Chapter One
Logan Davenport
The buzzing of my cell phone dancing across the wooden desk interrupts my search and seizure research. I loved being in the courtroom with my brother-in-law Jax a few years ago, so I thought criminal law would be more exciting than patent law. That’s why, when my father retired, I left and decided to come work here at Anderson & Chambers.
Boy, was I wrong.
So far, all I do is sit behind a desk all day with an endless backlog of research waiting for me. I wanted a chance to help people, but all I do here is remain in the background. Besides, all the guys the firm represents are rich, shady, white collar criminals, not innocent men who were wrongly accused like Jax.
A quick glance at my phone’s screen and I see my sister’s name, along with a picture of her and my four-year-old nephew, Xavier.
“Hey, Page,” I answer.
“Logan! Thank god I got you,” she says with a heavy exhale. My back straightens in my desk chair since my sister rarely uses my real name unless it’s important, preferring to use Logie, the childhood nickname she gave me.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“I just talked to Sadie, and she needs a huge legal favor.”
“Okay?” I ask, wondering what Sadie, my sister’s soon to be sister-in-law, might need down in North Carolina where she’s going to school.
“Her best friend, Brayden, is in jail, and Jax won’t let me leave the house since I’m still running a fever.”
“I thought you were feeling better,” I say in concern since my sister is also seven months pregnant with their second kid, a little girl this time.
“Well, yeah, I was, but I went back to the doctor, and they did a chest x-ray. It turns out that my summer cold developed into bronchitis.”
“Damn, that sucks, Page. Anything I can do?” I ask, and then feel stupid since that’s why she called.
“Yeah, can you go bail Brayden out?”
“Ah, sure,” I concede after mentally scanning over my schedule for the next two days to make sure there’s nothing that can’t wait. Sighing, I say, “Just tell me where to go; and once I get my vacation approved, I’ll go home and pack a bag.”
I reach for a pen to jot down the address on a post-it note. I’m ready to write when I notice Page’s continued silence. “Page?” I ask. “Where is she?”
“She’s in jail in Cancun.”
“Cancun! As in Mexico?” I exclaim.
“Brayden and a few friends were down there celebrating summer break.”
“What am I supposed to do in Mexico? I can’t practice law there,” I remind her. “Do they even have attorneys in Mexico? I thought all the cops were crooks who you just had to pay off.”
“I don’t know, but her father is a big-time lawyer with plenty of money, so whatever you have to pay, I’m sure he’ll compensate you…”
“Who’s her father?” I ask curiously, wondering why he isn’t going down to get her himself.
“Walter Chambers,” Page says, and I can practically hear her cringing through the phone line.
“Hold on a second,” I tell her.
Laying my cell phone down on a stack of files, I slam my forehead into my desk a few times before I finally pick it back up.
“You do know Walter Chambers is my boss, right?” I ask even though it’s obvious.
“Yes,” she answers timidly.
“So why isn’t he going down to Mexico to get his own damn daughter?”
“I dunno. Sadie wasn’t sure. He just told her flat out that he doesn’t have time to clean up Brayden’s latest mess. Maybe you could go talk to him?” Page suggests. “Please? I bet there will be major brownie points in this for you!”
“I’ve only been at the firm for six months. You think I’ll get brownie points for going up to the eighth floor and asking one of the senior partners why he’s willing to let his daughter rot in a Mexican jail cell? Oh, and if I can miss work to go get her?”
“You don’t have to talk to him…” she trails off.
“Yes, I do. I can’t take a vacation to get involved in his family’s mess unless he’s okay with it,” I argue through clenched teeth. “Out of all the Girls Gone Wild running around the beach, why did they have to lock up this particular girl?”
“No idea. None of Brayden’s friends that Sadie talked to know what happened, only that they didn’t have enough money to get her out before their plane left yesterday coming back to NYU.”
“So, these wonderful friends just