Daniel smiled slightly as she pulled out the offers she received from the other companies and the sales data of the game and slid it over as she said, “As you can see the game is worth a lot more than what you are currently offering.”

Ezekiel looked over the new information she gave him and was surprised again. It looked like she spent time negotiating with the other companies and all of them increased their bids. If it was anyone else, they would probably agree to her ten percent deal after looking through the other companies offers. Ezekiel glanced up from the papers and said, “I admit, this makes your offer look reasonable.”

Ezekiel reached into his pocket and pulled out something as he said, “But let me show you why I can’t accept that deal.”

Ezekiel handed Daniel his cellphone and said, “Check this cellphone out and let me know what you think about it. Just push that button on the side to unlock it and then touch the screen to explore it.”

Daniel looked at the small device for a moment before she unlocked it and was greeted with a bunch of small applications on the home page. She touched one that was shaped like a phone and it opened up to a phone book. She noticed at the bottom was a back button so she pressed that and it took her back to the home screen. She pushed a button that looked like a camera and the camera app opened. She aimed it around and was surprised at how nice everything looked through the camera.

She quietly used the phone for a few minutes as she checked it out and had to admit, the device was nice and seemed very practical. The phone itself felt well made, had a sleek design and whoever created the software did an amazing job because she could easily understand how to use it without instructions. She thought back to when she still had a job, and knew this thing would have helped her out immensely. She lightly shook her head as she thought, ‘That was before my parents ruined my career. At least right now I can put my skills to use as I help out Theo.’

As she closed out of another app, a text message notification popped up and she accidentally opened it. The sender was named, ‘Tony has daddy issues’ and what they sent was a picture. In the picture was a pallet of phones with more pallets in the background behind it. Then a message followed that said, ‘First batch is finished! When do you want to set the launch date?’

Daniel quickly handed the phone back as she said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to open that.”

Ezekiel looked at the messages and shook his head as he said, “It’s fine.”

Ezekiel quickly typed out a message and sent it before he asked, “So what do you think?”

As Daniel was about to reply, Iron Man by Black Sabbath started to play from his phone.

“Sorry, just give me just a moment to take this.” Ezekiel said as he answered his phone on speaker.

“What do you want Tony?”

“Come on, give me a date. I wanna start planning the event.” Tony said.

Ezekiel let out a sigh before he said, “Really? I told you, I’m busy at the moment. We can figure it out when I’m finished and besides we both know Pepper is going to plan the launch party.”

“No she won’t.” Tony said.

“Yes I will.” Pepper said in the background.

“Okay fine… Whatever, just come pick us up when you're free. I wanna eat in Genosha again, that ramen place was really good..” Tony said before he hung up.

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “Sorry about that. I swear, for being a grown man he acts like a child. If I didn’t answer he would just keep calling until I picked up.”

Daniel smiled as she asked, “It’s fine… Was that, Tony Stark?”

“Unfortunately it was. But that doesn’t really matter, what did you think about my cellphone?” Ezekiel asked.

“It’s pretty nice and I could see some usages for it. But I don’t understand why you brought it up.” Daniel said.

Ezekiel tapped the contract and said, “It’s because of that cellphone that I can’t sign this contract. In the next few months Stark will be launching these cellphones in collaboration with Vibe.”

Daniel nodded in understanding before she said, “So you are expecting the valuation of your company to increase.”

“By rough estimates, Stark and Vibe should both make at least a billion dollars in profit this year alone after the phone is launched. Next year that number should be more than five billion and will only increase in value each year.” Ezekiel said with a smile.

Daniel thought about it for a few moments before she pulled out another set of contracts and said, “I didn’t expect you to have a good reason to turn down that contract…But I made this one just in case, it’s for a six percent share of the company.”

Ezekiel chuckled as he asked, “Really?”

Daniel nodded as she said, “Yup. I know what this game is worth and six percent is the lowest my client will go.”

Ezekiel looked over the contract for a little while before he said, “Fine, six percent is fair.”

After he signed each contract, he handed a copy back to Daniel and asked, “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Daniel took the contract and placed it back into her briefcase as she said, “Sure. But depending on the question, I may or may not answer it.”

“Why are you not currently working for any law firm?” Ezekiel asked.

Daniel frowned slightly before she said, “I decided I wanted to raise my kids.”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “That's a very enviable thing to do. But if that's the case, why did you decide to negotiate this contract?”

“I know the person who designed the game and was just helping them out.”

Ezekiel nodded his head before he said, “I'll be honest with you, I looked into you when you reached out to me and I heard a rumor about you being blacklisted from all the best law firms in the state.”

Daniel showed no outside reaction but inside she was upset being reminded of what her parents did to her career. When Daniel looked up from closing her briefcase Ezekiel said, “You know I found it weird that someone of your caliber would be blacklisted, since you had a stellar track record at your previous job. So I asked around and the only thing I could find was rumors, something about you pissing off some important people.”

“And?” Daniel asked in a flat tone.

Ezekiel smiled as he asked, “If I’m being honest, I need a good contract lawyer and since you are currently jobless…”

Daniel chuckled for a moment before she said, “You would offer me a job, knowing some powerful people ruined my career out of spite and those same people could easily come after you?”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “Pretty much. I mostly wanted to know who I would be pissing off if you accepted.”

Daniel shook her head as she said, “I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t want to ruin your business just so I could possibly work again. Even if you’re business partners with Tony Stark, he wouldn’t be able to help you out, at least not against the people you would be facing.”

“Mrs. Mercer, just humor me please.” Ezekiel asked.

Daniel thought about it for a few moments before she said, “My family or to be accurate my parents are who you would have to deal with.”

Ezekiel extended his hand out as he said, “Oh, I’m not worried about people like them at all. Welcome aboard Mrs. Mercer.”

Daniel glanced at Ezekiel’s hand then back at him for about half a minute till he awkwardly put his hand back down and she said, “First of all, I never agreed to work for you. Second, my parents would ruin your business if you hired me. Well only if you keep me around after they warn you to not work with me.”

“What if I could prove that I’m not afraid of going up against your family? Would that possibly change your mind?” Ezekiel asked with a slight smile.

“Doubtful, but go ahead.” Daniel said.

Ezekiel pulled out his personal tablet and typed on it for a few moments before he pulled up a video on Vibe. He then handed the tablet to Daniel as he said, “Watch this.”

The video started to play and the first thing she noticed was someone she hadn’t seen in over ten years now. It was one of her brothers, the third one to be exact. He was out of the running for being the next head of the family, because he had two older brothers ahead of him. Since that was the case he pretty much slacked off compared to the rest of the family. He was still useful to the family to be used as a pawn in certain things, but overall was a typical spoiled rich kid that grew into an adult.

As she watched the video she remembered him not being a great person to be around when she was younger, but it seemed he became worse over the years she hadn’t seen him. Just before the video finished her eyes widened in shock and she sat there for a few moments before she slowly handed the tablet back to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “So do you think I’m afraid of your family?”

“No.”

“Good, so would you like a job?” Ezekiel asked.

“I don’t know… I would have to think about it and talk with my husband.” Daniel said.

Ezekiel nodded before he glanced to the side at Mei and asked, “Can you bring me the blue folder on your desk?”

Mei got up from her seat and picked up a blue folder before she brought it over and handed it to Ezekiel. He opened the folder and double checked the contents before he handed it to Daniel as he said, “This is what I’m willing to offer you to work for the company. Think it over and if you agree, just call the number in the folder and Mei will take care of the paperwork.”

Ezekiel stood up and reached out to shake hands as he said, “It was nice meeting you Mrs. Mercer, I hope to hear from you soon.”

“It was nice to meet you too.” Daniel said before she released Ezekiel’s hand.

Ezekiel glanced at Mei as he said, “After you escort Mrs. Mercer out, can you stop by Adrian’s office and tell him I went to eat with Tony.”

As Mei nodded, Ezekiel spun his hand in a circle which conjured a portal beside him. Daniel stayed composed but watched in fascination as Ezekiel stepped through the portal and disappeared. After the portal snapped closed she asked, “What was that?”

Mei smiled as she said, “That’s just how Ezekiel travels.”

“Travels? Where did he go?” Daniel asked.

Mei walked around the table as she said, “He’s going to meet Tony, so that was probably to California.”

“But… Nevermind, it isn’t my business.” Daniel shook her head before she started to walk towards the elevator.

After she made it back home, Daniel sat down on the couch for a little while and thought about what happened today. While the meeting didn’t go as planned, it wasn’t bad. Maybe a little weird at some points, but a lot better than most meetings when it came to negotiating contracts. It normally took days, weeks or sometimes months to negotiate contracts with other lawyers.

She glanced at the blue fold next to her briefcase for a few moments and thought about the job offer. She did miss her job, but she really liked being home with the kids and spending more time with Jacob…

She picked up the folder with the thought of throwing it away, but she stopped herself. This could be her only chance to ever work again, unless she decided to start her own practice… She pondered over the folder in her hands for about a minute before she decided to just see what they offered. As she started to read through it, she couldn’t believe what they offered her. The pay was slightly higher than someone with her experience should make, but the benefits were unbelievable. No one offered benefits like these, not even if you were a partner at a top firm.

But the thing that stunned her the most was the remote work. Some companies allowed some remote work, but normally you had to be in the office or you needed to travel. Her last job luckily didn’t need her to travel, since they mostly worked with NYC locals. But still this job offer allowed her to work from home if she wanted and as far as she could tell would pay her full time for part time work. Actually she would only need to work when they had contracts coming in or going out.

After going over it twice, she couldn’t think of a reason to say no. But she still planned to talk it over with Jacob first and get his opinion. Daniel smiled to herself as she already knew what he would say, the man was so easy to predict…