Limiting Liabilities: Book Two - The Martinique Files Read online

  LIMITING LIABILITIES

  The Martinique Files Book Two

  Colette Alaine

  Don’t miss Colette Alaine’s thillers and mysteries available on her Amazon Author Page www.amazon.com/author/colettealaine . Stay in touch with Colette via her website at https://colettealaine.com. Ms. Alaine is active on Instagram and Facebook at ColetteAlaine.

  Legal Lessons 2nd edition The Martinique Files Book One

  Whatever Happened to my Darling Daughter?

  Enlightened Deception

  Nancy Menais: Who Are You?

  Colette Alaine Copyright © 2021

  All rights reserved.

  2nd Edition

  LCCN: 2021915296

  Printed in the United States of America

  Amazon Publishing

  www.amazon.com

  Colette Alaine

  Limiting Liabilities

  Cover Illustration and design: Diane Windsor, Motina Books

  Limiting Liabilities is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For my friends and family, and especially for all of my readers who read “Legal Lessons” and who cannot wait to find out what happens to Billy and Tawny in this second novel in my legal thriller series.

  CHAPTER 1

  T he thinner Rebecca Moore becomes the meaner she gets. The heavyweight partner at the Bartoletti, Simon and Fraid law firm spent two months last summer at a fat farm shedding forty of her three hundred pounds and she has not stopped dropping the weight since she returned. Down another fifty pounds these past eight months, she is driving to somewhat resemble her statuesque, one hundred twenty-five pound second-year associate, Tawny Martinique.

  Environmental law does not usually attract the exquisite beauty that Tawny emanates but her model looks certainly brighten the world of dirty land, water and air issues that her department tackles daily. Headed up by a man as arrogant and shallow as they come, Billy Solomon despises female attorneys involved with his big money international environmental litigation. Rebecca and Tawny can settle the smaller chain of title disagreements but they can only dream of participating in his huge cases.

  Well, Rebecca can only dream because Billy broke his number one rule last year on his biggest case to date by bringing Tawny into the action. Of course, he did not do it by choice. His two loyal and definitely male, associates encountered issues beyond their control, forcing their womanizing boss to demean himself and take Tawny on the ride of her life.

  But it wasn’t only Tawny’s ride. Billy nearly lost his life and owes Tawny for saving it. Initially grateful for her quick action and valuable experience, he even proclaimed his strong feelings for her. As his body healed, his heart forgot his feelings and instead of being the knight she expected, he soon returned to his womanizing ways.

  Despite her broken heart, Tawny shook off the hurt feelings and delved into her work once again, hoping he would still involve her in his next amazing case. Only Billy could bring in the wildest and the messiest environmental cases. His reputation for being the very best began early in his career and he has only added to his prestige as the years pass and the court wins increase. He does not have to love her to work with her. In fact, it is probably best that their short-lived relationship ended. Thank goodness she didn’t sleep with him.

  Now Nick’s new bundle of joy is eight months old and Mark’s back has healed from the surgery. These two associates are handling all of Billy’s work. After Billy’s proclamation of love or whatever it was, he backed off from giving Tawny work so as to not cause issues with the personal relationship between them. Once that relationship ended, Billy continued to leave her out of his circle. Three months ago she demanded he use her and he dropped a project on her desk. Consumed with it, she is neglecting and avoiding Rebecca. And Rebecca is not happy about it.

  When Billy swiped Tawny from under Rebecca’s nose, the hefty partner knew he was going to yet again take the best associates and leave her with another rookie. Rebecca was notorious for letting Billy run all over her. She has been with the firm longer, is older than he is but fell victim to the super achiever within months of his arrival at the firm.

  Unattractive and well overweight for her short form, she could not keep up with the new hot shot. Not even close. For years she has taken a back seat. Then two years ago, Tawny shows up to clerk while in law school. Although not thrilled to have a super model as her associate at first, she soon realizes that Billy would keep his distance in order to maintain his pure hatred of female attorneys. The bonus for Rebecca is that Tawny is smart and capable. Life was looking good for Rebecca until Billy nabbed Tawny for his case last summer.

  Tawny is not content with settling bank cases anymore. No, now that she has had a taste of Billy’s roller coaster life, she wants to be a part of it. When Billy brought the young associate into his case, he shook Rebecca’s world to the core. Now Rebecca wants Tawny back.

  To Rebecca that means Tawny has to respect her. Tawny is not going to respect a disheveled fat manager who eats all day and succumbs to all of Billy’s whims. Rebecca must reinvent herself starting with her weight. The fat farm did wonders with the initial weight loss and as Rebecca was losing Tawny to Billy, her motivation to beat the arrogant department head kicked into high gear.

  Oh, how she misses the food and everyone knows it. Cranky and often hateful Rebecca has become a new woman. If people did not like her before, they sure don’t now.

  “Tawny, what’s going on with the Rapier case?”

  “I settled it. I told you that.”

  “I thought you settled the Tucker case.” Rebecca shuffles her feet under her desk irritably as Tawny stands before her with a stack of neatly organized files in her hands.

  “I did that one too.” Tawny arranges the files on her boss’ desk for easy review.

  “What are you working on then?”

  “Just the Ransom Bank deal and it’s at a standstill.” Tawny runs her fingers down the buttons on her pink blouse. “I really could use more work.”

  “Why don’t you take a few days of vacation then?” Rebecca suggests offhandedly.

  Rebecca does not miss Tawny’s shocked look. “I don’t have much time off and I want to save it for later when I go home to Indiana or take a trip with my friends. I finished Billy’s project. Maybe he has another I could . . .”

  “Leave Billy out of this. You’re my associate, not his.” Rebecca grits her teeth as she cuts Tawny short.

  “Nick and Mark are swamped and could use my help and you don’t have enough to keep me busy,” Tawny protests.

  “I’m giving you off the next two days and it won’t count against your vacation days. Now go and leave me alone.” Rebecca dismisses her with a wave of her hand.

  Tawny exits the office and returns to her own. Now her life really sucks. Her boss is not going to let her work on Billy’s cases and that is probably just fine with him. Maybe it is time to look for a new job. She is with the best environmental firm in Chicago and she did help break the biggest case of Billy’s career. That should give her some credibility in the work force. Maybe she will send out a few resumes and test the waters. Sure, she is only a second year associate but her grades got her this job and Billy’s reputation is well-known. That alone could get her some sympathy.

  Finishing up the few small tasks, she leaves for the day and the week. It is Wednesday and she will not return until Monday. With nothing planned, she can sort through her jo
b woes and figure out what she wants to do.

  “Isn’t it a little late for you to be watching television? You’re usually glued to a pile of papers, not to the T.V,” Jaclyn Carter, Tawny’s tomboy roommate asserts later that night.

  Tawny smiles as she assesses her best friend. No two women could look or act any differently than two women possibly could. Jaclyn is short and somewhat plump. Nothing compared to Rebecca but still a stark contrast from Tawny. Jaclyn is the fun girl while Tawny is the more serious and responsible one. Jaclyn sells beautiful jewels all day long at the prestigious boutique Bergman and Bird as Tawny undertakes cleaning up the world. As different as they are, it is hard to find two friends that are more ideal roommates.

  “I finished everything Billy gave me to do and almost everything Rebecca has me working on so I asked her to let me get more work from him. Instead, she gave me two free days off.” Tawny moves her long legs so Jaclyn can plop down on the sofa.

  “Play time for Tawny. That rarely happens. You’re not going to waste it are you?” Jaclyn knows her friend well.

  “I’m thinking of sending out some resumes.”

  Jaclyn’s eyes pop open wide. “And leave hot Billy Solomon?”

  Tawny hugs her knees. “That was a nothing relationship and he barely says a word to me now. He doesn’t want me on his cases and Rebecca sure isn’t ever going to bring in anything she can’t settle on the phone,” Tawny replies with a hint of anger in her voice. “She’s too scared to go outside her comfort zone.”

  “I know the thing with Billy didn’t work out but I’m not so sure it’s over. He was really into you all last year.” Fluffing her hair with her hands, Jaclyn’s short brown tresses perk up in a moment. “Those kinds of feelings just don’t disappear.”

  “Seriously, Jaclyn, you could make a relationship, a marriage, out of a smile. You’re such a romantic. He’s not even in the office most of the time.” Tawny changes positions in order to get more comfortable. “That case last year was a one-time fluke. It was great but I don’t see it happening again. The most that could happen is his two boys sharing the limelight with him and leaving me with a bunch of crap work to do at the office.”

  “So apply for another job. It might make things more interesting. But this weekend we are going to party, party, party.” Jaclyn jumps back up off the sofa.

  Tawny stretches out once again. “Lead the way, Roomie. I’ll just follow whatever you say.”

  “We are going to have some fun.”

  ~

  Searching for Tawny Thursday late afternoon and then again Friday morning, Billy finally asks his secretary Linda where the young associate is.

  “Rebecca sent her home since she didn’t have enough work to keep her busy.” Rebecca overhears the one statement that Linda said to send Billy over the cliff. Linda has been his right hand girl his entire career and she knows how to push his buttons. Besides, she tells him that Tawny did not want to leave and Linda did not think it fair that she got to leave without taking vacation days. She knows Billy will set it all right.

  Storming into Rebecca’s office, the door almost flies off its hinges as he slams it with so much force the entire north side of the floor shakes. Rebecca practically pees in her pants as the door bangs shut. She has been standing up to the flamboyant senior partner but she has to admit he really did not protest much. He just ignored her. It made her feel good but in reality it was not much of a win.

  But here he is, hot as a hornet, glaring at her with such ferocity she sinks lower in her chair. That hateful Linda, she always has to stab her witches claws into Rebecca’s back. Why couldn’t she just keep quiet? Probably because Tawny complained.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing sending your associate home when I’ve got so much work to do that my guys are practically spending the night here?” Billy shouts so loudly that as much of the office that can hear, will. There was really no reason for him to close the door at all, except to alert every one of the explosion about to occur.

  Rebecca has a hard time finding her voice. Scared out of her mind for the moment, she tries to gather her wits but Billy has come over to her chair and spun her around. He is right in her face. He knows not to get any closer for fear that she will proclaim hostile work environment and cause him additional human resource problems. Besides, she has been eating those healthy snack bars, peanut butter flavored and thank goodness her breath stinks.

  Shirking beneath his penetrating glare, her chin begins to quiver and he immediately stands up and backs away from her but he does not leave. He just stares at her while she tries to pull herself together.

  “I didn’t have enough work for her to do and she’s been so stressed out. I told her to take some time off,” Rebecca meekly stammers her excuse.

  “Maybe you should be the one to take some time off. . . permanently.” He bolts back through the door leaving Rebecca in a horrible frame of mind.

  Shocked by his words, she cries at her desk without even closing her door. When she has the wherewithal to realize her situation she goes to the ladies room to wash off her smeared make-up. Instead of returning to her office, she goes downstairs and buys two large bags of chips and a mammoth sugary cola and sits there and eats.

  Liz Danner has been an associate at Bartoletti, Simon and Fraid for six years and a non-equity partner for almost two. She should make full partner in the corporate department in a year or two. Her work is strong and she is very likable and she has even brought in a few substantial deals. Her stock is going up while Rebecca’s is falling.

  Liz silently walks by Linda’s desk, anticipating that the backstabbing secretary had something to do with the enormous thud of Rebecca’s door being slammed and the screaming from Billy’s mouth. Peeking into Rebecca’s office, she sees her empty chair. Checking the ladies restroom and not finding her there either, Liz knows she is downstairs.

  “Hey, you worked too hard losing all that weight to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’s the reason you ate it all back on.” With Rebecca, Liz is one of the few female partners and she is not going to let Rebecca deal with the insensitive brute alone.

  “Everything I do is wrong. You know it,” Rebecca laments. Liz moves the open bag of chips away from the withering woman in front of her.

  “What I know is that you sent an associate home without making her take vacation days and without asking the department head if you could do it. Rebecca, you let your emotions make your decision and you know it.” Rebecca grabs at the bag of chips but Liz moves it.

  “You were never gonna get by with it,” Liz continues. “He may be having trouble letting her work for him but Billy is the head of the environmental law department and he has to answer for things like this. You’ve made him look bad with the higher ups and we all know that we can’t make Billy Solomon look bad.”

  Eyeing the chips, she watches as Liz moves the bag further away. “I just wasn’t thinking.”

  “You didn’t want him to take her away from you like he did last summer. Instead of doing what you know is right, you made a huge mistake.” Liz does not mince words. “You have to apologize to him.”

  Rebecca looks at Liz, acknowledging this is exactly what she has to do and is the real reason she is eating the junk food. “I can’t talk to him today. He’s too upset.”

  “I agree but you need to go back upstairs and send him an email. Tell him you were out of line and that you just didn’t want to lose your associate again and you made a horrible decision.” Liz runs her fingers down the center of the table. “If you don’t, I think he’ll go after your job.”

  “I know.” Rebecca has little more to say.

  “Rebecca, she can’t help that she’s pretty.” Liz dares to say what is lying beneath the surface.

  She flops back against the chair. “Why does she have to be smart and efficient too? Why couldn’t she be a dumb model or something? Or at least have a lousy personality.”

  Liz laughs in response. “I know it’s
not easy. Not even for the rest of us but she does have to deal with Billy just like the rest of us.”

  “She kissed him.”

  “That was all she did. So he can be beaten. It just takes time,” Liz reminds her partner.

  “She takes him on better than I ever have and she did it while she clerked,” Rebecca snorts. “She has more strength than any woman I know.”

  “I know this sounds funny but maybe it’s because Tawny has to be that way. I mean as annoying as this sounds, maybe she has to push people away because they only want to know her because of her looks. You know that could be hard.”

  “I’ll take that problem any day, Liz. Any day.”

  “Well, maybe I would too.” Liz pats her friend’s hand. “C’mon Rebecca, let’s go upstairs. I’ll help you with that email.”

  The two women leave the table with Liz gathering Rebecca’s food and tossing it into the trash.

  ~

  Friday night, Jaclyn does not disappoint and Tawny is in an unusually carefree mood after sending six resumes to the largest Chicago firms with strong environmental law departments. If Rebecca and Billy are not going to use her skills, she’ll find a firm that will. She is so tired of the politics, the innuendos and the immaturity of the two partners.

  Jaclyn calls every guy she and Tawny know to join them for dinner, drinks and dancing. The usual crowd from Tawny’s law school days meets them at the Mexican restaurant. Seated outside eating chips and salsa Dave, Jim and Steve order Mexican beer while the ladies sip on margaritas. Blake, a friend of Dave and Steve’s, shows up after the first round. In a surprise move, two guys Jaclyn and Tawny met over a year ago at a bar also make an appearance. Jay and Eric introduce themselves and grab a seat.

  “Thanks for calling, Jaclyn.” Eric said he kind of liked Jaclyn when he met her but never pursued it.