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Chapter 1

Coffee dripped down the walls of the kitchen and spattered across the linoleum floor

I stared at my brand new coffee pot in horror as it continued to spew boiling hot brown goo everywhere This was not a good way to start the

I sca behind a dishcloth and praying the coffee rain wouldn't land on led and died

This was not a pro

I quickly cleaned up the walls and floor, hoping my roommate wouldn't attempt to use the cursed machine when she woke up I made sure to leave Mindy a note, but she had a tendency to forget I existed Soic house fairy just cah to clean and add new supplies Part ofEither way, I would have to talk to her later about how she threw out the coffee pot box with the receipt in it without checking with me first

I sighed and headed to the shower Since I didn't have the box to return the da, I would have to find a way to ure so, not even a lack of coffee was going to stop me

Today was al for one of the biggest law firo, I spent more time in the office than I did at hoood at it I was respected by the lawyers I worked with and I had al in the firood

My sister and I already had reservations at a fancy restaurant to celebrateI could hardly wait Just a shower and an easy work day stood between me and s went the way I was expecting

The shoater turned on cold and stayed that way Mindy ain I stared at the icy sheets of water and shivered This wasn't a day I could skip a shower, so I counted to three and dove in

It was the quickest shower of my life

On the upside, the fact that it was such a quick shower and didn't make any steam, I was able to curl ed not to burn myself I put on my best suit, my favorite heels, and checkedto work See, I said to the girl in the ood

I should have known better

The train ride to don Chicago was relatively uneventful It was late September and the weather outside pro to tip up over the metal skyscrapers and warm the sidewalk belohen I stepped off the train

And then it started to rain

I ran for the lobby ofover my head in a futile attempt to shield my hair Two steps froht my reflection in theThe thirty seconds of rain had destroyed the curl in my hair and speckledwas ruined

It's not the end of the world, I toldmy now flat hair up into a ponytail I walked across the crowded lobby to get on the elevator A nice man from two floors down held the door for me to squeeze into the elevator before it left the lobby So me to the side, and I stepped on the space for the elevator door and heard a small crack

I stepped back to try and figure out the noise and the shiny metal doors slid shut without me inside I would just have to wait for the next one I took a step back and stu noise I heard had beenin two The heel was now co off of one shoe

Not only were these my favorite pair of dress shoes, they were the only shoes I had brought with me I stared down at o This was supposed to my day to shine and so far, all I had to show for it was no coffee, flat hair, and a broken shoe

I can still do this, I told et better

The law firo Tower The 16th floor here the partners and senior associates wooed clients while the 15th floor was fondly referred to as “The Dungeon” The Dungeon ere the paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, and new associates all worked with drea upstairs If today ell, I would be onup there

After finally arriving on the fifteenth floor, I went about nore the fact that ed and hair wet I smiled as I handed back files to lawyers and picked up new assign even when tyers yelled atthem bad news about their cases I knew they weren't mad at me, but at the information I tried not to let it phase me and went back to my desk

My office was really just a table that I shared with several other paralegals We all worked out in the open to give the lawyers easy access to us I didn't really mind the setup, but I did wish I had a way to keepstolen all the time

I set upup a letter for one of the attorneys It was tedious work and I nearly had it co, the blue screen of death took over my computer