Freya left Janice’s house just after seven the next morning. A taxi waited for her at the curb, while Janice stood and watched her go at the front door in her robe, and a cup of coffee in her hand.“You will keep in touch, won’t you?” she asked with a smile that did not reach her eyes.Freya nodded, forcing a matching smile. “Of course.”Janice leaned in and kissed Freya on the cheek before she went to the taxi. “You’ve grown so much, Freya. I’m glad you came back.”Freya said nothing. She smiled again and nodded. She got into the taxi, gave the driver the address to her apartment, and stared out through the window as the engine came to life and drove them away.When she arrived at her place, she was surprised to find the door already slightly open. She knew what it meant, because she had texted Annabel the previous night to let her know she would be coming back early.She pushed the door open and entered inside.The first thing she noticed was the smell of coffee that hit her immedia

Annabel received the call from Victor early the next morning just as she woke up. Victor's voice on the other end was steady even though it was very early in the morning, which meant that he had been working the whole night."The injunction held," he said, skipping the pleasantries. "The court accepted our pre-filing position, and there will be no movement from their side to counter it, so we have that advantage now."Annabel nodded. "That's very good. What about the lawsuit?""Yes, about that... the final copy is ready. I have organized all the documentation, exhibits, and testimonial references. I will get them court stamped right after this call, and then when the judge approves the service, we can go live."Annabel sighed. "How long will this take?""Seventy two hours max," Victor said. There was a long pause. Then Annabel said, "Okay. Let’s do it."Victor let another bout of silence settle between them for a breath before he continued. "This means you’ll be public again. Once th

Kade had indeed called Martin as Roman ordered, to tell him about Lara being fired. Martin in turn called Roman and they arrived at the decision to further interrogate Lara and get more information out of her, should they need it. The interrogation was to take place the very next day. The interrogation was to take place in the boardroom. Already seated around the long table were Roman, Martin, and other lawyers in the team. Lara stood right at the center of the table. She hadn’t sat down, even though there was a chair there for her. She was fidgeting and stealing glances at Roman every few seconds. He had not spoken since she entered, and she knew how angry he was. It was the silver haired lawyer in their midst that started. Martin took his phone, put it on and pressed record.“Miss Morell,” the man started as he flipped open the small leather notebook in front of him, “You’ve already admitted to breaching internal protocols. But now we need specifics. Who approached you? What did

The battle in court lasted for almost two weeks. Annabel wasn’t backing down, and neither were her opponents. She kept dismissing every effort to make an alliance with Roman’s team, so Roman instructed his team to forget the alliance for the court case, and he fought his own battle. But days without Annabel and he was withering away because he knew he had been wrong. He hated that she had left without a word, but he acknowledged his own fault in the matter. Yet, he stayed away, hoping to give her some time to cool off, and also time for the whole court fiasco to die down. “You are hereby found guilty of all counts of defamation, conspiracy, and perjury. A fine of twenty million will hereby be paid for damages, and you are sentenced to ten years in prison.”Janice wailed as the verdict was given, and she immediately began to rat out her accomplices so they would also be included in her punishment. Annabel was relieved that her case was over, but her victory felt shallow. She hated to