On Monday morning there's still no news of where Angelica is, and I imagine Gino must be pulling his hair out. As far as I know he's still in New York, but I imagine that if Vincenzo and Max don't find her soon, he'll be on his way here as well.

Of course, if someone grabbed her, then she might not even be in Miami anymore. They would have to know that Max's whole organization is out there looking for information.

There's nothing I can do to help find Angelica, so first thing Monday morning I decide to take care of something I hopefully can resolve. I march over to CJ Burrows' office.

They look up from their desk and scowl when they see me. "I'm busy."

I step in anyway, and close the door behind me.

"Make yourself at home," CJ says sarcastically.

"I'll get right to the point. I must have done something to upset you. I don't know what it is. Do you want to have lunch today and talk about it?"

"Oh, now she wants to have lunch with me."

"I know you asked me a few times before, but I've had a lot going on and my schedule has been crazy."

"Right."

They are looking at me with such active dislike I'm completely baffled.

I shake my head. "So are we on for lunch?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you have a choice. It's an invitation, not a command performance. I'm not your boss."

"But you will be someday. Unless I decide to go practice elsewhere."

Is this what it's about? Resentment that I'm suddenly stepping in over everyone to take over the firm when my grandfather retires?

But that doesn't make any sense. CJ's only been here for a little over a year.

"Yes," I say carefully, "my grandfather does intend to make me a partner if things go well, and to pass the firm to me some day in the future. Is that a problem for you?"

"I don't have time to talk about this now. I have work to do."

"Then we'll pick this up at lunch," I say, and open the door to step out into the hallway.

"Fine," CJ says, and I head to my office still completely perplexed about what is going on. Hopefully I'll find out at lunch. I've obviously done something to upset them, but it it's not just my mere existence here at the firm as Andrew's granddaughter and heir, I don't have a clue.

I head down the hall and make a turn toward my office, passing by the empty offices and work stations in this section of the firm that I hope to fill with more lawyers and legal assistants as the criminal law department expands beyond just me and Martina.

Maybe once some of the existing lawyers start to see my department as more of a profit center they'll accept me. I know I can't just walk in and expect to be welcomed; I have to prove myself. Meanwhile, I determine to make more of an effort to spend time with the other lawyers in the firm. I may talk to my grandfather about me organizing some after work get-togethers, or closing the office for a day to do a team-building activity.

My grandfather can make me a partner and hand me the reins, but that won't do much good if all the lawyers leave because they don't trust me at the helm. Granted, I'm not expecting my grandfather to retire in the immediate future, but I need to take steps now to earn the trust of the rest of the office.

The firm is full of talented people - even Dylan, I admit grudgingly to myself - and that wasn't built overnight.

I get to my office and Martina follows me in for our standard Monday morning debriefing. But our conversation this morning is about everything but law firm business.

"You heard about Angelica disappearing," Martina says as she settles into one of my visitor chairs, and I sit down at my desk.

"Max told me. I was actually supposed to have lunch with her on Saturday, but she never followed up. When I called her, Max picked up. Apparently the cleaning staff at the club found her phone in the women's rest room Saturday morning."

"I know," Martina says. "Gabe has been running all over Miami pulling any threads to find out if anyone's seen her. So far, nothing." She pauses. "Gabe asked me to tell you to be extra careful."

"So he thinks someone grabbed her?"

"That's just it - nobody has a clue. Gabe says there haven't been any threats lately. Max hasn't had an issue with any competitors, or anything. This just came out of the blue."

"I'm thinking it has more to do with Gino than with Max."

"Yeah," Martina says, "but since she was staying at Max's house -"

I look up. "She was staying at Max's house?"

"That's what Gabe told me. Hadley there's nothing going on between Angelica and Max. Apparently she's just like a little sister to him."

"Yeah, I know. I just thought she was more the type to be in a fancy hotel."

"I guess not. Gabe says she's actually pretty down to earth. For a mafia princess," Martina adds with a grin.

"Max must be really worried by now."

"Yeah. Maybe Angelica just ran off to Vegas for the weekend," Martina guesses.

"Maybe," I say. But I don't think so. Nobody has heard from her since Friday night, and I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this.

My cell phone rings and I glance at the screen.

"Brad."

Martina gets up, and doesn't bother to hide the huge grin.

"I'll just leave you to it, then."

She goes out and shuts my office door behind her.

"Brad," I say, "how are you this morning?"

"Hoping I'm not interrupting something important at work."

"Not at all," I say. "I'm glad you called."

"I won't keep you," he says. "I was just wondering if you might want to go out on the boat with me next Saturday. If you don't already have plans."

I need to push myself. I swallow back my initial reaction, which is that it's too soon and we need to slow down, and give the opposite answer.

"As a matter of fact, I'm free next Saturday. That sounds like fun."

"Great," he says, and it makes me smile that his voice is so happy. "I'll text you the details later this week. We can meet up at the marina where I keep my boat. And I'll bring breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I'll let you get back to work. I look forward to seeing you next Saturday. Or maybe at the gym before then."

"Thanks for the invitation, Brad. I'll see you soon."

Almost the instant I hang up my phone, Martina is back in my office.

"What were you doing, listening through the door?"

She laughs. "Okay, maybe . . . So, are you going out with him again?"

"He invited me out on his boat next weekend."

"He has a boat? What kind?"

"Nothing fancy, according to Brad. Some kind of a speedboat."

"Max has a boat."

"And you are telling me this why? Max probably has a yacht."

"No, I think it's just an outboard. Gabe said he can borrow it anytime. We were going to go out and invite you to come along. Do some wake-boarding, or snorkeling. But I guess you have your own boating source now," she say, and winks at me.

"It's only a second date. Don't get so excited. Besides, I do not want to go out with you and Gabe on Max's boat. And I don't think Gabe wants me along either."

"You're wrong. Gabe really likes you. He wishes you and Max would get back together. He thinks you're good for Max."

"What's not good for either Max or me is continuing to see each other when it can't go anywhere." I look at my watch and realize that between my conversation with Martina and the call from Brad, more than 30 minutes has gone by.

"Time to get back to work," I tell her. "We'll deal with my personal life later."

"Okay, boss," she says, and heads back out to her desk.

But despite my good intentions, I spend another ten minutes turned around in my chair just staring out the window and wishing life wasn't so complicated.

* * *

I finish drafting a motion and email Martina to proofread it and get it filed. Despite my slow start, I managed to get quite a bit of work done. Now it's time for my lunch with CJ, which I'm half looking forward to and half dreading. The looking forward to part is finding out why she's reacted to me with so much hostility over the last week or so. The dreading is because, does anybody really enjoy hearing why someone doesn't like them?

I spent altogether too much time debating where to suggest we go for lunch. My plan is to pick up the check, since I invited her. If I suggest the corner deli I'll look cheap; if I suggest someplace upscale I'll look like I'm trying too hard, or worse yet, bragging.

I decide on a restaurant on Ocean Drive that has outside tables and a great view, but isn't fancy. I've only been there for brunch on Sundays, so I hope the lunch menu on a weekday won't disappoint. Plus, there's something about sitting outside that just makes things seem more . . . friendly.

I get to the lobby at the same time CJ does. They nod stiffly at me.

Just as we are about to get on the elevator, Jenny's voice stops me.

"Ms. Jones, I have a call for you."

I turn back. "Can you take a message?"

Jenny shakes her head. "I'm sorry, she says it's urgent."

I sigh. "This will just take a minute," I say to CJ. It's always "urgent" when someone calls a criminal defense lawyer. But in most cases, it could wait until I got back from lunch.

I go around behind Jenny's desk and she hands me the receiver.

"Hello, this is Hadley Reese Jones."

"Oh, thank god. I need you to come meet me."

"Who is this?"

"It's Angelica. Can you hurry? Don't tell anyone."

I lower my voice. "Are you okay? Max has been really worried about you."

"Don't tell Max I called. Please, just come now." She rattles off the name of a restaurant I've never heard of, then disconnects the call.

I hand the receiver back to Jenny, and look over at CJ.

"I'm so sorry," I say, "but this really is an emergency."

"Right," they say, then step onto the elevator and closes the doors.

Now I have to decide. Do I go meet Angelica by myself? It's broad daylight and a public place. How dangerous could it be?

Or should I disregard what she said, and call Max?