Chapter Two

Madelyn

 

Madelyn Rowe stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom. She had dressed in her best outfit for the day, a modest brown skirt suit that made her look powerful but still feminine. She had paired it with a cream silk blouse, not wanting to go for any of the bright colors that some of the secretaries in the office did. She was a woman to be taken seriously, after all. Madelyn was not just another office slut shuffling papers around on her desk and fetching coffee for the big boys. No, she was about to be the next big thing at Morber and Barnard, Attorneys at Law.

 

Or at least, she hoped she was. Madelyn had been hired by the firm straight out of law school, and she had worked her ass off as associate. She took all the crappy cases that nobody else wanted, including more than her share that were pro bono. The cases that involved difficult clients, tons of paperwork, and boring results that never made the headlines were often given to her. While there were many prominent people who used the firm, Madelyn was always handed the regular Joes off the street. She was the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night, desperately hoping that, someday, it would pay off.

 

Today was that day, according to the text she had received from Mr. Morber when she had gotten up: “You’ve got a big client to get started on today. Time to prove your worth.”

 

That text had sent a thrill straight through her body. They had finally noticed! They had finally figured out that she worked harder than anyone else, and now she would get a chance at a promotion. She would probably just wind up as a junior partner, which wasn’t her final goal, but it would be one huge step toward finally proving to her father that she was an excellent attorney.

 

As she tried her hair up and then down, having a difficult time deciding which one made her look more professional, she heard the familiar ringing of her phone. Madelyn grabbed her headset and answered it. She always answered her phone. “Hello, this is Madelyn Rowe.”

 

“You know that rhymes, right?” Stacy Jordan had been her best friend since either one of them could remember, and hardly a day went by without them talking to each other for at least a few minutes.

 

Madelyn slipped in a small pair of gold hoop earrings. “Maybe I’ll have time to work on that once I’m a partner.”

 

“Are you serious? Did you get the promotion?” Stacy’s enthusiasm was so loud that Madelyn had to turn her headset down a couple of notches.

 

“Not yet. But they told me I’m getting a big client, and that it’s time to prove myself. If that doesn’t mean what I think it means, then I need to go back to school for English.” Deciding on a low bun at the nape of her neck, Madelyn came out of the bathroom and began gathering her things.

 

“Do you still have time for breakfast this morning?”

 

The two of them had made a habit to have breakfast together at least a couple times a week. It was usually just something fast and simple as they made their way to work, like a bagel from a cart on the street. Stacy worked in the same building where Morber and Barnard were housed, so it was pretty convenient. But Madelyn’s stomach churned with excitement. “I don’t think I can eat anything. I’ll be lucky if I even get my coffee down. I’m going to head in early and get this over with.”

 

“Relax, girl, you’ve got this in the bag,” Stacy assured her. “Remember how nervous you were when you first started, and you thought they would fire you on the spot?”

 

Madelyn smiled as she double-checked the contents of her briefcase and picked up her purse. She had been terrified when she had started at the firm. The partners knew who her father was, and there was a good chance they had hired her not only because of her awards in college but also because of her last name. “Yes, and that was probably silly of me since they knew I had just graduated. But this isn’t just some small-bit thing where I can go get a job at a different firm and forget about my mistakes. There’s a lot riding on this, and I don’t even know who the client is. I’m dying to find out.”

 

“You’d better tell me,” Stacy advised. “Maybe it’s some big celebrity.”

 

“I doubt it.” Many of their clients were bankers, investors, and business owners, but most of the celebrities were minor. They weren’t entertainment lawyers, after all.

 

“Oh, or that lady that runs the fashion magazine. What’s her name?”

 

“Ella Jenkins, and I hope not. She gives us a lot of work, but everyone says she’s a real bitch to work with.” She wasn’t really supposed to talk about who her clients were, but Stacy was different. Besides, she’d happened to come by the office just as Ms. Jenkins was coming out of Mr. Barnard’s office, so there wasn’t much point in hiding it. And even lawyers had to have someone to talk to, right?

 

“Okay, not her then. But there are a lot of big names in this town, and it could be someone really amazing. How about we have dinner together tonight since you’re breaking our morning date?”

 

“Sounds good.” Madelyn stepped out into the hall and powered toward the elevator. At this rate, she would be at least forty-five minutes early. “You pick the place and I’ll buy.”

 

Once they hung up, Madelyn made the short walk to her office building with confidence. It was a beautiful morning, and even the crowds on the sidewalk couldn’t ruin her mood. She was nervous, yes, but it was a good kind of nervous, more like excitement. She allowed herself a little fantasy of running the place one day from the cushy corner office that Mr. Barnard currently inhabited, since it had the best view. She would hire only the best for any position, and they would be the top firm in the city. Everyone would want to work for her.

 

But as she stepped into the lobby and headed through the door to the offices, she was surprised to see that the senior partners were already there. Mr. Morber sat behind his desk, shuffling through papers, and Mr. Barnard stood at the water cooler in the hallway.

 

“Ah, Miss Rowe,” he said in that quiet, gentlemanly voice he had. He was a tall, slender man who must have had his suits custom made to accommodate his exceedingly long legs. “I’m glad to see you’re here early. Vince and I are ready to get started as soon as you are. I’m afraid our client doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

 

Madelyn had hoped she would have the advantage on them by coming in so early. It would have given her time to get settled into her office and go through her morning routine before she was bombarded with the new case. By then, she would have had plenty of coffee in her system and been ready to tackle anything. “Of course. I just need to set my things down and grab a drink, and I’ll be right there.” She cursed herself for taking so long with her stupid hair. Men like these didn’t give two shits how she wore it, as long as it wasn’t spiked or purple.

 

Just a few minutes later, she sat in the conference room with a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. It was the high-end stuff; they never went cheap when it came to coffee. She smiled at the partners as they sat across the shiny table from her, trying to make her face look calm even though she didn’t feel that way inside. “What kind of case are we talking about this morning?”

 

Mr. Morber cast an uncertain glance at Mr. Barnard, who nodded for him to go ahead. He was a big man with slicked-back hair, shining blue eyes, and a heavy brow. He gave her a brooding look as he slid a folder across the desk. “Almost since this firm was founded, we’ve been doing work for the Marinos. Have you heard of them?”

 

Madelyn glanced at the name on the edge of the folder, noting at the same time how thick it was. The name was vaguely familiar, but not in such a way that it meant anything to her. “No, not really.”

 

Mr. Morber sighed again, making her wonder if that had been the wrong answer even though it was the truth. “The Marinos are a huge crime family. They’ve been running this city for decades. They like to handle things on their own when they can, but there are still times when one of them needs a defense attorney.”

 

If Madelyn thought her stomach had been doing flips at her apartment, it was now spinning on a rotating axis. The senior partners didn’t openly discuss their cases with the rest of the attorneys, and nobody asked. Now she knew why. She cleared her throat. “I see.”

 

“The current head of the family is a man by the name of Lorenzo Marino. He’s in his early thirties, so he’s not the Marlon Brandon type that you’re probably picturing,” Mr. Barnard explained. He gestured at the folder.

 

She opened it, hoping that her fingers weren’t shaking as much as she thought. A small photo had been clipped to the inside of the cardstock, and she only gave it a cursory glance before instinctively moving to the paperwork. If she had been in the privacy of her own office, she would have been able to scrutinize it and pick it apart, dissecting it all and knowing what each part meant. But she had her bosses watching her, and her brain refused to understand anything she read. She only managed to notice the charges. “A mob boss who’s been arrested for murder?”

 

Barnard held his hand just above the table, his fingers together. “It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds,” he said. His soothing voice had been used to coerce courtrooms of people over the years, and Madelyn never got tired of listening to it. “Spend some time looking through the documents. The police have very little to go on.”

 

“They’ve been trying to nail this guy for years,” Morber growled, “even before he was officially the head of the family. All they have right now are some loose ties that can easily be snipped. In fact, I already went down to the police station this morning and got him out on bail. He’s at home right now. If it were anything more serious, they wouldn’t have let him go.”

 

Madelyn nodded. “I see.” She didn’t really. She would have to clear her schedule and spend the rest of the morning with this file just to make sure she was up to speed on everything. If this was her chance, then she wasn’t about to blow it. She looked up at them with a smile. “I really appreciate you giving me this chance. I won’t let you down.”

 

“You deserve it,” Mr. Barnard replied with a small smile. “It should be a pretty easy case, but it’s for a prominent client. This would make a big difference in where you stand with this company.”

 

Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might explode out of her chest and ruin everything in the folder. She hadn’t misinterpreted that text at all. This was her shot at becoming partner. Finally. She allowed a smile to cross her face.

 

“But,” Mr. Morber reminded her, “don’t think that just because we’re giving you a case that we think should be simple that it means it’s any less important. As we said, the Marinos do a lot of work with us. We absolutely don’t want to let them down, and not just because of the money.” His heavy eyebrows waggled a little before settling further down on his forehead.

 

“I understand, sir. I’ll do everything I can. You can be sure that this case is in the right hands.” She closed the folder and stood.

 

The partners did as well. “If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask us,” Mr. Barnard reminded her. “We’re interested to see what you can do with this one your own, but not at the expense of the case. If you run into trouble, you know where we are.”

 

“Of course.”

 

The men returned to their offices, Mr. Barnard probably poring over old legal files and Mr. Morber probably wondering if he could get away with screwing his latest secretary without his wife knowing. For Madelyn, she headed back to her own office to get this case started.

 

She didn’t have a space nearly as luxurious as the senior partners, with their massive corner offices and walls lined with windows. Instead, her little section was just big enough to house her desk and a few bookshelves. The one window that she had was off to the side and small, almost like someone had decided at the last minute to make sure this office still had some sort of view. Despite its small size, Madelyn had done everything she could to make it look professional. She had upgraded her ancient desk the office had originally come with to a larger one in a dark cherry finish. Her burgundy leather chair was extremely comfortable, and her bookshelves were lined with the typical heavy tomes that any attorney worth his or her weight kept in stock. In addition to those, she had added a few framed photographs of her family and a vase full of fresh flowers to make it seem a little more homey.

 

Madelyn closed the door and sat down, ready to get started. Barnard and Morber seemed confident in her skills when it came to this case, but there was still something about it that unsettled her. Maybe it was the fact that this was a crime family. She’d known for a long time that the senior partners had certain clients that they kept to themselves, but it had never occurred to her that they might be part of the mob.

 

As she flipped the file open once again, she realized just what else had made her heart beat a little bit faster: that photo of Lorenzo Marino clipped to the inside. It was standard procedure for the law firm to keep a picture of their clients on file if it was available. That helped keep the attorneys grounded in who they were working for, and it made it possible for the assistants to know the clients as soon as they walked in the door. They dealt with the wealthy and the semi-famous here, and those were the kind of people who didn’t like to be kept waiting.

 

Madelyn had to wonder if Lorenzo was one of them. He looked like a typical mob man in the photo. His dark eyes and dark hair—not to mention his name and occupation—indicated that he was probably of Italian descent. His true job wasn’t listed on the paperwork, mentioning only a men’s clothing store. That seemed to be a decent cover, considering the expensive suit he had on. Madelyn knew she should get started on the case, but it was much more fun to just stare at that handsome face.