ConVictions

Prologue

Mandeville Women's Correctional Center... For the last four years, this was my home. Four years down and the rest of my life to go. I'm innocent, but no one believes me.

No one believed me five and a half years ago when my friend was shot twice in his own home leading to him untimely death. No one believed I had no ill intentions towards Jose Reyes, when in reality I always hoped for nothing, but the best for him.

Detective Carson Wells looked down on me with disdain the moment he walked into my office as if I were already convicted of the crime I didn't commit.

I wasn't capable of murder, much less capable of murdering a good man. Jose Reyes was just that. A good man. A wonderful friend. An honored detective. He was one of the best people I'd met in my five years as a tax attorney. A good natured man who loved life and enjoyed spewing out the oddest little facts at random.

The evidence against me was overwhelming as I came to find out during my trial. Fingerprints all over a gun I wouldn't know the first thing about, DNA in the form of my hair strewn around Jose's home that I'd never entered, scratch mark indentations on his body that matched the curvature and shape of my nails... And not having a solid alibi made matters even worse.

The media came up with wild accusations claiming he and I were sleeping together and upon discovering the existence of his distraught fiancée Emma, I 'snapped.'

Wild and outrageous. I'd known of Emma's existence since Jose first encountered the woman. I encouraged him to pursue her!

Sure he was gorgeously attractive, with his tall muscular physique. Thick black hair that was always styled perfectly. The man embodied the stereotype of Hispanic men being dangerously intoxicating, but he was my client before my friend and I was never a woman to mix business with pleasure.

Quite honestly even if I did, it wouldn't be with Jose. Jose was way too 'glass half full,' for my tastes. Ever the optimist, as a woman who worked under high pressure I wasn't interested in hearing idealistic philosophy while frustrated and trying to relax.

Jose's younger brother was much more my speed. Despite an age gap of five years, Santiago Reyes was obviously going to be a great man. In bed, I mean.

He was twenty one when I'd met him, myself being twenty six at the time when he strode into my office behind his brother. His gorgeous face set in a scowl, his strong arms crossed over his chest straining the thin fabric of the t-shirt he was wearing. The strong silent type, now those men were almost always proven to leave you begging for him to stop, and pulling him closer when he tried.

Staring at him then I could remember only one thought going through my head.

That single thought being that he had the kind of face I would have enjoyed sitting on.

It was interesting how fate worked. How the very prison I was sentenced to happened to be the very same prison Santiago worked at. How the one time I end up in solitary confinement he was transferred to the solitary block for two weeks while the regular guard was on vacation.

How the very same man I found myself both fantasizing about and fingering myself to shared the same attraction. How the very night I lost myself to the fantasy, he crept into my cell and fucked me senseless.

It'd been five months since that night. Five months since Santiago unknowingly bested any fantasy I could imagine. Three months since the night I told him my side of the story of Jose's death. And six months until my next hearing with the Review Committee.

This time I was determined to clear my name other wise I'd have to wait another five years until my next review. That was time I didn't have to serve. Time I didn't want to serve. I was innocent. This time I'd prove it.