Chapter 1

I watched Dad's despondent figure as he walked away, and fire ignited in my chest, incinerating the last shred of my sanity. I stormed back into the office, snatched the research papers off the desk, and tore them to shreds.

"Have you lost your mind?" Clement Hawthorne shot to his feet.

"Why won't you take Dad's case? Do you have any idea how long he's been waiting outside?"

"I'm busy. I don't have time to entertain your antics."

"You're busy? Busy grading your intern's thesis? But you don't have time to even take a look at Dad's contract?" I sneered, the sarcasm in my voice reaching its peak.

"I run a law firm, not a nonprofit." Clement's voice turned cold. "Do you have any idea what my billable hour is? I'd be losing money if I took your father's case!"

"But he's your father-in-law!" I bellowed.

"So what?" he asked quietly. "Everyone is equal before the law. Am I supposed to break the rules just because he's family? If I take this case, what will the other lawyers at the firm think of me tomorrow? How am I supposed to survive in this industry going forward?"

"Clement… do you even remember why you decided to study law in the first place?"

Clement froze.

I instinctively backed away, staring at him as though he was a complete stranger. At some point, the man who used to comb through labor laws to help children of migrant workers, fight tooth and nail to file case numbers for stray cats, and make my heart flutter countless times had disappeared.

"We have to be realistic, Celeste. We can't keep living in the past."

I ignored his indifference and stubbornly asked, "Realistic to the point of turning your back on your own family?"

"Can you be reasonable for once?" He yanked at his tie in frustration. "I have too many cases on my plate right now. I genuinely don't have the time to deal with your dad's mess."

He didn't have the time? I stared at the research papers on the desk, which were covered in his meticulous annotations, and suddenly lost all desire to argue with him. "Let's get a divorce, Clement."

He stiffened. His tie slipped from his fingers and hit the floor. "W-What did you just say, Celeste?"

"I said, if this is how it's going to be, let's get a divorce." As soon as my words landed, I surprisingly didn't feel as much pain as I had imagined. If anything, it felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I calmly walked out of his office.

…

Dad hadn't gone far. Unwilling to throw in the towel, he went from one law firm to another in the office building, asking from door to door. "Excuse me, do you take cases?"

However, as soon as the lawyers heard that the defendant was Ben Lindwood—a notorious deadbeat—all of them waved their hands and turned him down. Baking in the blistering 104-degree Fahrenheit heat, he looked both pitiable and heartbreaking.

I roughly wiped away the tears from the corners of my eyes and hurried after him. "Don't worry, Dad. I'll figure something out."

Dad was caught off guard when he saw me. He hurriedly raised his hand to shield me from the glaring sun. "It's boiling out here. Why did you come after me? I merely came to try my luck. It's no big deal."

Try his luck. He had taken a six-hour bus ride and climbed all those stairs just to try his luck?

I parted my lips and was about to tell him about the divorce when his phone rang. "Am I speaking with Mr. Blackwood? This is Sam Smith. Mr. Hawthorne has assigned me to handle your case."

After hanging up, a smile instantly blossomed on Dad's weathered face. "Cece, did you hear that? Clem sent someone to help me! I told you, he's not a bad person; he's just too busy!"

The moment the words left his mouth, my phone buzzed.

Clement's message read, "I've assigned Mr. Smith to handle your dad's case. Don't bring up the divorce so casually again."

I froze for a moment. When I lifted my head, I noticed Dad grinning from ear to ear as he pulled out two bunches of baby bananas from his bag.

"Your mom went to the garden early this morning and picked these herself. She specifically chose the short, plump ones. They're thin-skinned and sweet. Take them home and eat them with Clem. Whatever you do, don't fight..."

Tears welled up in my eyes again. I hugged the two hands of bananas tightly to my chest. "Don't worry, Dad. Once the lawsuit's over…"

Once Clement and I were divorced… "I won't let anyone walk all over you again."