and thriving on the money like a thrilled surfer riding a never-ending pipeline all the way.

"Yeah, we get it," Karma said, looking over at Amy. "You don't want to work here. Okay, we get it. And you don't have to so just go. Go away."

"HEY!" Lauren yelled. Amy turned her eyes away from Karma who had been staring at her with an anger she couldn't understand. The Karma who had come out of the elevator was a different Karma than the one in the courtroom. Amy had a feeling that this was the real Karma, the hurt one.

"I never said I didn't want to work here," Amy said. "But I don't know anything about you guys, okay? I really don't. And I don't see how that's my fault."

"Amy, it's not your fault," Liam said stepping in. "We've all been stressed."

Karma was sick of listening to him explain away their problems and she was sick of him putting them off but mostly she was sick of the fact that he always seemed to be comforting everyone but her.

"Liam, just leave," Karma said. "You don't want to be here. You're not gonna help," she paused and looked to Lauren for support before turning back to the man she used to love. "I didn't ask you to cheat on me and I'm getting pretty tired of how you pretend I did this all to myself. Ya know, I didn't even want to be a fucking lawyer Liam. You wanted me to. Your parents wanted me to. Or did you forget about all that?"

"Karma-"

"No. I'm serious. If you don't want to be here just fucking go."

Liam waited a second. He looked to Karma and then Lauren. Then back to Karma again.

"We don't have to be what we thought we could be," Karma said, tears biting at her but her anger winning out and her face remaining stern in the face of her ex.

Amy watched and felt lost in her. It was so easy to understand all that Karma had been through. And that was odd for Amy, people weren't usually as forthcoming with information like this. Karma just seemed so open about everything. It was all making a little more sense now.

"I'm a monster, right? You think I'm fake," Karma said, to Liam. In the moment she couldn't be bothered by anyone else in the room. "All this time I've been trying to be what you wanted and it's NEVER been good enough, so, I'm done," Karma said. It was the end, the last straw. She couldn't stand one more second in court with him staring off into space and not even seeing her. The entire show, it had always been for him. But somehow, he hated it. He didn't see Karma as this main attraction like everyone else always did. He did once, but he couldn't, not anymore. He was done with her a long time ago. He disappointed her first and she didn't break up with him, she only stayed and tried to work it out, which made it all so much worse. He had been waiting for this moment for so long. He didn't even know why…

But Karma knew… He was a coward.

"Don't pretend it's not true," Karma said. "And you don't even like your job. At least I'm trying! It's all yours and you don't even like it, so just go. Do me a favor. Just go," she was sick with him now. She had figured him out and she really didn't like what she saw.

He knew beyond everything that she loved him, but he was done.

Looking on, Amy felt like crying. Lauren was just worried about what this would do to their firm. Karma and Liam had been needing a split ever since she had met them. But why couldn't they split without fucking up her whole life?

Liam stared down at Karma and clenched his jaw. A better man would've ended things months ago, maybe even years.

"I'm sorry Karma," he said. She could tell that he meant it but it was too little too late. He had changed her entire life. She had become something for him, all for him.

"I know," she said. But it didn't change how horrible it was for her, or how scared she was, or what her life would be like now after all that she'd worked for to keep him and be everything for him.

"I'll call when I land," he said. And in silence he really did get on the elevator and leave them all there.