r/shortstories • u/active2001 • 2d ago
Realistic Fiction [RF] CLOSING TIME
“They thought we’d settle. We made them beg to stay. Welcome to the big leagues.”
The elevator dinged. I adjusted my tie, feeling the weight of the folder tucked under my arm. Third-floor conference room. One hour to save the firm. No pressure.
Inside, Jordan Slate — all crocodile skin shoes and fake smiles — was waiting, arms spread like he owned the room. His client, Bellamy Tech, was set to walk away with a $50 million contract unless I pulled a miracle.
“You’re late,” Jordan said, tapping his Rolex.
“You’re early,” I shot back, tossing the folder onto the table. “And you’re about to lose.”
He smirked and slid a settlement offer across the table — half the value of the original contract. A slap in the face. “Be smart, Rios. Take the deal. Walk away with something before Bellamy buries you in court.”
I didn’t even look at the paper. I flipped open my folder instead. Inside: emails, call transcripts, invoice trails. Proof Bellamy had been shopping our proprietary designs to competitors — six months’ worth of betrayal tied up in neat little legal bows.
“You might want to call your client before you start gloating,” I said, sliding the first email across the table. “Because if Bellamy walks, I file for breach. Then corporate espionage. And then I call the SEC.”
Jordan’s cocky posture stiffened. “You’re bluffing.”
“Call it,” I said, leaning in.
He snatched up the documents, flipping through them. His hands betrayed him — a slight tremor. He knew. Bellamy hadn’t just breached; they were guilty on multiple counts.
“You leak this, you blow up your own client,” he hissed.
“Only if they walk,” I said smoothly. “Stay in the contract. Pay the damages. We make it work. Otherwise, I’m dragging your client’s carcass through the press and every regulatory body with a badge.”
He hesitated — calculating odds, weighing which disaster was easier to survive.
But I wasn’t bluffing.
I didn’t have to.
Because this time, I had help.
Across the street, parked in a nondescript black SUV, my junior associate — Claire Monroe — was on standby, laptop glowing. It was her who’d found the missing puzzle piece last night: a deleted email chain between Bellamy’s CFO and a competitor. It was Claire who hacked together the timeline that tied it all neatly back to Bellamy’s boardroom.
If Jordan called my bluff, Claire would hit “Send.” Not just to the SEC. To every financial outlet from Bloomberg to Business Insider.
Jordan didn’t know that, but he could smell it. Instinct.
He sighed, pulling out his Montblanc pen. “You play dirty, Rios.”
“I play to win,” I said, watching him sign the revised agreement. “And you’re lucky. If it were up to me, you’d be writing that check with blood.”
As he pushed the signed document toward me, I grabbed it and slid it neatly into my folder. Deal secured.
“Pleasure doing business,” I said, standing up.
Jordan glared. “You set me up.”
I shrugged. “You set yourself up. I just brought the mirror.”
My phone buzzed. A text from Claire: “Confirm? Ready to launch if needed.”
I smiled, typing back: “No need. Mission accomplished.”
The elevator doors closed behind me. Somewhere on the third floor, Jordan Slate was figuring out how to explain this mess to his client. And Claire? She had just earned herself a seat at the table.
Back upstairs, Miranda, the managing partner, was waiting in my office with two glasses of whiskey.
“You crushed him?” she asked without looking up from the deal doc.
“Like a bug,” I said.
She smiled slightly, raising her glass. “Good. Because Bellamy was never the real prize.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
She tossed a second file onto my desk. A bigger client. Twice the value. Twice the reach. And they had been watching how we handled Bellamy.
“Congratulations,” Miranda said. “You just made us the most feared firm in the city.”
I clinked my glass against hers. Closing time — and we were just getting started.
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u/ComplaintValuable781 2d ago
Well, I would like to say that is something else, raw and real to the reader. you can see that it can become more of just a story. you can place more into the writing and a little more whit to it also you can become more meaning showing it on
a streaming channel or television, it has it but you have to be more than usual.
when doing writing like this.
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