“Development firm.” Diane reached across the desk and flipped to the last page of the filing.
I looked down at the company name.
Devlin Holdings.
The folder slipped from my hands before I even registered moving.
Papers scattered across Diane’s desk, case files and affidavits and tenant testimonies spreading in chaos. I stared at them, at the name printed across the top of the corporate filing, and my lungs forgot how to work.
“Gianna?” Diane’s voice sounded distant. “You alright?”
I forced myself to breathe. To pull air into lungs that suddenly felt too small. To focus on something other than the name that had just upended my entire world.
Devlin Holdings.
“I’m fine,” I heard myself say, even though the room felt slightly tilted.
Diane studied me with those sharp eyes that missed nothing. “You sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Maybe I had.
“I’m fine,” I repeated, gathering the scattered papers with hands that shook slightly. “Just surprised. This is a big case.”
“It is.” She watched me carefully. “Can you handle it?”
“Yeah,” I said, and my voice came out steadier than I felt. “I can handle it.”
A lie I hoped would become true.
Diane nodded, but something in her expression suggested she didn’t entirely believe me.
I didn’t entirely believe me either.
CHAPTER 2
Gianna
I madeit back to my apartment before the panic fully hit.
The folder sat on my kitchen table where I’d dropped it. Devlin Holdings printed across the top in clean corporate font. I stared at it from across the room like getting too close might set it on fire.
Ten years. I hadn’t seen that name in ten years.
My hands shook. I pressed them flat against the counter and focused on breathing. In through my nose. Out through my mouth. The way the therapist had taught my mother after everything fell apart.
After Devlin Holdings destroyed everything we had.
Ten years ago
The notice appeared on our apartment door on a Tuesday morning in late September.
I’d been running late for my second week at NYU Law. First semester. Finally.
My father was so proud when I got in he took the acceptance letter to work and showed everyone. He had a copy folded in his wallet, that's how happy he was. My mother cried happy tears that made me cry too. We celebrated with Chinese takeout and talked about my future like it was something real and reachable.
I almost missed the notice entirely, would have if my mother hadn’t called my name from the doorway, her voice already thin with worry.
“Gianna. What is this?”
