I froze. Dropped the charges? What the hell were they talking about?
I rushed to the law firm as fast as I could. But by the time I got there, the file—my mother’s case file—was already shredded into confetti.
Everything blurred. I collapsed to my knees, grabbing the lawyer’s sleeve, my voice breaking.
“You promised. You said you’d help me get justice for my mother!”
The lawyer looked uncomfortable and let out a long sigh.
“The person who withdrew the complaint… was your husband. Mr. Marks. None of us are in a position to go against him. I’m truly sorry.”
And just like that, with a small nod, he had security drag me out into the street.
But I wasn’t giving up.
There had to be someone in this godforsaken city who still had a spine.
Hands shaking, I called every top law firm I could find. One by one, they turned me away. The replies were all the same.
“Sorry, Miss Ward. Mr. Marks made it very clear—anyone who touches that case is out of business by morning. We can’t help you.”
I dropped to the pavement. My palm landed on jagged concrete, blood seeping from the cut—yet I barely felt a thing.
When I was sixteen, my father threw Mom and me out. The same day, Piper and her mother moved in.