Chapter Four

Madelyn

 

Madelyn watched him go, letting out a long breath once he was finally out her office door. “Holy shit,” she muttered to herself as she threw herself against the back of her chair and pressed her fingertips to her forehead. “Of all the clients they could have sent me, why did it have to be that one?”

 

She had spent the entire previous day preparing for this meeting. She had worked even harder on it than she had on every other case, knowing just what the line was here. There had been so much preparation, but her mind had seemed to empty as soon as that handsome stranger walked in the door. Having already seen his picture, she’d thought she was going to be all right. He was good looking, but she wasn’t the sort to turn into a slobbering idiot over a sexy guy.

 

But there was something about seeing him in person. He seemed so clean, so alive, so full of a kind of power that she could sense in the air. His dark eyes glittered, and though Madelyn had an idea that he hadn’t always kept his gaze on her face, she’d only caught him looking elsewhere once. Diving into her presentation of the case had helped her get back on track, but his comments had rattled her to the core. If she hadn’t already spent so much time learning how to keep her cool in stressful situations, she might have let him know just how attracted she was to him.

 

Madelyn glanced at his picture one last time. Lorenzo—no, Enzo, which was somehow even sexier—was a powerful man with a ton of money. He probably drove fast cars and went through women like tissues. His suit looked like it easily cost a couple thousand dollars. He was just the sort of guy she was supposed to resent, but she didn’t. Not at all.

 

She shook her head and turned to her computer, wanting to go ahead and run down her list of things to do on Enzo’s case while her mind was on it. As she pulled up the information she needed to get the surveillance footage from the city, she wondered how appropriate it would be to go out to dinner with her newest client. People did that for business meetings all the time, and the bill could be written off as an expense. And it was just dinner, right?

 

* * *

 

That evening, when Madelyn had finished up for the day and gone home to change, she hopped in her car and headed for the edge of town. She always went home for dinner at least once a week, but these days she was starting to think it was time to change that tradition.

 

Her brother had already arrived, his shiny Porsche sitting in their parents’ driveway. Madelyn sighed as she pulled up behind him, wishing he could have gotten called for emergency surgery so he couldn’t make it. She knew exactly what was waiting for her on the other side of that bright red door under the covered porch, and Madelyn considered turning around and heading back to the city. All the hubbub and crime of a heavily populated urban area sounded much better than what she was about to face.

 

With a sigh, she got out and went in anyway.

 

“Is that you, Madelyn?” her mother called from the kitchen.

 

She rolled her eyes as she slung her purse on the couch. “I hope so, Mom, otherwise you’ve got random strangers just marching into your house.”

 

“Come in here and stir the beans for me.”

 

“Stir the beans, Madelyn,” she muttered under her breath. “We wouldn’t dare trust you to actually cook something edible, so we’ll just let you stir the beans. It will make us all feel better.

 

“What was that, dear?”

 

“Nothing, Mom.” Madelyn stepped into the massive kitchen, where her mother was using every burner on the stove, the oven, and the microwave to cook enough food to cover the dining table completely. Pots and pans were scattered over the counter, and her mother stood in the middle of it, looking very pleased with herself.

 

“We just have a few more dishes to move to the table, and then we’ll be ready!” she announced.

 

A few minutes later, Madelyn sat down across the massive dining table from her brother. “There you are,” he said with his sparkling smile. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to show.”

 

“I was only a few minutes late,” she replied tartly. “I had a very busy day at the office.”

 

Trevor nodded as he piled his plate high with green beans. “I understand. I wasn’t sure I was going to get away at all. I had a major surgery going on. The guy was a real bleeder, too.”

 

She hadn’t been lying when she had told Enzo she could handle the blood and gore. Trevor’s stint in medical school had been the subject of every family conversation, and he never hesitated to talk about dissections or the procedures he performed, even when they were eating. It had really grossed her out for a long time, but she had slowly gotten used to it.

 

“Since you’re here, I guess that means you saved yet another life today,” Mrs. Rowe said with a smile.

 

“He’s going to pull through. Such a great guy, too. Has a wife and kids, and he works at one of the local schools. When I went out to update his wife on the procedure, he told me that he volunteers his time on the weekends to disabled kids.”

 

“Wonderful!” Mr. Rowe enthused from his place at the end of the table. He reached over and gave his son an affectionate slap on the shoulder. “I’m sure the family was very grateful.”

 

Madelyn tried not to barf in her mouth. Yes, it was great that Trevor was a successful surgeon and that he had saved so many worthy lives, but what grossed her out much more than all the talk about blood and guts was just how much everyone seemed to worship him for doing what he got paid to do.

 

His wife was no better. Stephanie gently caressed her husband’s arm, adoration in her big blue eyes. “Isn’t he just so amazing? I spend a lot of time alone at home while he’s at work, but I know it’s worth it.”

 

“You can always come over here, dear,” Mrs. Rowe replied as she poured a big puddle of gravy over her mashed potatoes. “We’d love to have you. Now that everyone has flown the coop, it gets a little lonely around here, too.”

 

Madelyn stared at her roast with ferocity, wondering why her mom had never said anything to her about that. She was busy, and she had her own things to do, but she could find the time to come by more than once a week if her parents really needed her.

 

After discussing several more of Trevor’s patients, her father finally turned to her. “What about you, Maddie? Anything going on in your life?”

 

“Any dates?” her mother added.

 

“No, Mom. I haven’t really had any time for that lately. Things have been very busy at the firm.” Why the hell did they care so much if she dated anybody? They’d always hated it when she went out on the weekends as a teen, but the fact that she was approaching thirty somehow meant she’d better get out there and find a man. “I’ve actually got a new client, and a big one. Mr. Morber and Mr. Barnard have basically promised me a promotion if I win the case.”

 

Mr. Rowe’s thick eyebrows shot up to where his hairline used to be. “Now, that’s something to celebrate! Margaret, get out a bottle of wine!”

 

Madelyn gestured for her mother to keep her seat. “Let’s hold the alcohol until it actually happens, but the case should be a pretty easy one. It’ll be a murder trial, but there’s not much evidence against him.”

 

This brought her father’s eyebrows crashing back down. “You’re defending a murderer?”

 

“He didn’t do it,” she replied quickly.

 

Mr. Rowe leaned heavily on the table. “You know, dear, I spent my entire life as an attorney. It was my job to make sure justice was served, and I never took a case that I didn’t feel strongly about. I had my ethics and my morals, and I carried them right along in my briefcase every time I went into that court room. I was very pleased when you said you would follow in my footsteps and go to law school, but I had hoped you would be using your skills to protect and defend the innocent.”

 

“Dad …” Madelyn had heard this lecture before. “You ought to know that it doesn’t always work like that. I don’t get to just pick and choose who I work with, not if I want to work my way up in this firm. Things might have been different twenty years ago and in a smaller town where everybody had known everyone else since kindergarten, but it’s not like that here.”

 

“I don’t think that justifies letting a murderer off the hook,” Mrs. Rowe mumbled.

 

“I guess nobody around here has read the statistics about those who are wrongly convicted,” Madelyn retorted. “Just because someone is accused of breaking the law doesn’t make them guilty.”

 

Mr. Rowe leaned back in his chair and sighed. “You’re right. I’m jumping to conclusions. This is a big case for you, and I should be more supportive, especially if it means you’ll become a partner.”

 

“Junior partner,” she reminded him.

 

“Either way, it’s a promotion. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about your client, and I can give you a few tips and tricks to help out.”

 

Madelyn felt some of the tension seep out of her shoulders. This was more like it. If she had to endure the retelling of her brother putting a person back together from the inside out, then they could talk about her case for a few minutes. “His name is Lorenzo Marino, and—”

 

“Wait.” Mr. Rowe’s hand cut through the air. “Do you mean the Lorenzo Marino? Like the crime boss?”

 

“Well, yeah, but—”

 

“Oh no.” He shook his head vehemently. “I’m not having anything to do with him, and neither should you. You don’t seriously believe that he’s innocent, do you?”

 

“He told me that he is,” Madelyn insisted, suddenly feeling defensive of her client. “And just because he has a questionable background doesn’t mean he’s guilty. I know that he runs a men’s clothing store, and that doesn’t sound like a crime to me.”

 

“You can’t justify your position based on what he claims to do for a living, Madelyn. His father was bad news, and he’s bad news.”

 

Trevor nodded his agreement. “I’ve operated on several people that his family has attacked,” he said around a mouthful of buttered roll. “Those guys are vicious. I’m talking punctured spleens, collapsed lungs, you name it. They can really beat a body up.”

 

Madelyn scowled at him. “You don’t know what the situation was. Everyone believes they’re innocent, Trevor, and they’re going to tell the cops and the doctors and whoever else will listen the same thing. I’ve been over all the evidence, and I spoke with Enzo extensively this morning. I know the truth.”

 

“Enzo?” Mrs. Rowe questioned. “So you’re not just on a first-name basis but a nickname basis? Sounds a little too personal to me.”

 

“You just don’t get it.” Madelyn rolled her eyes and wished she’d had a flat tire or some other sort of emergency that would have stopped her from having to come to dinner. “Just don’t worry about it. I can handle the case myself. If I couldn’t, they wouldn’t have given it to me.”

 

“That’s probably true,” her father said, pointing his fork at her. “But you have a very important decision to make right now. And it doesn’t have anything to do with promotions. You have to decide just what you’re going to do with this case.”

 

“What do you mean? I’m going to do my job and defend him.” How had she ever come out of a family full of such nuts? They were each brilliant in their own ways. Her father had been a very successful lawyer, and her mother had taught at the local university before she retired. Her brother, the surgeon, obviously couldn’t be too stupid. But all their smarts combined didn’t have the power to overthrow their craziness.

 

Mr. Rowe nodded as he stabbed his next green bean. “You could do that. Or you could botch the case and lose. Marino would go to jail, where he belongs. It might not be for as long as he deserves. From what I understand, men like him have an awful lot of money to throw around. He’ll likely grease the right palm and be back out, but at least you’ll know you’ve earned one strike in the favor of all his victims.”

 

“Dad, are you listening to yourself? Did you just decide if your clients were guilty or innocent instead of leaving that up to the courts? Because the last time I checked, it’s my job as an attorney to represent someone in a court of law and make sure that everything goes as fairly for them as possible. I’m pretty sure botching the trial would be the complete opposite of that.” She didn’t know why she was fighting so hard for him. Madelyn barely knew Enzo, and her dad was probably right about what kind of guy he was. There were probably countless other crimes he had committed, even if he hadn’t murdered George Lewis. It made her wonder if she wanted to win the case because it was what was right for her client and society or if it was because she wanted that damn promotion.

 

“The courts don’t always know what they’re doing, as you so clearly pointed out when you mentioned those who are wrongly convicted. Just do us all a favor and put him behind bars, where he clearly belongs.”

 

“Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure everything is taken care of.” She set into her dinner in earnest, refusing to say any more.

 

The rest of the dinner passed by quietly, with Stephanie putting in a few remarks about the new purse she’d just bought, Mrs. Rowe talking a bit too much about her latest attempt at recreating her grandmother’s coconut cream pie recipe, and Mr. Rowe brooding silently. Madelyn was more than glad to wolf down a slim slice of pie and head out the door.

 

Back at home, she slipped into a pair of cotton shorts and a T-shirt, ready to veg on the couch for half an hour before she went to bed. She rarely afforded herself any free time these days, having gotten used to such a hectic work schedule. But her conversation with her father had worn her out, and she needed to let her mind get numb for a bit. She flipped on a rerun of The Golden Girls and stretched out.

 

Her mind, however, refused to cooperate. She couldn’t stop thinking about Enzo. Was she trying to justify her stance in his case? Was he really innocent, or had she just let those obsidian eyes tell her that he was? It all might have been a little easier if he wasn’t so damn attractive, even though she knew she shouldn’t let that affect her opinion of him.

 

And her father and the way he’d insisted that she throw the case! It was like he had completely forgotten how to practice law! Well, that was fine. He could think what he wanted, but Madelyn was a grown woman. She would prove to the judge, jury, and even her father that Enzo was innocent, and then she would be sitting pretty in a bigger office and earning more money.

 

If she had to take a handsome man out to dinner in order to achieve that, then so be it.