Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. called his brethren βnine scorpions in a bottle.β In this stand-alone thriller, the newest and youngest Justice, Sam Truitt, is about to find out why.
Truitt hires law clerk Lisa Fremont and gets more than an honors grad from Stanford Law School. From abused child and runaway to magna cum laude, Lisa has packed a lifetime of experiences into her 27 years. Now, as she prepares for her dream job, Lisa hopes that sheβs left her past ehind. But, she still has one unpaid debt, and itβs not a student loan. Max Wanaker, the ruthless executive who saved her from the streets and made her his mistress, will lose his airline unless he wins a pending court case involving a disastrous crash.
Torn between commitment to justice and her obligation to Max, Lisa agrees to seduce her boss. Starting to fall for Truitt, Lisa learns the truth about the crash and realizes sheβs conspiring to cover up a massive fraud. Risking everything β her relationship with Truitt, her career, even her life β Lisa searches for the missing evidence that will defeat Max and achieve justice.
Truitt, too, learns thereβs a higher justice than the slogans engraved in the marble pediments. He battles villains outside the court and his belligerent brethren inside. In the end, Truitt, whoβs always followed the rules and Lisa, who never has, join to fight a terrible wrong, all the while staying one step ahead of those who live by no law at all.
© 2003-2026