Chapter 4

The law office of Reed & Associates occupied the thirty-second floor of a sleek glass tower in Midtown. I sat across from Jessica Reed, watching as her perfectly manicured nails flipped through the documents I'd prepared. The morning sun cast sharp rectangles of light across her mahogany desk, illuminating dust particles that danced between us like secrets waiting to be told.

"These are... thorough," Jessica said, her voice professionally neutral even as her eyes widened slightly at the complexity of what I'd drafted. "You've thought of everything."

"Not everything," I replied, crossing my legs and adjusting the Hermès scarf at…