Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 54

As soon as Porter walked into the office, he saw Julie sitting right at the entrance. He glanced at the circle of employees engaged in conversation, clapped his hands, and said, “Alright guys, chill out for a sec, I want to introduce y’all to our new colleague, Julie. She’s a top–notch student from Pinnacle University, graduated as the cream of the crop.”

The employees finally noticed Julie and started applauding.

Julie gave a slight smile. “Hi everyone, I’m Julie. Thanks for having me.” Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

“Mr. Porter, you bring such a pretty new face to our firm. Aren’t you afraid your folks at home will have a problem with that?” Grant joked, which made Julie feel comfortable with the company’s atmosphere.

Porter shot Grant a look and said, Julie’s a brainiac. She wouldn’t give me the time of day. We’re all free birds at my place.”

After saying that, Porter turned to Grant and said, “I’m leaving Julie in your hands. Since she graduated, she hasn’t worked in the field, so she’s still new to this. Make sure you show her the ropes.”

Turning back to Julie, Porter said, “Grant is one of our top dogs here at the firm. Stick by his side, you’ll learn a ton. If there’s anything you don’t get, just

holler.”

Grant walked over to Julie and joked, “I’m not really the best at our firm. Porter’s just pulling your leg. He’s the real deal.”

“Quit fooling around” Porter called out to everyone. “I want everyone in the conference room in five minutes.”

Grant handed Julie a notebook and a pen, then led her into the office, following behind Porter. Porter was already sitting in the boss‘ chair, not paying too much attention to Julie, to avoid any unnecessary chit–chat.

He switched on his computer and asked everyone, “Did y’all catch the headlines today?”

Everyone promptly nodded and started sharing their opinions, “Creative Nexus Media is pretty much done for. I always thought Bertha was really Mr. Hernandez’s fiancée, and they were about to tie the knot. Who would’ve thought it was all smoke and mirrors by Creative Nexus Media”

Listening to the first comment, Julie was a bit lost.

Grant, sitting next to her, also chimed in, “Mr. Hernandez is personally suing Creative Nexus Media for spreading false rumors and tarnishing his reputation. This is definitely going to court.”

“Exactly!” Porter nodded, starting his analysis, “Simpo Co’s law firm is Sterling & Associates. Unlike our Accolade Law Firm, they’re big shots when it comes to business disputes. We, on the other hand, are pros at personal disputes. From what I’ve heard, Mr. Hernandez is currently looking for a lawyer for the Creative Nexus Media case. You catch my drift?”

Grant nodded. “You’re saying… we should try to bag this case?”

Porter nodded at Grant. “You’ve handled cases for Simpo Co.’s PR department before, so you’ll be leading the charge on this. If Mr. Hernandez has other plans, I won’t hold you responsible. But if we can land this case, you’ll be in for a big payday. All other attorneys will be backing you up.”

Julie was still in a daze when Porter suddenly mentioned her “Grant, take Julie with you. Let her get a taste of the job, learn a few things.”

The meeting ended and Julie was still trying to figure out what had just happened. All she knew was she had to go all out to persuade Kieran to choose Accolade Law Firm.

Grant walked over to the dazed Julie, lightly patted her shoulder, and handed her two files. This one’s about Mr. Hernandez, and this one’s about his secretary, Karl Get to know them first, we gotta know our opponents to have the upper hand. Get ready, we’re going to Simpo Co. this afternoon.” Julie took the files, and Grant reminded her, “Oh, and don’t forget to check out the news related to this that was posted online this morning”

Julie went back to her seat with the files and started checking the news about Kieran on her phone. After going through a few of the most recent articles, she finally figured out what was going on.

The night Elliot proposed to her, Kieran had clarified that Bertha was not his fiancée. The next day, the news made the headlines. Although people were surprised, they didn’t think much of it.

A few days later, Sterling & Associates law firm suddenly posted a statement on the Simpo Co. official website on behalf of Kieran, claiming that Creative Nexus Media had not verified the news of Kieran’s engagement to Bertha. The audio and video files were edited, which had damaged Kieran’s

reputation.

Then, the official account posted a live broadcast of Kieran’s interview, completely exposing Creative Nexus Media’s lies. This caused a great stir, and Julie was probably the last to know.

After understanding the whole story, Julie knocked on Porter’s office door. “Mr. Porter…”

Upon seeing Julie, Porter quickly stood up. “Don’t call me Mr. Porter, it sounds too formal. What can I do for you?”

“I want to start from the basics…”

“Are you feeling embarrassed about last night?” Porter chuckled. “With Grant, you can learn a lot of useful stuff. Let’s pretend last night didn’t happen. Daphne already told me, you and Kieran don’t have anything special going on. Since there’s nothing special, you don’t need to worry about it. Also, if we can win this case, the bonus will definitely include your share.

Bonus. This meant there was money to be made, and money was the driving force for survival, the lifeline for Julie!

In the end, Julie compromised, but only for the money. The only solution she could come up with was to hide behind Grant as much as possible and

avoid Kieran

In the afternoon, Grant drove Julie to Simpo Co.. During her marriage with Kieran, Julie had never been to this place. She had seen this magnificent building on TV countless times, but it was only when she first stepped into this building that she began to marvel at the scale of Simpo Co-

All the front desk staff were dressed in neat uniforms, their demeanor pleasing to the eye.

Julie originally thought that the Accolade Law Firm had scheduled a meeting with Kieran, but she did not expect that after Grant took her into the lobby, he left a business card at the front desk and then took her to sit on the couch in the lobby

“We’ll wait here, I asked my cousin. Mr. Hernandez’s driver will drive straight to the entrance before he gets off work, Mr. Hernandez will definitely pass by here, if we wait here, we’ll definitely have a chance to meet Mr. Hernandez”

Julie looked at Grant in surprise. “We didn’t make an appointment?”

Do you think anyone can get an appointment with the busy Mr. Hernandez? If everyone could, wouldn’t Mr. Hernandez be run ragged? Grant glanced at Julie and grinned

So, Julie had no choice but to sit on the couch with Grant and wait for Kieran to get off work,

In the CEO’s office on the 23rd floor, Karl knocked on Mr. Hernandez’s office door and walked in to tell Kieran, “Mr. Kieran, your wife is downstairs.”

Kieran’s hand, which was in the middle of signing documents, suddenly stopped, and he looked up at Karl. He was certain that Julie would absolutely not take the initiative to come to him.

Karl explained, “Your wife is now an intern at the Accolade Law Firm, she came with the people from the firm, probably wanting to take over the case between you and Creative Nexus Media”

Kieran was slightly surprised that Julie would intern at Accolade Law Firm.

Karl stood in place waiting for Kieran’s instructions. After a while, Kieran said, “What are you standing there for? Are you waiting for me to invite you for

dinner?”

“Not at all…” Karl was at a loss for words, unsure whether his boss wanted his wife to come up or wanted her to leave.

“If you’re not waiting for a dinner invitation, then have the driver stay in the parking garage and don’t bother driving to the main entrance” Kieran said.

Hearing this, Karl turned around and instructed the driver to stay in the garage, according to Kieran’s wishes.

Maybe it was from the fatigue of the past two days, but Julie, who was initially waiting for Kieran at the door with Grant, accidentally fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already dark.

Only a few people were left in the lobby, Julie glanced at her watch and realized that Kieran should have already gotten off work by now. She frowned and asked Grant, “Attorney Grant, it’s already dark, should we continue waiting?”

“Mr. Hernandez hasn’t come down yet, let’s wait a bit more! He might be working overtime.” Grant was a very determined person, his perseverance exceeded Julie’s expectations.

“He doesn’t do overtime.” Julie blurted out.

Grant suddenly looked at Julie. “How do you know Mr. Hernandez doesn’t do overtime?”

She knew very well that Kieran was an extremely efficient person, and he would never spend more than 45 minutes on a task that could be completed in an hour. Therefore, he never worked overtime, always finishing work early If it was past his off–work time and he still hadn’t appeared, it meant he had already left.

But Julie couldn’t just tell Grant these things directly. So, she could only give an awkward smile and answer, “I’m just guessing.”

Grant gave Julie a glance and didn’t bother her anymore. But he might have thought her words made sense, so in the end, he let Julie go home and rest.

Julie thought Grant had given up, but who would have known that early the next morning, before dawn, she received a call from Grant. “Julie, I’m outside your house, hurry up and come out, we’re going to find someone early today.”

“Find who?” Julie was still groggy from sleep, completely clueless.

Then, the doorbell rang