Chapter 8

**Amelia**


I follow Mr. Markson into his office but stop short when I see the man from the elevator standing next to my boss’s desk. He smiles when he sees me, but I don’t return it because if he is about to get me fired I won’t be polite to him.

“Take a seat.” Mr. Markson says after closing the office door behind me.

I do as he says and sit with my back ramrod straight and my head held high. If I’m getting fired I won’t look weak while doing it. That will come later when I break down crying on the way home.

“Mr. Fischer would you like to sit as well?” My boss asks the man I wish I didn’t have heated dreams about.

This is a nightmare.

“Oh course.” He says.

He walks over to the chair next to me and sits. Once he’s seated, he shifts the chair so that he’s looking at me as well.

“Do you know why I called you in here?” My boss asks me.

“I have an idea sir.” I admit.

“Good because it isn’t every day that I hear someone so determined to work with one of my people specifically.” He says. “Mr. Fischer says he won’t work with anyone else but you. He says you made an impression and that you are perfect for his case. So, what do you say?”

What do I say? I want to say heck no the guy is a jerk and basically called me racist.

“Honestly sir, I’m shocked since he did not seem impressed with me when we spoke in the elevator.” I blurt out.

“Oh? Mr. Fischer didn’t mention anything.”

Of course not.

“Sir-“

“It was all a misunderstanding. I realized too late that she has exactly the sort of passion we need.” Alexander says cutting me off.

“She is one of our best. What do you say Amelia?” My boss asks while giving me a look that says I better agree.

This case is important for our firm, so I don’t blame him.

“Of course, sir.” I won’t risk what we do here because of one man. “I would love to help.”

“Great! Why don’t you two talk over the case and keep me updated.”

“Yes sir.” I stand and head for the door without waiting for my new client.

Once I’m outside Mr. Markson’s office I wait for Alexander to come out. He closes the door and turns to me with a proud look on his face. He isn’t anything like the man I had a dream about last night. That Alexander was kind and sweet…this guy? He’s anything but.

“Why did you do that?” I say with a whispered hiss.

“Because I want a lawyer that doesn’t bullshit their way through the case only to end up loosing. As I said, this is a very important case and the way you handled things earlier makes you the best for the job.”

“Did you bother meeting with anyone else? I’m sure there are better lawyers in this place that you would rather work with.” I turn and start walking back toward my desk.

“I didn’t need to meet anyone else. Why are you so determined to push me on someone else?” He asks sounding…amused.

I stop and turn to him. “I don’t care one way or another. We aren’t a good fit, and I would appreciate you telling my boss as much.”

He smiles again. “I won’t be doing that, so why don’t you stop fighting against me and work with me?”

I look him over and see various versions of him that clash over each other. How did I see him in my dreams? He and I have never met before today and yet I know him in several different ways. Part of me feels connected to each version of him but why? This is just another reason that I should stay away from him. My mind is still muddled over my current relationship, and I don’t need any reminders of dream boyfriends adding to it.

“Amelia.” He says my name so softly that it makes my chest ache. “I’m sorry for how I acted before. Our foundation has been hit over and over with shit accusations and I want to clear our name. All I want is to protect our communities, and if it’s wrong of me to hope for the best lawyer to handle our case then I can accept that. I would rather do something wrong for the right reasons then sacrifice my passion for our cause to be seen as right.”

Wow.

I sigh and drop my head to give myself a moment to collect myself before I look at his handsome face again.

“I understand your concerns, and I respect it but if we are going to work together I hope you can keep your assumptions about me off the table. You don’t know a thing about me, so any thoughts you might have about who I am…keep them to yourself. This partnership is not about me, it’s about you. Got it?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Follow me.” I turn and stop at my desk to grab a few files and a couple other things.

Harper gives me a quizzical look, but I shake my head and mouth the word ‘later’ before walking toward one of our meeting rooms. Alexander follows me inside and I close the door behind him.

“Where would you like to get started?” I ask as I pull a chair out and set all my things on the table.

“I would like to wait for my partner before we get into everything if that’s okay.” He says taking the seat across from me.

“Partner? I thought I would only be meeting with you.” I open the files and try to find a note somewhere about two representatives.

“He is joining us from a different state and wants to combine our efforts.” He explains.

“Oh. That’s fine. We can wait.” I look down at my files and skim through the points I had marked for discussion.

Thankfully Alexander doesn’t disturb me while I get into the right mindset. A few minutes pass before the door opens and Harper steps inside.

“You have another visitor.” She says to me and steps aside to let another man inside.

My eyes widen at the sight of the other dream boyfriend that I ran into at the coffee shop. What the heck?

“Thank you, Harper.” He says giving my friend a smile.

She blushes and quickly leaves the room.

“Owen, good to see you.” Alexander says standing and shaking hands with the new guy.

Oh my gosh this can not be happening. What are the odds of this? Why on earth have I been dreaming about these two and how can a whole new version of them appear like this? Is this a dream too?

I try to remember what people say about how to test if something is a dream. I pinch myself hard on the leg and when I feel a sharp pain, I get my answer. Honestly, I’m not sure if that is an accurate way to test if I’m dreaming but it hurt.

“Owen this is our lawyer-“

“Amelia.” I say standing and reaching across the table to shake his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Amelia. Thank you for meeting with us today.” He says with a charming smile.

“Of course. Please have a seat.” I offer him the other free seat across from me and he sits. “Now where would you like to start?”

They look at each other before Owen replies. “The most important item right now is the illegal searches being performed on our lands.”

I open the file mentioning this and look it over quickly. “I see there have been several searches done in the last six months, but the warrants were vague. Is that correct?”

Alexander snorts. “We were not presented with any warrants. Those must have filled out after the fact.”

“So the police never provided you with any form of documentation before searching your properties?” I ask.

“No, they didn’t. Many of our people were also arrested and contained for hours.” Alexander adds.

“They didn’t give a reason for that?” I ask.

“No. They burst in with guns drawn and started grabbing people.” He says.

“They didn’t use as much brute force on our property, but they searched every home and building on our property without cause.” Owen adds.

“I see. Did anyone take video of these instances? Unfortunately, word of mouth won’t make for a strong case. If we’re dealing with law enforcement, then hard evidence is going to be best. They can’t deny hard proof.”

“We have cameras all over our properties for this very reason.” Alexander says pulling out his phone.

“Do you have signs saying that there are cameras filming?” I ask as he slides the phone across the table to me.

“Of course, but they didn’t seem to care about being recorded.”

I watch the video playing on the phone and I feel sick to my stomach when I see what looks like police pointing guns at a small group of people. There are even children in the group and the police don’t seem to care.