Legal Attraction: A Romantic Suspense Novel (Legally Suspenseful Romance)

Chapter Two

Astra Monroe laughed with the other new associates, but inside, she was dying to know who the high-profile client was. They were in a medium-sized firm, located in a few states and dots around the world, but every office except this one in Richmond, Virginia, had only a handful of attorneys.

Their starting salary was excellent and diversification encouraged for the first four years. At that point, most attorneys were not able to advance to senior associate. The firm’s thoughts were that if they didn’t see partner potential in you, there was no need to keep you on. They helped you find a position somewhere in-house with one of their clients, and a very few stayed on to become a senior associate. Of those, fewer still actually became a partner.

Astra had looked over the stats of over one hundred firms, and the starting salary at Goldstein and Smithson was hard to beat. And the location was perfect. She’d just always assumed she would make partner.

But then this guy, this maddeningly good-looking first-year associate, had beat her out on the first day.

The human resources woman, Janet, returned with a cart and stacks of files. “Here are the available cases for the rest of you. Each one is attached to a partner who will become your mentor. We like to keep things fair around here. The advances and opportunities are based on your own performance. And in this case, your previous knowledge of our partners can also assist if you have a specialty in mind.” She turned to leave with the words, “Have at it.”

Astra leaped from her seat and made it to the cart while most others were still taking in the implications of the challenge.

She scooped up most of the head partner’s cases and then two from the only woman in IP law, Cass Taylor. With Astra’s physics background, she qualified to be an intellectual property attorney. As far as types of law, it was not very glamorous. But it was highly compensated. And at the end of the day, wasn’t that what she most wanted? Early retirement with a huge savings. She could be glamorous while relaxing at a beach house.

And of course, there were the litigations that made world news. Or even local news. When famous basketball player Alan McCoy got a patent for his specific type of basketball shoe, for example. She stepped aside with her arms full of huge legal files and joined Janet in the hall.

Janet looked over her choices and then raised her eyebrows. “You’ve done your research.”

Astra nodded. “I think I’ll learn a lot working here. And these two are some of the best.”

“Why don’t you start with Mr. Goldstein? He’s in his office right now, but he will be busy for the rest of the day. We’re hosting a high-profile client today.”

High-profile client. At least she’d be able to look at him or her, maybe meet them. She smiled. “Where is his office?”

Janet pointed it out, and Astra was on her way to begin work as an associate for Goldstein and Smithson.

As she walked past Conner Smithson’s office, he was just leaving and laughing with Anders. A Greek name. He did look Greek. Just her luck that her biggest competition was the clichéd version of a Greek god and completely off limits.

But she smiled and paused. “How’s high-profile life?”

Anders glanced at Conner before grinning. “It’s as cool as you’d expect. Have you met Mr. Smithson yet?”

“No I haven’t, officially.” She stepped closer and held out her hand. “I’m—”

“Miss Monroe.” He cradled her hand in his. “Happy to meet you.” He peered at her files. “Do you have any of my cases, by chance?”

She shook her head. “Maybe I should fix that.”

“Absolutely, but I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you. I’ll look forward to working with you.”

“Maybe we can even get you on this high-profile case. You were next in line.” He winked and then indicated that he and Anders would be heading the opposite direction.

“Thank you. I’d like that.” She went her way with lighter steps. She was still in the game, Anders or no Anders.

As soon as she could see Mr. Goldstein, she knew she’d regret taking so many of his cases. The floor-length windows gave full view of walls lined with files, a desk almost toppling over with material, and a man on the phone talking with his hands, agitated and hair standing on end everywhere. He ran his hand through it, and she could see why.

Astra was about to keep on walking in search of the IP partner, but he caught sight of her hesitating at his door and waved her in.

She stood taller and opened the door.

He waved her to a smaller desk at the back of his office, remarkably not covered with files, though she did notice a pile nearby that looked as though they might have been tossed there in a hurry. His voice filled the office.

Determined to learn from this man, she placed his files on top of the desk, with the IP attorney’s files under those. And she started to read.

After most of an hour had passed, she’d familiarized herself with an overview of the material and Mr. Goldstein appeared to be done on the phone.

He sat back in his chair and studied her. “You were top of your class.”

“So were you. I’m looking forward to learning from you.”

He grunted. “That’s an impressive stack. Working with me is not easy. Some would quake at one file. You have four.”

She lifted a shoulder. “I won first pick.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Interested in tax law?”

“And IP.”

“Is that Cass Taylor you have down there?”

“Yes it is.”

“Impressive.”

“I try to be. You’re my number-one firm. I hope to stick around.”

“Ah, well if you survive the first three years, then I hope you stick around too.” He clapped his hands. “Let’s get started.”

She sat up taller.

“I’m going to need a coffee. Get whatever you like also, and then come back here and tell me what you think our next step will be for the Bank of Statten case.”

Her mouth dropped and she sat back in her chair. This was not how things were going to go. She moved to his phone and tapped a button. His secretary answered immediately. “Margaret? Could you bring Mr. Goldstein his favorite coffee, and I’d like a tea with no sugar and a few drops of cream?”

“Right away.”

Mr. Goldstein grunted, an accepting twinkle in his eye.

Then she returned to her desk. “As for the Bank of Statten case . . .”

Mr. Goldstein grunted and nodded an acknowledgment of some kind to her. “Let’s get you going, then.”

They hardly noticed when the caffeine arrived. Astra was deep into an opening she saw to save their client money, and Mr. Goldstein seemed to be intrigued.

“I’ve never considered that angle. What happens when the IRS comes calling and your client is put in jail?” He crossed his arms.

“I thought that if we—”

“You thought wrong. It happens. Take a look at Section 7702 of the Tax Code. It differentiates between income from a genuine insurance product and an investment vehicle.” He waved for her to do so.

She looked it up, frowned, and began taking notes.

“I’ll let you think on that while I drink my coffee. Then in about an hour, I have a meeting. I’ll be gone for the rest of the afternoon.” He gave her a week’s worth of assignments while downing his coffee, and then said, “I’ll need that on my desk by the end of today.”

She nodded and asked herself if five a.m. the next morning counted as the end of the day. Her mouth maintained its smiling, cheerful response until he left, and then she dove back into the files.

Halfway through her workload, her phone and computer erupted with notifications.

Tempted to ignore them, she kept working until her phone rang.

Cass Taylor was calling. She scrolled through her texts. Apparently Cass Taylor was the cause of all the notifications.

She answered. “Hello, Astra Monroe.”

“Where are you? I needed you in my office thirty minutes ago. Goldstein is important around here, but if you’re on my cases, I need you here, present in my office every day.”

“Of course. Coming right now.” She left everything where it was on the desk, snagged the two Taylor cases, and hurried down the hall.

As soon as she walked into Cass Taylor’s office, she felt better. The woman behind the desk wasn’t smiling at her by any stretch, but her office was clean, orderly, pleasant. She used her bookshelves to stack the legal files. Her desk was cleared. And the workspace for Astra was also organized. At least she assumed the small table in the corner was for her.

Astra smiled, large and comfortably. “I’m Astra Monroe.”

Cass Taylor’s mouth twitched. “Happy to be out of that sinking-by-files den of Goldstein’s?”

“Yes,” she breathed out. She held up the files. “I brought the two I’m assigned to work on with you.”

“You have a hard-science background. Of all the associates we hired this year, you’re the only one.”

“Am I?”

“I hope you’ll consider specializing with me. We’re never out of work, and we choose our own schedules.”

“That sounds nice.”

“And we have enough litigations to keep the most work-hungry people happy.”

“Excellent.”

“Bet you’re wishing you’d collected a few more of my files and left more of Goldstein’s for the others.”

Astra half nodded, but then shook her head. “No. I mean . . . I don’t know. Everyone can teach me, right?” Wow, she sounded like a confused school girl. She stood taller.

“Which is it?” Cass shook her head. “Lawyers are paid to have opinions. We see potential problems—ways to improve—and we move. What’s your opinion?”

“I wanted to work with you because I respect your work. I knew you’d done excellent work navigating a career with a disproportionate number of men. I’m highly interested in IP law. But Mr. Goldstein is on the advancement committee and the partner selection committee, and also on the disbursements committee. You can’t beat those influences, since I’d also like to remain here at Goldstein and Smithson. He has the staying power to get me my goals.” She rocked back on her heels, hoping that blunt honesty would not offend.

But Cass Taylor stood and circled her desk, holding out her hand. “Call me Cass. And welcome to IP.”

She exhaled as quietly as she could. Some of her tightness left. “Thank you. What should we do first?”

They spent the next hour getting Astra up to speed on the clients she would be working for. It was a mix of everything, small business and large corporations. Her two files actually represented way more work than Astra had planned. But she was happy and found a sweet spot in IP law.

Cass left the office, and Astra dug into the work. Everything flowed. It wasn’t easy, but it felt important and so organized. She hummed while she worked.

Until Anders’s laugh interrupted from the hallway. She glanced up without wanting to. And then wished she hadn’t. Anders, Conner Smithson, and Mr. Goldstein walked together as if taking a break. It was always the same. She worked twice as hard as anyone, and the men invariably cronied up, leaving her out at every turn. Her physics degree, law school, her whole life was more of the same. Why did she have to pick such a male-centric career? She gritted her teeth, gearing up to give the biggest fight of her life.

Anders glanced up right then and grinned. He said something to the others and stepped into Cass’s office. “You coming to lunch?” he asked. Another group of the new first years walked by in a louder mass.

“I hadn’t heard. I’ve been working. A lot.” She brushed the hair from her face.

“Come with us.”

She looked down at the files around her.

“Come. Even Cass is going out. It’s first-year-associate appreciation day or something. I guess they don’t do this very often.”

Astra stood. A chance to be a part of the cronies. That she wouldn’t give up. She knew most of the important work in the firm would really happen at lunch tables and during happy hour, on the golf course. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“Of course. Let’s go. I hear they’re going five stars.” He laughed. “Let’s see what that looks like with these guys,” he said with a wink.

Anders was a decent guy. At least for now.

“Off we go.” She laughed and linked her arm with his.

Then her phone rang. “It’s Cass,” she said, holding it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Astra? Look, I’m sorry to do this to you. I’ll make it up to you. But those files, one of them is highly time sensitive and just got more so. I need you to flag all discrepancies with the new information I just emailed you.”

Astra closed her eyes. “Got it. I understand.” She hung up, and her arms dropped. “Looks like I’ve got to stay.” She shrugged. “Crony it up for me.”