Page 2 of The Allure of Ruins

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Daisy began, leaning forward, lowering her voice. “I have news.”

We all leaned closer as well. It probably looked really funny from across the room.

“Drummond Burgess is starting at the firm.”

“No,” Koji groaned. “He finished law school?”

I had no idea Mr. Burgess had a son or nephew. But then again, the extent of our interaction was my going to the firm’s holiday party at his home. The rest of the time I stayed in the basement, where it was safe and nothing surprised me.

Daisy nodded. “Last fall. Harvard. Melinda accidentally looked at his transcripts when she printed them for Ruby—I guess he’s attached to litigation—and he barely graduated.”

“Litigation?” Natalie and Koji said at the same time.

“Yes,” Daisy said dryly. “Since litigation is the place to be a star.”

She was right; it was. The litigation team was in court every single day. It was rare, beyond child custody cases, that family law ever was, and the same was true for corporate that handled tax law for businesses as well as property disputes and purchases. Litigation was where you wanted to be.

“No,” Natalie grumbled, glancing at Koji. “This is going to suck.”

“Yeah, ya think? Named partner’s kid in our sandbox? What the fuck?”

That cleared it up for me. Son. “Wait? Drummond?” I asked. All eyes on me. “Does that shorten to Drum?”

“Who cares?” Natalie sounded annoyed. “None of us will be stupid enough to make friends with the little narc.”

“That’s mean,” I made sure she knew.

“And,” Daisy continued, raising her voice for a moment to get everyone’s attention, “they’re giving him his own office with a dedicated assistant. He won’t have to share Melinda or whoever the new Melinda will be.”

“What?” Koji gasped, sounding both horrified and surprised.

“Four of us share her now.” Natalie’s voice was much higher, and louder, than I was guessing she wanted. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”

“Maybe they’ll hire some new receptionists and move Dan or Theresa to litigation,” Koji offered. “That would make sense.”

I didn’t think either of the receptionists would accept that proposal if presented to them.

At the moment, our two receptionists sat in the lobby and greeted everyone who came through the doors.

They answered phones, directed new clients to the relevant department, and walked returning clients to their assigned attorneys.

They did not have to deal with any office politics, no one asked them to run and get coffee, and they got profit sharing, as they were the face of the firm. Why would they want to do more work?

I shook my head at Koji.

“You don’t think so?”

“It’s safe at the front,” I assured him. “And besides, it would take longer to train Dan and Theresa than it would to simply hire people who are ready to hit the ground running.”

“Yes,” Daisy assented. “I just wish Jonah wasn’t in charge of hiring.”

“Why?” I asked, batting my lashes at her.

She flipped me off.

“What even is with Jonah and his shitty string of people who quit in the first week?” Libby asked her.

“We all know he’s looking for the second missus Dumont,” Daisy replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Ew,” Natalie muttered.

“Dipping your line in the company pond is not permitted,” Koji promised Daisy.

“It is as long as they don’t report directly to him.”

Jonah Dumont was one of the senior equity partners, and he worked in corporate law and oversaw hiring—the latter for reasons unknown to me.

It might have been that David Burgess had given him that duty when he and Henry Mayhew named Ms. Mata the head of litigation over him.

I had no clue, but as he really sucked at hiring—not as badly as the man who brought on a murderer, but it ran a close second—I was thinking it had to be something like that.

Dumont had always struck me as a slacker, though perhaps I was wrong.

It was his time away from the firm that made me and many others think like that.

He was always running out for a business meeting or a lunch with someone.

His assistant, Tobias Sinclair, had to continually rework his boss’s schedule, suddenly clearing it, making calls, to the point where I’d taken to grabbing him lunch from wherever I was going and dropping it off.

In the beginning he thought I was trying to get his job, and then he revised that to me sucking up so I could change departments.

Over time, though, he’d learned that no one with half a brain had designs on his position and that I was simply trying to be nice.

Now I considered him a friend, and we did things outside of work as well, same as I did with Natalie and Koji.

“You know who would be good working for Dumont?” Koji began, smiling at me.

“No,” I said flatly.

“You would totally get him in line,” Natalie insisted, “and that’s what he needs. My personal opinion is that since his divorce, he’s floundering.”

“Are you all forgetting about Toby?”

Daisy coughed then, and we all turned to her. “There might be an opening.”

“No,” Natalie said breathlessly, making the connection first.

“Oh yes,” Daisy affirmed.

I felt so bad for Toby, though maybe working for Drummond Burgess would be a good thing. He would definitely get great visibility working for the boss’s kid, plus he might be able to leave for lunch once in a blue moon.

“I forgot to tell you the best part,” Daisy began, smiling evilly. “They’re putting Drummond’s office on the third floor with me and the other thirds and fourths, not on the second with you all.”

After a moment, Koji nearly yelled, “ What? ”

I was worried his brain was going to explode, but I understood.

The associates got promoted and actually moved up—literally—in our historic building downtown in the Loop on LaSalle.

There were five stories and the basement.

The latter held pro bono, investigation, IT, and human resources.

The first floor was reception, the firm’s library, and the paralegals—so they’d be close to all the paper files.

Second floor was for first- and second-year associates, third floor was for third- and fourth-year associates, fourth floor held the partners’ offices, and the fifth floor was solely for Mr. Mayhew, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Somerset, and their assistants.

I liked the building far better than the high-rises we often had to visit.

I loved that the floors creaked and that the building itself was built before the Second World War.

The moldings were all original wood, and there was marble wainscoting starting on the first floor.

Even the basement was beautiful, and the elevator was one of those ancient ones you had to pull the gate open and closed.

And though it went to the basement, we always took the stairs. Colton didn’t trust it at all.

“Oh look, there’s Jonah,” Libby pointed out. “Since Tobias is going to work for Burgess junior, now’s your chance to chat him up.”

“I would rather have a root canal,” I told her.

“You wouldn’t have to stay long,” Libby promised me. “I’ll have Brize snap you up in three months tops.”

“She’s right,” Natalie conceded. “You’re never going to move up working for Gates, but you will with Brize. People would actually see you. Jonah is an excellent stepping stone.”

“I don’t know why you haven’t moved already,” Koji said. “I mean, we all know you’re loyal, and you came with Gates to the firm, but it’s time to go.”

“Though, if he does transfer to a new department, he’ll definitely miss the view,” Daisy said with an eyebrow waggle.

“That’s true,” Natalie said. “Gates is gorgeous in a rumpled, just-rolled-out-of-somebody’s-bed way, and I too would enjoy looking at his shoulders and those biceps and?—”

“Oh, same,” Daisy mused, sounding more than a bit smitten. “He’s got that whole cowboy vibe going for him.”

I scowled at her.

“What? He does. And those jeans he wears to the office on Friday are?—”

“Sinful,” Libby whispered. “That man looks like trouble, but he’s gorgeous.”

We all looked at her.

“What? I’m fifty-two, not dead.”

“Please stop,” I begged them all. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

“It’s those eyes of his too,” Natalie gushed. “What do you call that color, amber?”

“They’re gold with pretty sepia chips in them.” Daisy sighed deeply.

“Oh, I’m gonna be sick,” I muttered.

“When I first saw them, I couldn’t even speak,” Natalie confessed. “Honestly, how often do you see gold eyes?”

“They’re so pretty,” Daisy asserted. “And that dirty-blond mane of his, and back to the jeans…the man’s thighs are?—”

“I think I puked in my mouth a little,” I let them know.

“All the men at this firm besides Villa?—”

“Now that is a beautiful man,” I murmured.

The firm’s lead investigator’s department was next to ours, and he always stopped on his way to his office to say good morning.

He had two others working for him, and they were always busy, but regardless if he was on his phone, he’d make an effort to greet me.

I loved that about him. I also very much enjoyed watching him walk away.

The only thing better was listening to that mellifluous voice of his converse in Italian or Mandarin or French. It was very sexy.

Natalie chuckled. “The line of people lusting after Raúl Villa forms behind me,” she stated. “First day I came to the firm, I thought, who’s the gorgeous man in the cargo pants?”

“What makes Raúl sexy is that illegal voice of his and his kindness. He really cares about people,” Libby gushed.

Natalie nodded.

“All of you are deluded,” Koji apprised us. “That man can’t even remember the names of all the women he’s slept with. I love it when someone shows up and he’s diving behind desks or other office furniture because he told whoever that he went to work in Paris for the year.”

Daisy snorted, which made the rest of us laugh.