Free GoingUp by Lena Matthews

between them and their God. If you feel you were
sexually harassed by catching her masturbating,” Malachi held up his hand. One
of his lawyers instantly placed a stack of papers on top of his palm, which
Malachi in turned presented to Putney, “feel free to file this complaint. You
also might want to get a lawyer. But then of course you’d have to explain to
your wife you were using the elevators to get your jollies off, even going as
far as to make your own personal DVD.”
    “I don’t have a DVD,” Putney said quickly. “I just said
that.”
    Malachi set the papers down in front of Putney, who was
beginning to crack like the bad egg he was. “I’m sure that will be brought up
in Ms. Brown’s countersuit against you for harassment and stalking. Either way,
this is not going to end well for you. You’re fired, you’re more than likely
going to be hit by a lawsuit from my sister-in-law, who will of course have the
full backing of my lawyers, and all the while you’ll have to explain to your
wife how all of this came about. Or…” Malachi crossed his arms over his chest
and leaned back in his chair. “You can just choose to quit your job of your own
free will and walk away, an unemployed loser, but one without a million-dollar
lawsuit coming after him. The choice is yours.”
    “It’s not really a choice, is it?” Putney attempted a sneer,
but his fear was more than obvious.
    One of the lawyers moved from behind Malachi and set a new
stack of papers in front of Putney on the desk. “Sign here and here, initial
there and sign here.”
    Reese glanced over at his half brother, who was regarding
the whole thing with aloof amusement. The mind fuck part of this was for
Malachi, the next part would be all Reese, so he waited patiently.
    When Putney finished dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s,
he pushed angrily from his chair. “All of this over some little black whore who
gets off flashing her snatch to strangers. Really? Great gal you’re bringing in
to the family, Mr. Sarraf.”
    Reese saw red. He moved forward to finish it, but Malachi
stood and stepped in front of Reese. “We think she’s pretty swell. She’ll fit
right in with us. But here’s a little lesson for you, Putney. You don’t fuck with
family.”
    The office door swung open and Malachi’s personal security
came in and flanked Putney. “Get him out of here.”
    “Yes, Mr. Sarraf,” they said in unison as they crowded in on
the other man and escorted him out of the office.
    The lawyers followed suit, leaving as quietly as they had
entered, staying long enough to pick up the paperwork off the desk. Once the
room was empty, Malachi turned to his brother. The two men regarded each other
silently for a moment. It wasn’t often Malachi came to the rescue, it was more
Reese’s role to look after his younger brother, not just because of their age
but because of his job.
    Reese would have handled the whole thing himself, but as
Malachi pointed out, “You don’t send a butcher in to do a surgeon’s job.”
    “Thank you,” Reese said after a moment.
    “My pleasure. Did that go as you wanted?”
    “The first half went well; I’ll let you know about the
second in just a bit.”
    Malachi glanced down at his watch. “It should take about ten
minutes max for him to clean out his locker and head to his car.”
    “I was thinking the same thing.” Reese felt exhilarated.
This was the moment he’d been waiting for since his talk with Koko. With the
thought of the carnage about to take place, he carefully took off his coat and
dropped it onto the chair Putney vacated. “I’ll give him a minute head start so
it doesn’t look like I was waiting for him.”
    “Remember to make him swing first. The cameras in the
parking garage will pick up everything, but he has to swing first. Might even
do you some good to let him get in a lick or two.”
    Reese unfastened his watch and set it down on Malachi’s desk
then went to work rolling up his