第1章

Seraphina Hale's perfect expression cracked.

She asked in disbelief, "What did you say?"

I closed the file in my hands.

"Ms. Hale, you failed the interview. Please leave."

The room fell silent.

The other interviewers kept looking down to double-check the candidate's details.

Seraphina had skipped a grade at ten, entered one of the world's top law schools at fifteen and led a student team to victory after victory at eighteen.

She had published dozens of papers in prestigious international journals and been invited to speak at major legal forums around the world.

A graduate with a record like that comes along once in a century.

The interviewers looked at one another, but none of them dared to question my decision aloud.

Seraphina took it all in.

She smiled, and the last trace of humility vanished.

In its place was the contempt and arrogance of someone who had been pampered all her life.

“Judge Veyra, I know who you are.”

She tucked her hair behind her ear and stood up slowly.

"You came from the slums, and yet you made it this far. You must have given up everything you had."

Her eyes traveled over me from head to toe, her meaning unmistakable.

“But my father taught me that the law should never tolerate injustice. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Her smile held both a threat and the certainty that she would get her way.

Looking at that faintly familiar face and listening to her speak of fairness, I closed my hand around my pen and looked at her.

“None of that gives you the right to waste the next candidate’s time.”

Seraphina scoffed, “It’s people like you who cause so many miscarriages of justice! You’ll regret what you did today! Just wait!”

She turned on her heels and left.

I was packing up after the interviews when Hugo Thorne, the well-known legal scholar, hurried in, leaning on his cane.

He was my professor and the person who had brought me into this profession.

"Elowen! What were you thinking? She has such a promising future!"

I helped him into a chair and was about to speak when Jasper Cole, the former chief justice, came storming in.

He threw Seraphina's file down on the desk.

"Elowen, do you have any idea who she is? Judge Hale's only daughter! Her father was one of the pioneers in the legal field while you were still in diapers! One word from him and all of us could be out of a job! Elowen, hire Seraphina, fix this now!"

I straightened up and looked at him.

"Too late. The hiring results have already been published."

Jasper's expression froze.

Hugo turned sharply toward me and let out a heavy sigh.

A second later, both their phones rang at once.

One caller was Beatrice Hale.

The other was Arthur.

At the sight of those names, my hand tightened around the folder.

The phones rang briefly, but neither of them answered.

I said quietly to Hugo, "I'm sorry to have dragged you into this mess."

As I walked out, Jasper's furious voice followed me. "Elowen Veyra, you are destroying your career!"

I did not answer. I pulled out my phone and sent Seraphina's file to my staff for verification.

I had waited too long for this day.

Whatever it took, Mom and I were not losing this time.