Page 1 of Rescued Love

CHAPTER 1

NATHAN

As I run my hand over the back of my head, I’m tempted to rip the tie from around my neck. It’s been one of those fucking days from the moment I opened my eyes this morning. If I wanted to be honest with myself, which I’m not inclined to do, it’s been one of those fucking weeks, months, years.

It’s like everything is spiraling out of control and I’m left without an anchor. I don’t know what grounds me to this life other than this is what I’ve been working towards for so long. I don’t know who I would be if I weren’t a lawyer and working for one of the top criminal defense firms in the city.

This isn’t the type of law I wanted to practice, but I put my all into it when I got my internship here, just like I’ve done with everything else in my life. Once my internship was over, I had proven myself and I’ve been working up the ranks within the firm ever since. The only problem is I can feel the way it drains my soul.

I’m just not sure how to be any different now. It’s not possible to go back in time and pick another path. I’m not sure if I can find a different one now. What would my life look like if I did?

My boss and mentor, Mr. Nigel Marsh, pops his head around my door and my head snaps up, not like I was really lookingat the computer screen in front of me. I’ve been staring off and thinking of something else, anything else, for who fucking knows how long now. I should be focusing so I’m ready to go to court in a few weeks.

But this case has been a shit show from the moment it landed on my desk. There have been times when I’ve defended people who I didn’t know if they really were a criminal or not, and I didn’t care. This time is very different.

I know my client is guilty. I know it like I know the sun rises in the east, sets in the west, and that I’ve been working far too long to become a partner in the firm to give up now. Even though everything in me is screaming to walk away from this case.

Bias isn’t easy to overcome most of the time, but I’ve been able to put it aside for people who were accused of far more heinous and violent crimes than Jediah Culbert is facing. But I can’t seem to focus on the law and put my personal feelings aside.

Every interview I do makes this case more difficult to ignore. And there have been a fuck ton of interviews because Culbert pulled the wool over the eyes of a lot of fucking people and, in the process, stole millions of dollars from them. He sold them all a pie in the sky idea which was never more than a theory in his mind. He’s a fucking grifter and the people who he took advantage of don’t have anything left.

Does that bother Culbert? Nope. Every time he sits across from me in the conference room where we’re going over his case and starting to prep him for trial, he has a smarmy as fuck smile on his face. He doesn’t think the law will touch him.

The worst part is that he might be right.

If it were just me working this case, I would probably lose—which is not something I take lightly considering my win rate is one of the highest in the firm. Losing would be on me because I can’t seem to put everything into defending my jackass of a client.

But it’s not just me working the case. I have co-counsel because our illustrious client insisted that they wanted more than one person working to get him off scot-fucking-free. I’m sure it has more to do with looking rich and connected than anything else.

It’s for the best considering that Marcus is just as pretentious and entitled as our client. It hasn’t gone without notice by him that I’m barely skating by with this case. Now my biggest rival, one I’ve had since the first day of law school, has me by the balls. The way his lips twist up into an ‘I see you’ sneer everyday makes my heart race.

All it’ll take is one well-timed slip to the partners and I’ll be watching everything I’ve been working towards for almost eight years go down the drain. Talk about shit out of luck because there wouldn’t be a damn thing I could do to change it.

Marcus has been gunning to become a partner with the same ferocity I have. I thought he had the same love for justice and the law I do, but since working on this case with him I’ve seen a different side of him. He seems to have zero fucking issue with how our client has all but admitted to being guilty. Hell, Culbert might as well put a neon sign over his head declaring it.

Marcus Mann is not at all phased by it. He’s been like a pig wallowing in the damn mud, more than happy to do our client’s bidding as long as the dangling carrot of partner is hanging in front of him.

Me? I’m not finding the carrot as enticing as I once was.

That doesn’t mean I’m ready to roll over and stop fighting for the position though. Hell no, not only do I not want to give Marcus the satisfaction, but then I would have to look at my life over the last eight years with new eyes and come to a few stark realizations.

There is no fucking way I’m ready to do that.

Nigel heaves a weary sigh as he sits in one of the chairs on the other side of my desk. The way he’s watching me has me on edge, as if I weren’t already. Fuck, I can almost hear the man’s thoughts just a clear as I can read the disappointment on his face.

I should keep quiet and not give anything away. If I assume he’s here because of the Culbert case and he’s not, then I certainly don’t want to bring my disquiet to his attention. It’s not like he doesn’t stop in and see me at least once a week.

Out of all the partners, he’s the one who took me under his wing. Over the years that has meant different things. When I first started, even though I wanted to pretend like I had everything under control, he was there to make sure I wasn’t overworking myself and had our clients in mind at all times. As I learned and grew, he became more of a friend than my boss.

Still, I’ve never allowed myself to forget the very defined line in the sand between us.

He’s where I want to be.

I do want to be a partner? Right?

I shake off the thought that I’ve been working toward the wrong goal and focus on the man in front of me. The way he’s staring at me makes me want to squirm, but I force my body toremain still. When the silence has stretched between us a little too long and it feels like my skin is too tight, I glance toward my computer.

Surprisingly, my voice is neutral when I prompt him, “What can I help you with, Nigel?”

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