"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Jessica started.
"That's alright," Adriano said.
"I understand that you hold somewhat of a special position at Pearson Hardman, since you aren't really Associate material. If I could, I would give you the position of Junior Partner right away. From what you told me, though, and thinking about the current atmosphere at Pearson Hardman, you have more than enough time to prove to everyone else what I already know."
"You're trying to put pressure on Harvey Specter by introducing me to him right after taking away his Senior Partnership, rubbing in his defeat by me."
Jessica staggered for a second, not prepared to be seen through by Adriano. It painted a clearer picture of the enigma that was Adriano Mattei. A picture that seemed to shift whenever she thought she had him figured out. Hiring him hadn't been a spur-of-the-moment act. It had been calculated and carefully planned.
"You gave Harvey the position of Senior Partner, to have him hire a personal associate to give the man-child, who never lost and sees himself as superior to everyone, responsibility. Then you hired me, the only one who rolled the 'best closer of New York' in such fashion, the very same day that his associate had his first day, and you take away his promotion again. And all this to humble him and make him grow better and more controllable for you."
"..."
"I'm impressed," Adriano said.
"What?"
Jessica didn't know where she had her head anymore. Wouldn't anger or some form of superiority thinking be appropriate in Adriano's position?
"I think that was rather smart of you. A nice little gambit."
"Are you... complimenting me for using you in my plans?" she asked.
"Sure. Credit where it is due. I knew the moment I saw you who I was dealing with. So if this bothered me, I wouldn't be the best at what I do. So if you want to use me in your games, go ahead. Just be sure to give me as many and as difficult cases as you can. Otherwise, I'd be sorely disappointed."
After a moment of silence, Jessica started to smile very brightly. She recognised brilliance when she saw it and potential when it hit her in the face. Adriano had a way with words, which stemmed from his outrageous intellect and immensely charismatic personality. He could be quite the charmer when he wanted to. But he could be just as much of a tease as well. The Mattei charm had hit Jessica. A skill Giovanni had told his son about, and the reason his father claimed he had managed to get someone like Reina.
"That's a lovely smile, Miss Pearson. Now, if you don't mind, I'll get to work and await the mountain of work. It was a pleasure to get to see you at work."
After saying that, Adriano left her office and went back to the bullpen.
"Oh, and one more thing. Your plan to motivate Harvey Specter won't work, sadly. That associate of his is quite capable. You gave your protegée a partner and with it new ideas. He'll find a way to balance the scales you set up by having something on you."
It wasn't evident from the things he said, but the way he said it and to whom he said it had an effect. For Jessica, it was a breath of fresh air, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Naturally, she knew that, but for someone to catch all of this and manage to come to such conclusions with almost no information was impressive, to say the least.
She didn't have much time to enjoy the moment, because Harvey walked back into her office.
"Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna give me back my promotion, and that's the last word we're gonna talk about this," he said.
Jessica's good mood wasn't ruined per se, but it was dampened significantly. Still, she chose to indulge Harvey.
"And why is that?" she asked.
"Because if you don't, I'm gonna go across town and join Rick Peterson. I'm gonna approach every client I've ever closed, and I'm gonna take them with me."
"You do that, and you'll force me to you in front of the ethics board," she said.
"I don't think you will."
"And why not?"
"Because you were obligated to notify them the second I lied to Gerald, but you didn't. You put me in front of the board right now, I'll put you right up there with me," Harvey said.
"Hmm."
Jessica started to chuckle very lightly. Her plan had worked, and it happened exactly how Adriano said it would. She felt that she had been more than right about him.
"What's so funny?" Harvey asked.
"What's funny is that the 'kid', as you call him, who was just here, told me you would say this. Tell me, did your associate get you this idea?" She asked.
"Wh-what does this have to do with anything? Are we still talking about my promotion?" Harvey asked.
Jessica shook her head and nodded.
"I'll give you your promotion. But you'll have to do something for me."
"Anything."
"Ah, pro bono," she smiled, holding up a folder.
"Anything but that," Harvey said immediately and took a step back.
"Harvey, pro bono cases are how we as a firm show that we care about more than just ourselves."
"I'm not saying we shouldn't do them. I'm saying I shouldn't do them."
"And it's how you can show me that you care about more than just yourself," Jessica said.
Harvey looked like he had just eaten a lemon.
"You'll handle this yourself. You will not pass it off."
"Absolutely."
She threw him the folder and smiled, knowing he would most definitely pass it off. Harvey caught the folder and then wanted to leave her office, but stopped. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Jessica suspiciously.
"What is it about the kid that makes you all glowy?" he asked.
"Glowy?"
"Yes, as if you just had se--"
"Watch it, Harvey. I have a lot of patience, but not endless amounts of it."
"Alright, but you know what I mean. Why hire him? Did you check whether his resumée was real? He should be in prison for such a forgery."
Jessica studied Harvey for a second.
"Your arrogance blinds you, Harvey. Adriano Mattei is an attorney unlike any I have ever seen. You included," she said.
"Oh, please," Harvey laughed. "Now I know you're lying."
"When I offered him a job, he didn't care about money or working hours or anything that anyone would care about. He cared about one thing and one thing only. I saw some of the cases he handled... forget about Junior Partnership, heck, from what I read about his cases, I even considered Senior Partner, right away."
That surprised Harvey a lot. It was not logical to promote someone you didn't know to Senior Partnership. It had been his dream to achieve this, and in his narcissism, he knew he would get it, and after decades of hard work, he finally did. And now here was someone who apparently would have been handed the position on a silver platter... but declined?!
"That's bullshit!"
"I know, and yet it's true. Now, get out of my office and do your pro bono case."
.
Adriano had had a large pile on the left side of his laptop and PC screen when he started working that morning. After hours, that pile had moved ot the right side, his unofficial 'solved pile'. He had done paperwork like a machine, solving cases with unfair ease.
As soon as he touched the files, all the knowledge they contained appeared in his mind, and he solved it in a fraction of a second. The only reason it took him so long to do all this was that he didn't like to write by hand... and he took a long nap in between. The other associates sneered at him condescendingly when they saw him and didn't wake him. This was not a playhouse, but a bloody competition.
How foolish they were.
Right now, Adriano was speeding through his Rubik's Cube with unbelievable speed. Naturally, he couldn't simply solve it normally by doing the advanced speed solve. No, Adriano was memorising possible combinations one by one. If one did 3 random turns, that was a total of 3'240 possible positions. At 4? Over 40'000.
"What are you doing?"
The confused and slightly amused voice of Rachel Zane interrupted Adriano's thoughts. He looked up at her slowly, bothered that she interrupted his cubing.
"Solving a Rubik's Cube."
"Are you serious?"
"No, I'm Adriano."
Rachel narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Adrinao was an idiot in her eyes, and that wasn't going to change, she thought.
"Louis wants to see you, and you were supposed to do the Henderson case today. How far did you get? You know that if you continue to play around like that, you'll be gone here sooner than you can say the word Rubik's Cube."
"Those are two words."
Rachel looked disgusted.
"Just... get going, my god, you're annoying."
Adriano smiled lazily and slowly stood up. With a long sigh, he got going.
"The case is on my desk," he said as he walked away.
"Which one?" she asked, seeing the large pile of dossiers.
He didn't answer, leaving Rachel angry and annoyed. She picked up the first one and went through it. She saw that it was another open case on the board, but no one wanted to take it on because it was terribly boring and work-intensive. One by one, she saw that all the folders were done, and that, apart from the Henderson case, Adriano had completed over a dozen cases. And they were immaculate.
He walked to Louis Litt's office, where the man already waited for him.
"Mister Litt. According to the paralegal, you wanted to see me," he said.
"Indeed. Sit down."
Adriano sat down and leaned back. Louis, on the other hand, looked at him with an expectant expression, as if he was waiting for something, like the fox infant of the rabbit hole. He had a slight smile on his face as they sat in silence. It was a tactic of Louis, the use of deafening silence. It worked on all associates; at least it created an awkward pause, which the weak ones tried to fill.
But Adriano didn't care. He looked at Louis lazily and stifled a yawn. Finally, Louis broke the silence.
"I know you had orientation from Rachel, but I wanted to give you a special welcome from me. Amongst other things, I'm sort of the disciplinarian of the associates," he said.
Someone knocked on the glass doors, and Louis nodded him in.
"You wanted to see me?" the young man asked as he pushed the door open.
"Yes. Gary, please come in. Mike, this is Gary Lipsky. Gary's one of our most promising associates from last year," Louis introduced.
Gary reached out his hand to Adriano. He looked at Gary for a moment, then smiled and shook his hand.
"Hi."
"Gary, Ms Pearson wanted me to ask, have you completed the Petramco Filing?" Louis asked.
"Well, my brother was in over the weekend, so I didn't get to it," Gary said.
"I mean, Gary, come on, this is like the third time I had to ask."
"I'll get right on it," Gary said.
"Don't bother. You're fired."
"What? You can't fire me," Gary said.
"Oh, yes, I can. And I just did. Go pack your things. Don't ever show your face in this place again."
Gary slowly turned to the side, throwing a look at Adriano and then leaving the office. Louis, who had been looking at Gary with a displeased expression, smiled right away after he was gone.
"See, I arranged for you to see that because we pay our associates very well, and we provide the opportunity for unlimited advancement, but in return, we expect results!"
He looked at Adriano, who hid his mouth with his hand, as he looked at Louis.
"Have I made myself clear?" Louis asked.
Adriano chuckled.
"Totally."
"Great. Welcome to Pearson Hardman."
"What you made clear, Mister Litt, is that you are a great performer. A great voice you have there, too. I'm guessing Glee Club? Maybe some acting in high school. No, you have stage fright, don't you? And yet, as good as you were, I'm afraid, Gary... not so good an actor.
This thing you arranged here is very cool. Really smooth. The way Gary played with his hands and acted all embarrassed, chef's kiss. The thing is, though, when you fire someone, he should show some surprise at least. No stutter, not fumbling, but instant acceptance? 'You can't fire me.' Ehh, 4 out of 10. There's potential there."
Adriano stood up and nodded.
"Well, I'll get back to not wasting my time. Good talk though, Mister Litt."
Adriano wasn't very happy. Everyone seemed to play some children's game here at Pearson Hardman. He wondered whether it was all worth it, to come here.