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"Lana?" I look over his shoulder to find Niall standing within the same doorway. Brendan releases me. "You know each other?"
"Unfortunately," I say as Brendan says, "Definitely."
Niall looks between us. "Watch out for each other. Okay?"
"My pleasure," Brendan replies, then winks at me before disappearing into the Court.
"Brendan's your client too? Is there anyone here you don't represent?"
Niall ignores my comment. "Parker wanted to say goodbye before he left, but I think it's best that we meet privately. How are you adjusting?"
I look around the foyer. But Parker's already gone.
"It's only been two days." I enter the room to find it filled with brightly colored Baroque furniture and a crystal chandelier centered above a high-gloss violet coffee table. A window overlooks the Court, filling the room with natural light.
"Yes, but you and I both know that a lot can happen in one day, so how were your two?"
If I didn't know better, I would think he was messing with me. But when I turn to him, there isn't a hint of playfulness on his face or in his eyes. Perhaps he honestly thinks the world can burn down around me in twenty-four hours. Sadly, it can.
"They were fine." I sit in the chartreuse chaise by the window.
"You begin classes tomorrow, correct?"
"So I was told, although I don't know what classes I'm taking. But I'm used to not being told things until they're actually happening."
He picks up on my jab. "There was no reason to inform you where you were going before we arrived because it wouldn't have mattered. I could have given you a name of any school in any surrounding state, and you'd still be attending regardless if you knew the name and location or not."
"You're such a lawyer," I shoot at him like an insult.
"So I've been told."
"But this isn't just any school, is it, Niall?" I ask fervently. "There are so many more expectations here than any state program I could have attended. They demand effort, and not just any effort, but exceptional results. So what happens if I can't live up to what all of you want me to be? Do I go back to juvie? What do I lose if I don't become my best fucking self? Huh?"
"Two years." His voice is stone.
"What?" I'm stilled by his words, my body rigid with shock.
"You'll lose two years if you fail out of this school. It was the judge's condition to your enrollment."
"I thought it was a six-month sentence in juvie that you requested to be served here?"
"No, we go back in six months with a progress report. And if you aren't engaging, then you'll go to the juvenile detention center or a state run reformatory until you're eighteen."
If I weren't sitting, I would have collapsed.
"Armed robbery is a serious crime, and they want you to cooperate with them. In absence of your cooperation, the judge made a decision he believed to be in your best interest. And this was the result. We're fortunate to have this opportunity, trust me. So please take it seriously."
I close my eyes to gather myself. "Trust me. I am."
"I brought your personal possessions that were taken from you after your arrest." Niall places a large, white plastic bag on the coffee table. "And your mother asked me to give you this." He sets a pink box the size of a grapefruit on the table. It's wrapped in a thick sheer raspberry ribbon, tied in a perfect bow.
"Thank you," I say, barely audible. I feel like I've been punched in the gut, and I haven't been able to draw in enough air to find my voice. Or to even breathe properly.
Two years.
There isn't a trust fund to threaten me with, so they chose the only they could ... my freedom.
"Do I have any chance of going home?" I'm still worried about my mother, no matter what she says. She's a masterful liar. She guards her pain in her heart, until her body betrays her. So the only way I'll know how she really is, is to see her for myself.
