Chapter One
“To Jackie Banks! The fastest rising star of Pierce, Montgomery, and Thorn!”
Everyone in the room raised their glasses of champagne and took a drink before breaking into a thunderous applause and praises of “Way to go!” and “I knew you could do it!”
"Thanks, everybody!" I said taking a sip off my own champagne. I actually hated champagne; I was much more of a wine kind of gal, but when in Rome…
I could not stop the smile that was spreading across my face as groups of people—partners, associates, legal aides and secretaries, and even file clerks.
I thought eventually I would start to get used to all of the attention and the accolades, but I was till embarrassed to death when everyone made such a big hoopla over the newest case I had just won for the firm.
I’d been with Pierce, Montgomery, and Thorn for five years and I’d dug my way from the bottom where all new Associates start winning case after case, working ninety hour weeks sometimes and rising through the ranks until I finally started to land some top clients. And finally a few weeks before, I had been asked to work the Simmons case, which meant a huge payday for the firm if I won.
I had not slept more than three hours a night for the past two weeks, but it all paid off and now our client was going to get millions in the insurance settlement they deserved and our firm was going to get a huge chunk of that money as well.
And there was talk floating around that I, Jackie Banks, was on my way to a nice slot as a partner of this firm. I could not have been more elated. Of course, that was just heresy at the moment and nothing had been spoken to me about it at all, but I was keeping my fingers crossed. I figured it was highly probable that I might have to knock a few more out of the park before I was officially offered a spot as a partner, but a girl could certainly dream. It felt like I was dreaming for so long that finally, my dreams were about to come true.
Ever since I applied to law school on a whim and got in I’d been focused on rising to the top of a lucrative legal career. It had become an all-out obsession for me.
I'd studied political science and psychology as an undergrad and received Bachelor's degrees in both. I thought I would go on to get a Master's or a Ph.D. in Psychology. I wanted to be a grief counselor and help people, but I'd always been fascinated in government and the law. And the more I got into my political science studies, the more interested I became. So, at the urging of my mother and one of my favorite professors I took the LSAT’s and applied to law school.
The rest, as they say, was history. But even still with all of my dedication and hard work I could not believe that I might actually become a partner of one of the best personal injury law firms in town. It was a dream come true. The work was great, the money was getting there, and I was helping people who needed it.
Of course, my romantic life had been suffering a bit.
I have always been a strong, fiercely independent black woman. My mother instilled in me a strong sense of who I was and that I could be and do anything I ever wanted to do in this world, and she made sure I knew it at a young age. My mother never put up with crap from anyone and neither have I, especially when it came to men. That went for men I was interested in and men I wasn’t.
Being such a strong willed, ambitious woman inadvertently scares off a lot of men, but I see it as a good thing because if a man isn’t man enough to let me be myself then he isn’t man enough to waste my time on.
There were a few men around the office I’d kept my eye on as potential romantic interests, but no one special. Besides with all the work I was putting in romance was the last thing really on my mind.
If it was meant to be then it would happen.
I grabbed one of the mini quiches that were sitting on the buffet table. They were the most exquisite things I'd ever put in my mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a few female associates sneering at me. I had to smile to myself.
When you were a successful, up and coming black woman who also happened to be a BBW then you were bound to get some jeers and dirty looks. It was just par for the course and I reveled in it. It just meant that I was doing well in life. I knew those women were thinking that if I didn’t put good food in my mouth then I would lose weight and be anorexic like them. Well, that isn’t how I roll. Life is too short to waste on doing something you don’t enjoy. I work hard and I play twice as hard. And I thoroughly believe in indulging in all of the pleasures that life can offer.
I’ve dealt with that sort of thing my whole life about my size, but I’ve never been ashamed. Despite what most people think I work out regularly, I eat fairly healthy overall, and I don’t sit on the couch eating donuts all day. But I don’t deprive myself and I don’t worry about being a size six.
"Way to go, girl!" Stephanie Powers, a paralegal in the firm, and fast becoming one of my best friends. Stephanie was a character; she was smart as a whip, had great instincts, and she had amazing people skills and the best sense of humor. She would have been a great lawyer but every time I tried to give her the nudge to go for it, she just rolled her eyes and said it wasn't for her. I was not going to stop trying. I mean ultimately it was everyone's decision to do what made them happy, but I had a feeling Stephanie was denying the world her special skills by refusing to further her education.
“Thanks!” I replied freezing still as she insisted on hugging me. Yea, Stephanie was a bit of a hugger.
Stephanie was thirty-eight years old, divorced with no kids. She had been married really young to a guy who was a total loser who refused to get a job, spent every dime she made and cheated on her. She said it was the best day of her life when she wised up enough one day to leave the bastard. He reminded me of a lot of our dirtbag opponents in court who ruined people's lives due to negligence and then refused to even pay financial compensation for the life they ruined.
"You are going to be my boss in no time," Stephanie said. "And when that happens I expect to get two-hour lunches every day and a half day only every other Friday."
“Right, you aren’t going to take advantage of my good nature or anything are you?” I joked.
“Of course not, that’s why I didn’t ask for every Friday half days.”
I almost shot champagne out of my nose.
“For some reason, I feel like I should have a date at these things,” Stephanie said. “It just feels like that kind of party!”
I found myself suddenly thinking about Tony Davis. Tony was the opposing attorney whom I had just beaten in court. The man was ruthless in the courtroom and he had a near perfect record. Most people would have been intimidated, but I was not. I kept focusing on the fact that I was not beating him, I was beating the case. I could not let anything personal enter into it. Although I wanted to.
The man was damn sexy. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and he had a dominant way of moving and speaking as well. Day after day I was able to watch him do his thing in that courtroom, the way he spoke to the judge, the sympathy that he used when referring to his clients who were clearly in the wrong. I almost wanted to believe him and tell him that he won.
After the verdict was rendered and I was packing up my stuff to come back to the office, Tony stopped me unexpectedly. I thought he was going to say something derogatory about how I got lucky. It would not have been the first or even the tenth time that sort of thing had happened. So many lawyers were so competitive. It was in our nature. I was the same way. It was our sport if you will.
“Great job,” Tony said extending his hand.
I took it and enjoyed the shake. “Thank you,” I replied. “You did excellent in here.”
“Thanks, but clearly you were the better attorney today,” Tony said.
“You can’t win them all, I guess.”
“Well, after you whipped my tail the least you could do is let me buy you a beer tonight,” Tony said. I smiled. I would have loved to go out for a few beers with him, but I knew there would be a celebration underway for after office hours to praise this victory. I would have blown that off in a second if it meant spending some time with this man. But I also had to play a bit hard to get. The game was way too fun to lose the first move so quickly.
"I'm flattered but I have other plans," I said. I expected Tony to at least look disappointed. Instead, he flashed a charming smile at me and just said, "Ok."
With that he was gone, walking out of the courtroom. I watched his sensuous form moving away from me and I wondered for a second if I should have just said yes. No, he knew where he could find me if he wanted to try again.
I hoped he did try again.
And just a few hours later I was already having a few drinks and trying to forget how sleep deprived I was.
It was fun looking around the office and seeing everyone having so much fun. The firm was a great tight knit place. I had been so lucky to have been hand selected to be one of the associates chosen right out of college five years before. Usually, they expected you to work somewhere else for a few years first but due to my scholastic achievements (I've always been proud to be a total nerd) and a few recommendations by some great professors who went to school with a few of the partners I was chosen.
The partners could not have been nicer people to work for. They worked hard to run a successful business but they cared about people too; they were not just in this for the money and it showed.
Walter Pierce was the man who started the firm almost forty years ago and had turned it into one of the top personal injury firms around. He almost felt like a sweet grandfather, but as nice as he was, he expected everyone to work hard and he did not tolerate slacking, but he understood if life occasionally happened too. But he was not someone you could snowball.
Joe Montgomery was the next partner. I didn’t know a great deal about him because he did not talk that much really, but from what I heard he was remarkable in the courtroom and you did not want to get into a battle of wits or litigation with him because he would shred you to pieces. I was glad he was a sweetheart otherwise.
And then there was Josh Thorn. Josh was the newest partner. He was thirty-three, brash, handsome, charming, sexy in a bad boy young George Clooney kind of way, and he was the most disgusting man I’ve ever met. He was the cockiest, most arrogant, and some would say downright evil, guy that anyone would ever come across.
There had been a lot of talk around the office about his behavior, especially towards women, and the fact that he was even partner was accomplished in a pretty shady manner. But of course, he was too good at hiding things to be caught. And the fact that he happened to be Joe Montgomery's nephew kind of helped him get away with a lot of it.
I had personally spoken to several of the young female associates in recent years who were basically sexually blackmailed by Josh. From what I’d been able to piece together that his M.O. was to seduce a new, young, female associate, and then he would threaten to tarnish her reputation if she did not basically become his errand girl.
The man was the most incompetent lawyer the firm had probably ever produced, but he intimidated bright associates into making him look good over the years. And if they ever told what he was up to, he would use his power to get them fired and ruin their careers so that no other firm ever would touch them.
The man was a total cretin.
Luckily, I've always been a fairly good judge of character and I could smell the sleaze on him a mile away. He had tried to hit on me when I first started with the firm and I flat out told him, that he was wasting his time. He had given up for the most part, but something told me that he was still chomping at the bits to get ahold of me. I was leery of him, to say the least.
So, when he tried to chat me up at the party I had my guard up. I tried to be civil and not blatantly rude to the man in front of all the other partners and associates, but he made it so difficult. He made my skin crawl. You could just smell the sleaze on him.
“Well, well, well…” Josh purred. “You really went for it this time, Jackie.”
“I was just doing my job,” I said. I started to walk away but Josh stepped in front of me.
"So, you really think you have what it takes to be a partner?" Josh asked with that evil grin that was practically plastered nonstop on his face.
“I would like to think so, but that is not up to me to decide. It’s up to the partners.”
“Yea, you are right about that,” Josh said. “It’s actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Really?” I asked. What was he up to?
“Well, I know I am the newest partner, but my input is required for that call just as well as the others,” Josh said.
“Ok…” I said.
“Basically, I hate to say it this way, but you have treated me kind of disrespectfully since you have been here. I’m a very nice guy and I don’t take rejection well,” Josh said.
“It’s part of being a lawyer. Sometimes things just don’t go your way, Josh.”
Josh chuckled softly to himself. He glanced around to make sure no one else was close enough to hear us.
“Listen to me. You are young and new to all this,” Josh said. “I practically grew up in this world. It’s all about business and networking. That is the way to get to the top. It’s not just about great job performance. You have to learn how to play the game. I don’t like it either, but I learned early on that everything is about politics.”
“Well, I still have hope that not everything is about who you know and who you can charm,” I said. I tried to step around him. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Josh stepped in front of me again, casually making it look like nothing to avoid drawing attention. Everyone was getting a bit tipsy at that point and making loud, obnoxious jokes all around us. No one was noticing what was going on with me and Josh at all. I was starting to feel just a bit intimidated. The anger and distaste I had for Josh were giving way to fear and apprehension. Something about this man really scared me, and I don't scare easily.
“That is exactly what I’m talking about,” Josh said. His voice was starting to get a bit stern but he was still smiling. “Showing outright disrespect to your superior like that when I’m just trying to help you is not the way to do things. That is the sort of thing that can ruin any chance you have of advancement in this firm.”
I tried to hide the fact that I was gritting my teeth. I spoke slowly to belie the anger I was feeling. “Ok, Josh. What is it that you want from me?” As if I didn’t already know.
Josh smiled widely as if he had just won some sort of victory.
“I think it would be best discussed over dinner at my place with an expensive bottle of wine Friday night,” Josh said.
“I’m not interested in having dinner with you, Josh. I think I’ve made that clear in the past,” I said.
“I just find it hard to believe that an intelligent, beautiful, driven lady like yourself is turning down an offer of fine dining and an evening of intelligent dinner conversation.” Josh was really laying it on thick and toying with me now.
“I’m not interested in playing any of your games,” I said. “I am well aware of your reputation. I’m not interested in pursuing anything on a personal level with you. Do I make myself clear?”
Josh’s demeanor suddenly changed. The anger flashed in his eyes and for a second I thought he was going to scream at me right then and there, possibly popping a blood vessel in his forehead. But he took a moment and quelled his anger to a more manageable level. He stepped closer to me and when he spoke his voice was low and cold.
“You don’t say no to me, you understand? I’ve had enough of your shit. I let you get away with it before because I figured you were just stubborn and would come around eventually, but I’m out of patience. This is going to happen, or you can kiss that promotion goodbye. Hell, don’t even worry about the promotion. If you don’t come to my house tomorrow night for what I promise will be an enchanting evening if you let it, then I will destroy your career. You will be lucky to get a job as a court reporter when I’m done with you. Now, do I make myself clear?”
I stared deeply into Josh’s eyes. He was deranged. I had never met anyone whose ego was so inflated that they really thought they could do and have anything that they wanted. He was about to find out that he had picked the wrong woman to push around.
"You can intimidate all you want, but I would rather be dead than to spend an evening with you. You don't scare me, Josh. I've seen guys like you before. You are pathetic and if you ever threaten me again you will be sorry. I know about the others that you have tried to blackmail. I know that they have been doing work for you and running errands and some of them you've even been able to intimidate into what I can only describe as sexual slavery. But I am not them and I will make you pay if you ever try this again. Do you understand me?"
I don’t believe I have ever been that angry before. I was literally shaking as I said every word. It was taking all of my strength and poise to keep my voice down and to keep from slapping the taste out of that pig’s mouth. Josh’s eyes turned to daggers and I really thought he was going to hit me. I could see those gears turning in his mind. He was outraged and humiliated and for someone who cannot handle any form of rejection I was impressed that he didn’t strike out at me right then.
“You will be sorry,” Josh growled. “You will be so damn sorry.”
With that, he walked out of the room. I took several deep breaths as I finished my drink and tried to steady my nerves.
“Are you ok?” Stephanie asked walking over to the drinks table where I was now standing. I wondered how much of the encounter she had witnessed, but I doubted that she could have heard what just happened. I decided to not talk about it right then. I was too mad and it just wasn’t the place.
And to tell the truth, I was a bit worried. I had no idea what I had just done. I knew that Josh was a total scumbag but I wasn't sure yet how idle his threats really were or how much trouble he could really cause for me. I was fairly certain that if he decided to cost me the recommendation for a partner than he could definitely do that, but if that was the case then so be it. My track record would speak for itself and I could always move to another firm, but I would never bend to his will and I wasn’t even sure if I made partner that I could stand to work beside the jerk.
"I'm fine," I said. I think my tone gave away how mad I was and how I did not want to be pressed for any more questions.
I tried to relax and enjoy the rest of the party, but that encounter with Josh stayed on my mind all night. The only thing that helped at all was when I got home to my darling bundle of joy, Devon.
Devon was almost a year old and not a day went by that I did not see him growing and changing, developing and becoming more beautiful. He was looking more and more like his father, Frank.
I met Frank about a year and a half before when I was hanging with some of my friends at Buffalo Wild Wings. Out of the blue he came up and introduced himself, but he wasn’t pushy or acting even like he had an agenda. That was the first thing I noticed, so I decided to play along. We just chatted and hit it off right away. Instead of asking for my number at the end he just asked if I had an email address. I thought that was different and interesting. So we exchanged emails and started to just email and chat about different things. I looked forward to his daily correspondence every morning. It was the highlight of the day at times and it became an essential part of my morning routine. It wasn’t long after that we went started going out and the chemistry was pretty magical.
Seven months later we were engaged to be married and a few weeks after that I found out I was pregnant. It was an unexpected, but beautiful surprise.
We were so in love, we were getting married in a few months, we had Devon on his way, my career was going fantastic, and Frank had just been hired by one of the top architectural firms in the city. Everything was going perfectly.
Until the night it all came crashing down. Frank was on his way home from work when a drunk driver ran a red light and smashed into the driver’s side of Frank’s car. They said he died practically on impact.
My entire world was shattered. I didn’t want to get out of bed or leave my apartment at all, but sitting around and thinking about things has never been my style.
I grieved in the best way I could; I threw myself into work, working twelve to fourteen hours a day most days. It actually boosted my career, but at what a cost. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of Frank and how much he loved me and our baby. He wanted to be a father more than anything in the world.
Sometimes I felt that he was still there with me when I looked at Devon. I knew that Frank was watching him too, guiding him, helping him and helping me when I felt like breaking down.
I relieved my babysitter Julia, paid her cash and waited till she left before getting out of my work suit. It was time for some chill time; I felt I had earned it.
Five minutes later I was in my pajamas, watching some Netflix and eating ice cream. But even with all those wonderful distractions, I could not get Josh Thorn off my mind. The man was a shark and I was afraid I had just signed up to be his next meal.