all she saw was compassion and understanding.
Still, she felt her throat close as she thought about her reply. How much did she want to tell? Was he going to look at her differently? With that thought, it made her wonder how the rest of the world viewed her. Did they think she was a monster? It was a humbling thought.
“That man who attacked me,” she began, her voice choked. She pushed it down. She was a lawyer for goodness sake. She didn’t allow emotion to clog her voice. She was known for being able to turn it all off. She began again.
“The man who attacked me was my client. We’d just won our case the night before.”
“Your client?” he asked when she took too long to continue.
“Yes, I’m a defense attorney, and I’m a damn good one. I’ve only lost one case and that was at the beginning of my career. I work hard, and I know how to read people, so I know when my strategy needs to change.” She stopped. Even saying that made her feel like a monster. She couldn’t imagine what he was thinking.
“Why do you want to defend criminals?” he asked. Again, if there’d been judgment in his tone she would’ve stopped speaking. If he’d looked at her with disgust she’d have stopped. But he was simply asking her, looking more curious than anything.
She sighed. “I can tell you the answer I give my mother,” she said with a derisive laugh. “I believe they’re innocent. I don’t ask if they aren’t, and they always tell me they’re being framed.”
He looked at her for several heartbeats before asking his next question.
“And what’s the real reason?” he asked.
She looked into his soulful eyes and it felt as if he could see straight through her. She’d never had someone look at her that way. It was eerie. It was as if he could cut through all of the crap she normally spouted and get straight to the heart of her.
“There are two reasons,” she admitted. “The second one is that I’m competitive. I love to win at any cost. I’ve worked hard my entire life, and I take pride in it. If I’m going to do a job, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability and I won’t back down until I’m so far past the finish line, you can’t even see the winners circle anymore. If I’m not better than everyone else, I’m not satisfied with the job.”
There was a look of admiration in his eyes that made her feel better. “And what’s the first reason?”
She had to tamp down her emotions once more. “I became an attorney because of my uncle, the one who owns the bar, the one who was more a father to me than most fathers are to their own children. He was wrongfully accused of a crime. He spent ten years in prison before the truth came out. His record was expunged, but even that was done reluctantly, and he lost his wife, his daughter, and ten years of his life for a crime he didn’t commit because he’d pissed off the wrong politician. I haven’t seen my cousin since my uncle was convicted. Her mother took her away and refused to let my mother or me have any further contact.”
She could see the shock on Carl’s face. She’d never told anyone the story before this moment. She’d been interviewed many times after she’d won cases, and not once had she brought up her uncle. First of all, she hadn’t because he wanted that period of his life forgotten. Second, it was no one’s business what her family’s life had been before, or what it was now.
“I’m sorry,” Carl said after a few minutes. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Nobody knows what to say in a situation like this. People avoid personal situations. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about law and order. I believe a lawless country would be disasterous. However, people have no clue how many are falsely charged. We need changes in our system. It needs to be better.”
“That’s something I’ve never thought about,” he honestly told her. “I guess when you’ve always been a law-abiding citizen you don’t have to think about it. The law is as natural to me as breathing.”
She threw her hands in the air and let out a frustrated sigh. “That’s the attitude that infuriates me,” she told him. “I bet you grew up with money.” She let her words