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Chapter 1

Bruce

“What airl?” I asked, leaning forward, placing irl” It’s been a long fucking week and now this I can feel the tension snaking up my spine, which I’m sure will lead to a massive headache that will fuck up my whole day

“The estate won’t be settled for another week, and she’s, well, sheltered She just needs to stay with someone she knows she can trust Someone herthe week,” Jie to throw him out of my office or just fire his ass, but this isn’t his fault This was hter, but I’d never met her in the two years that ereenvironment Sure, ere e

I was rackingto remember everyone who attended The funeral actually looked like a work roup in attendance was made up of people she worked with and a few clients I don’t knohy I didn’t notice that before No friends or family showed up, only other lawyers from the firm, but it made sense, neither she nor I had lives outside of this office

Debra’s father, Steven, had passed last year, and he was the only family member I’d ever met of hers Steven used to be a senior partner at the firhter not being at her mother’s funeral never crossed hter a handful of times in the five years I knew her I can’t even recall a tihter never came to our penthouse

“When will she be arriving?” I ask while pulling up today’s itinerary on my computer My schedule, as usual, is a mess and completely full

Ever sinceover Steven’s caseload, I work fifteen-hour days He’s the reason I’uardian to this girl It should’ve been hihter, after all But now that he’s gone, I’m the only one who’s left

It hasn’t helped that we haven't picked a neyer to take Debra’s place at the firone six weeks, but soiant workload on her own, and even distributing it ast the staff, it’s more than we can handle on top of our own cases

I raduate school She had already been with them for years Her father was a senior partner, so it was a no brainer what law firm she wanted to make partner at I always knew there was no other firs about the place, it was known to be the best andtheether, butI had no desire to do

After I walked in the door, we bothfor years but wasn't ot paired together We were both dedicated and worked hard for years, earning our chops anda name for ourselves But Debra was constantly passed over for promotions because of her sex and because of her name

If she was given a promotion it always looked like it was favoritiso to me This frustrated both of us, as ere both friends and colleagues and each givinga woman in this line of work, and after a few years, we hit a roadblock

The fir for a partner and I was being groomed to take it I knew that Debra deserved it as much as I did, but I wasn’t sure what to do Then one day Steven took Debra and me aside and we came up with a plan

After I moved into my new role as partner, Steven would retire The kicker was, he would only retire after Debra and I got ned, he would then set his retirement in motion