Her worst enemy is the one man she can't resist.
Maria Martinez thought it was a dream come true when Ritchie Perez - a sweet and sexy guy she met volunteering at a soup kitchen - took her delinquent little brother Joey under his wing. But her drea...
Ritchie Perez closed the lid on his laptop, leaned back in his expensive leather chair, and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, taking in the panoramic nighttime view of the Miami skyline. It didn't matter how many million-dollar verdicts he and his two partners brought in. Ritchie never forgot where he came from. And the years of hard work and sacrifice it had taken to get here. He'd come a long way from the salary he'd made as an Assistant State Attorney, prosecuting gang members and drug pushers. His life now was a world away from his memories of growing up in one of Miami's poorest and toughest neighborhoods.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You want to grab a beer?" His partner Jonathon – the Berrington of Flanagan, Berrington &Perez – stuck his head in the doorway. Jonathon, unlike Ritchie, had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He came from a long line of blue-blood New England lawyers who didn't exactly approve of his departure from the tradition of practicing corporate and tax law. Not that Jonathon was looking for their approval. It always amazed Ritchie that Jonathon, who'd had every privilege, was the cynical one, while, he, Ritchie, was the object of his partners' good-natured jabs about his reluctance to let any good cause go unchampioned. It was the main reason he'd left the State Attorney's office and joined his two partners launching their firm six years ago.
As a prosecutor, he'd seen so many victims, and although he'd brought justice to the criminals who hurt them, he'd wanted to do more. In their personal injury law firm, he and his partners only represented the victims of serious injuries that were the result of the grossly negligent or reckless acts of others. They had built a reputation for taking on corporations whose dishonest practices resulted in serious injury or even death to consumers. And they'd qualified for membership in the million-dollar verdict club many times over.
He realized Jonathon was still waiting for a response.
"Sorry," Ritchie said, glancing at his watch. "I'm already late for St. Theresa's." His parish sponsored a Wednesday night soup kitchen that fed the homeless and, unless there were pressing matters at the office, Ritchie tried to be there in person working the food line.
"I still don't know why sending the check isn't enough," Jonathon grumbled. He dropped a heavy file on the corner of his partner's desk.
"Tough day in court?" Ritchie grinned. Anything less than an unqualified victory left Jonathon in a bad mood. So even though they'd been certain the judge would grant the opposing attorney's motion to continue, he knew Jonathon was steamed at what amounted to just one more delay getting a major case to trial.
"You don't want to hear about it," Jonathon said, scowling. "Especially since the way my schedule's looking now this case is probably going to screw up our fishing trip in Bimini Christmas week."
Ritchie shrugged. "Maybe the case will settle by then."
"Yeah, maybe. Sure you won't skip the food service at St. Theresa's tonight and go wind down with me? I'm buying."
