Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) - By Elizabeth Ruston Page 0,65

no great surprise, since Sarah couldn’t imagine who would have him, but did he ever date? Was there anyone who could put up with him for even a single hour?

And she assumed Marcela was single, based on her comment about wishing someone would look at her the way Joe looked at Sarah—

“Objection,” Joe snapped. “Paul, if you keep this up, I’m suspending the rest of the deposition. Your firm is the one that scheduled all of these in the first place. If you didn’t want to hear from my clients in person, you should have handled it with interrogatories.”

“Wish I had,” Chapman answered. “Not my problem anymore. Mrs. Barrett, please take as much time as you need to answer the question,” he said, sickly sweet now. “We have nothing better to do all day long than to listen to you reminisce about your years in the Navy.”

“Off the record,” Sarah said. “Paul, if you don’t want to know someone’s work history, don’t ask. If you don’t want to know about her schooling, don’t ask. But don’t be rude to a woman who has taken time out of her life to be here and sit through a deposition all afternoon just because your client’s product blew up and set her hair on fire.” She could feel her face getting hot, and knew she needed to maintain control, but she was sick of this man and his obnoxious behavior.

“Because of your faulty part,” Chapman returned.

“All subject to litigation,” Sarah said. “But if you don’t stop abusing these plaintiffs—”

“Then what?” Chapman said. “You going to file a bar complaint against me, Henley? Try to get me sanctioned? You think anyone’s going to listen to you, with your history? Word is you got off lucky. You should have been indicted with the rest of them.”

Sarah felt her blood pressure spike. Her eyes flashed toward the court reporter to confirm that none of this was being taken down.

“That’s enough,” Joe said calmly. “We’re taking a break. And you’re done with my client now, Chapman. If you have any more questions, submit them in writing. Ms. Henley, I assume you have a few questions?”

“I do.” Sarah continued to stare furiously at Chapman. He smirked back at her.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Joe said, then he escorted Mrs. Barrett from the room.

Sarah forced herself to control her temper. She had been in this position many times before, under personal attack for one reason or another, and she knew without a doubt that the best and only response was to win her case and grind the other attorney into the ground. To win so soundly and unequivocally, her opponent would know he made a mistake underestimating her, and especially made a mistake trying to bully her.

But it was so tempting to grind him into the ground right now, face first, preferably against asphalt and broken glass—

Sarah took a very slow and deliberate breath. And let a cold kind of calm overtake her. She felt the muscles in her shoulders and face relax. A few more breaths and her hands finally unclenched and opened again.

By the time Joe and his client returned to the room, Sarah had composed herself, and could stare at Chapman blandly now, no longer visibly fuming at his gloating, despicable face.

“Hello, Mrs. Barrett,” she said, offering the woman a genuine smile. “My name is Sarah Henley. Thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it.”

And as Chapman once again scoffed at Sarah’s polite and unnecessary introduction, Sarah thought, That’s all right. You enjoy yourself today.

Because the time is coming when I’m going to bury you.

***

Sarah rolled her bag toward her new room. She still felt the stench of Chapman on her, the slime leaking out of his pores, the grin on his face as he so clearly relished trying to humiliate her in front of Joe and everyone else.

But she’d already begun her revenge. The questions she asked Mrs. Barrett continued to lay the foundation for the defense Sarah was mounting. And if Chapman was too stupid or arrogant to see that, then all the better for her.

She unlocked her door, still feeling agitated and angry. No matter how calmly she had been able to conduct the rest of the deposition, the fact was she still wanted to rip that man’s face off. She’d already endured two months of his insufferable, overconfident behavior. She was happier than even Chapman could be that they wouldn’t have to sit next to each