Chapter 71: Helping Out A Friend
The group chat had gone from quiet to active in under two minutes after Marcus sent the message.
James had seen the message first and responded immediately, which had pulled in Callum, then Priya, then two others who had apparently been lurking without contributing.
By the time Steven had typed his first reply, the thread had already filled with variations of the same question from four different people.
what happened
bro explain
Marcus talk to us
are you okay first of all
Marcus’s reply came after a short pause, long enough that Steven had started wondering if he was going to answer at all.
okay so. I’ll just say it.
I was on a delivery run this afternoon. High end stuff. A watch and some clothing items going to an address in River Oaks.
Steven sat up when he read that. According to his one-time shopping experience in the Galleria stores, he knew that the situation was very serious.
I was coming down Westheimer and a car pulled out without signalling. I braked hard and went down. Not fast, maybe 15-20mph. Bike went one way, the delivery case went another.
I’m fine physically. Scraped up a bit but nothing serious.
The bike is another story. Front forks are bent, fairing cracked on one side. It’s the company’s bike so that’s already a problem.
The delivery case came open when it hit the ground. The watch was in there. Audemars Piguet. I don’t know the exact model but the company is saying the replacement value is $34,000.
The clothing was in a separate bag. That one’s at $12,000 apparently.
So that’s $46,000 in damaged goods plus the bike repair which they’re quoting at around $8,000.
Total they’re saying I owe is somewhere just under $55,000.
The chat went quiet for a moment as everyone processed the number. Even without thinking, they all could see how enormous it was and how dire the situation was for Marcus.
James broke the silence first.
55k. Marcus.
Yeah. It’s a lot. I know, Marcus replied.
did the car that pulled out stop? Callum asked.
No. Gone before I even got up.
so you have nothing on them Priya said.
There might be traffic cameras on that stretch. I don’t know. I haven’t had time to think about that part yet.
What did the company say exactly? Steven typed.
Called my manager from the scene. He was calm at first then called back twenty minutes later and said I was being let go effective immediately. Said the damage constituted gross negligence under my contract and that I’d be receiving a formal notice of liability for the full replacement cost.
Gross negligence? Callum said. for going down when a car pulled out on you.
That’s what they’re calling it.
Do you have the contract? Steven asked.
yeah I have a copy somewhere
Find it tonight, Steven typed. Don’t sign anything they send you and don’t respond to any formal communication from them until you’ve read every line of that contract.
why? Marcus asked.
Because gross negligence has a specific legal definition and what you’ve described may not meet it. If the car that pulled out caused the accident, your liability picture is different from what they’re telling you it is. And if they fired you to avoid dealing with the situation properly rather than because you were actually negligent, that’s a different conversation entirely.
Steven, James typed. do you know something we don’t?
I know someone who can look at this properly, Steven replied. Marcus, find the contract. I’ll make a call tomorrow morning.
The chat went quiet again, but differently from before, as everyone hadn’t expected the direction the whole thing was going in but they were genuinely hoping for what Steven said to be true, as it would be the best outcome for Marcus.
okay, Marcus typed eventually. thank you.
Without delay, Steven called Hargreaves. It was already evening but he expected the man to still pick up. Though Marcus hadn’t gotten the contract yet, he wasn’t going to wait. He would table the case so that the legal team from JP Morgan could start building files.
Hargreaves picked up on the second ring.
"Mr. Craig," he said. "Good evening."
"Good evening, Hargreaves. I have a situation involving a close friend that I need legal support for. I know it’s Saturday evening and I apologise for the timing."
"Don’t apologise," Hargreaves said. "That’s what the relationship is for. Tell me what’s happened."
Steven walked him through it efficiently. The delivery accident on Westheimer. The car that had pulled out without signalling and disappeared. The damaged watch and clothing, the company bike. The manager’s callback twenty minutes after the initial call, the immediate termination, the gross negligence framing, the notice of liability for the full replacement cost sitting just under $55,000.
He gave it to Hargreaves in the same order Marcus had given it to the group chat, without editorialising, letting the facts carry the weight.
Hargreaves listened without interrupting.
When Steven finished, there was a brief pause.
"The gross negligence framing is the first thing that needs to be examined," Hargreaves said. "In Texas employment and tort law, gross negligence requires a conscious disregard for the rights or safety of others. What you’ve described is a reactive response to an external hazard. That’s not the same thing, and any competent attorney will make that argument immediately."
"That’s what I thought," Steven said.
"The more interesting question," Hargreaves continued, "is the sequence of events on the employer’s side. A manager who is calm at the scene and then calls back twenty minutes later with a termination and a liability notice — that gap suggests a conversation happened in between. Someone made a decision in that window. The question is why the decision was made that quickly and what it was designed to achieve."
"Whether the firing was a way to shift the liability rather than a legitimate disciplinary response," Steven said.
"Exactly," Hargreaves said. "If the termination was pretextual — if they used the gross negligence clause as cover for a decision that was actually about protecting the company from a liability claim — that changes the employer’s position considerably. Particularly if your friend’s contract doesn’t clearly define gross negligence in a way that covers this scenario."
"He’s locating the contract tonight," Steven said. "He hasn’t signed or responded to anything yet."
"Good. Make sure it stays that way," Hargreaves said. "No responses, no acknowledgements, nothing in writing until we’ve seen the contract and the formal notice when it arrives."
There was a brief pause on Hargreaves’ end before he continued. "I’ll contact the legal team tonight and have someone assigned to this first thing tomorrow morning. If your friend can get the contract to us by tomorrow, we can have a preliminary assessment of his position before the end of the day."
"I’ll make sure he sends it," Steven said. "One more thing. The accident happened on Westheimer. He mentioned traffic cameras on that stretch. If there’s footage, it changes the liability picture entirely."
"It does," Hargreaves said. "Footage showing a vehicle pulling out without signalling establishes the primary cause of the accident. If that exists, the gross negligence argument collapses and the company’s liability exposure inverts. The legal team will flag that as a priority when they assess the case."
"Thank you, Hargreaves," Steven said. "I appreciate you taking this on a Saturday evening."
"It’s no trouble," Hargreaves said. "Send me your friend’s name and contact details and I’ll have someone reach out to him directly tomorrow morning. He doesn’t need to go through you for the legal side. We’ll handle him as a referred client."
Steven, not wanting to wait until the call ended, typed Marcus’s full name and number into the message field and sent it before the call had ended.
"Sent," he said.
"Received," Hargreaves said. "We’ll take it from here. Get some rest, Mr. Craig."
"Good night, Hargreaves."
The call ended.
Steven set the phone on the cushion and looked at the ceiling for a moment. Then he opened the group chat and typed a single message.
Marcus. Expect a call from a JP Morgan legal representative tomorrow morning. Don’t do anything before then.
He watched the message deliver, then watched the read receipts appear one by one.
Marcus’s reply came thirty seconds later.
jp morgan???
Steven smiled and typed back. Just pick up when they call.
James: I have so many questions
Save them, Steven typed. Good night everyone.
He set the phone face down on the cushion and leaned back.
He had responded swiftly to Marcus’ situation because while Marcus wasn’t he’s very close to, he’s familiar with his character and the kind of person he is, and he would want someone close to him to suffer injustice, especially when there’s something he can do about it.