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Principal Costas gestured to the re vacant chair in his dated, but well-maintained office I sat down next to the lance

"Ivy, I’d like you to meet Mallory Hunter," Costas explained

I smiled at the attractive blonde in her early thirties She earing a sharp, black skirt suit and screaht, but there was a soft pity about her expression I didn’t entirely understand

"Ms Hunter is a lawyer on behalf of your father’s estate, as I understand," Costas explained "Se this ive you ti hand on ulped back some aard nervousness and then shifted so I could face Mallory Hunter head on

"Hi, Ivy," she greeted soothingly She held a folder in her lap, and there was an expensive brief case at her feet

"Hi," I said siot the better of me "Do you work for Jared?" Jared T Artero was the lawyer in charge of my father’s estate and my trust We talked every year around Christal advice and he liked to make sure I was Ok, and me because I liked to make sure hter and I could see that it was herme "I’m here on behalf of Smith Porter Actually I work for the sister firm of Arnold, Terkoff and Blane My firm is Hastle and Crimmens, but Catarina Arnold is rimaced What did she just say?

"Catarina Arnold is employed by Mr Porter, she is also my boss… indirectly As I understand this, your situation is very… precarious S could be directly linked back to him, Catarina or Jared"

"Ah" Well, Ok, thatquestions I would just have Mallory recite that entire jumble of words She would be confused immediately

"I’ve met you here, because I understand your ho her point She would pause dramatically and then say her point with enthusiastic curiosity I bet her tactic worked ith indecisive juries "S abuse As you know if you are in verifiable danger, it is possible for you to acquire the full aer can be defined as any kind of abuse, emotional, physical or verbal with recorded evidence or life-threatening circu the police or FBI in Can you clai ain it wasn’t that awful It was just a slap It wasn’t like I had to be rushed to the eone by , no evidence or scars left behind What did verbal abuse evenalways, but was that actual abuse? Had I suffered anything that could be proven in the court of law other than a messed up sense of reality and unrealistic expectations?

"I don’t have anything I can prove," I finally admitted "I’ you There’s no abuse happening in my life"

Not yet anyway And by that tihteen, I’ll be an adult So it won’t matter

"I was afraid of this," Mallory’s face filled with ood friends ofwith Jared, who seems to share some of the same concerns as Smith Unlike Smith, Jared respects your mother, thinks the world of her actually, but he has shared so words and I understand why Jared feels the way he does"

My father’s dying words? What did that mean?

I opened ht not be anything to share with ht never be But I don’t think Sths if there wasn’t soed silence I finally settled on, "You’re right I can’t prove anything, but I need ht, then that’s ill work on I won’t call you, or contact you in any way other than here at school And I’ll visit again in ayou think is useful on your phone Or if anything happens take a picture of it iet ahold of Smith immediately Does that work for you?" She raked her eyes overelse Pity maybe? But there was no sympathy behind Mallory Hunter’s expression

Still it was obvious she kicked ass in court

"Yes, that works forvery precious Like , staying was so

"Alright, then Ivy, thank you for your time I’ll be in touch," she stood then and stretched out her hand I echoed every movement and then bit back a smile at her firm handshake

She was just so… professional

"Thank you, Mallory," I gushed notto I actually meant to return the professional air of civility, but suddenly I found arded everything I said But mostly because there was hope that I hadn’t felt in a really long time Hope I hadn’t felt in ht

Three pounds my ass Literally…But I honestly gave losing the happened Not even a half of pound Not even after I peed first thing in the

Now that it was Saturday and I was practically faint froer I decided to screw it Ok, so two days didn’t exactly equal the strongest effort ever, but chocolate croissants were calling to ooey ones With a caraain toh a shower, only shaving hs for a different day Small rebellion, but orth it I blow dried my hair, hot rolled, then brushed it out to erase all previous efforts and paintedto wake up this , but she for sure would check out my face in one second flat if I didn’t take cautious care And if I intended to sneak out for chocolate croissants I needed to be extra careful

After the beauty routine, I dressed in a pair of turquoise skinny jeans, white scooped neck tank top and a sheer oversized white cardigan I slipped into soes and threw on the required amount of jewelry to complete the overdressed outfit But bases covered and I was ready to go

As long as I didn’t spill chocolate on et aith this too

Mofor me

I slipped out of the apartained so easier, taking in the crisp coolness of the late Octoberfelt like a reprieve fro, fromfelt easy And for a ot about it all and just looked forward to breakfast

Until, I opened the door and saw hi for me next to the counter

Ryder

And then nothing felt easy