BRIELLE'S POV
My cheeks ache from smiling all day, my feet throb from wearing heels for almost the entire day and my eyes hurt from the multiple flashes of the camera from what I imagine to be over a thousand pictures I have taken today.
But it all doesn't matter as today is the happiest day of my life.
Earlier today, I graduated as the best graduating student in law school with the highest score on the bar exam in the whole country.
But that's not even the best part. Just thirty minutes ago, my phone pinged in my hands as I got out of the cab. I checked, thinking it was my dad, but what I saw made me almost throw my house keys on the road due to excitement.
I got an email from the Los Angeles Police Department.
THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT!
After multiple emails and countless dreams of working there as a prosecutor. I got a letter offering me a position as a junior prosecutor with their team.
I screamed into my pillow again as I read the email for the fifth time. Just to be sure my eyes aren't deceiving me.
This is real!
The next day, I am out of the house as early as seven am. I want to catch my dad at home before he leaves for work. For someone who owns one of the biggest law firms in the city with dozens of employees working under him, my father goes to work as early as he possibly can, every single time.
My mom was also a lawyer, and they ran the law firm before she died when I was twelve. I grew up surrounded by lawyers, but unlike my parents, I dreamt of being a prosecutor like my grandfather and my dad has always supported my dream.
“What are you doing here so early?” Edward Sawyer, aka my dad, said as soon as he saw me.
He was in the living room, fully dressed and nursing a cup of coffee. His first among the numerous he consumes in a day.
“You won’t imagine what happened, Dad.” The excitement in my voice is hard to miss. I shove my phone in his face with the email I received yesterday.
“They offered me a position.” I gush.
“Who?” He asks, going through the letter.
“LAPD!”
“Ohh,” he says, drops my phone on the table next to him and then takes a long sip of his coffee.
“Uhh, Dad? Are you okay?” I ask. My dad has always been my biggest supporter, so his reaction to this is more than strange.
“You can’t accept the offer.” He says.
“What?” I look at my dad strangely. He doesn’t seem any different from the last time I saw him.
“You can’t work at LAPD just yet.” He repeats his statement.
“Why?”
“Is something wrong?
“Are you sick?”
I shoot question after question because that is the only plausible explanation for what’s going on.
“No, nothing is wrong.” He says. “Well, not much.”
This is not normal. Something is up.
“Is the firm?” I ask. His face says it all. Something is up.
My father is a proud man. He won’t do something like this for no valid reason.
“I agreed that you will work as a lawyer for Stone Corporation as soon as you graduate.” He says quietly.
“I was going to tell you.”
What?!
I fall into the seat beside me.
“I don’t understand, dad. Why would you do that? You of all people know I’ve always wanted to be a prosecutor.”
He looks into my eyes, the regret clear as day on his face.
“It was the only way I could save the firm.” He says. “ You just have to work there for a year and you can chase whatever dream you want.”
My heart plummets in my chest.
“Are you being blackmailed? Who is blackmailing you? Why isn’t there something you can do about it?”
“This is the only way out.” He says, dejected. “I already signed the contract.”
“Dad…” I whimper as my joy of the past ten hours disappears in front of me.
“Please, Bri.”
“I promise I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can.”
My heart breaks; my dad never pleads. I feel a sudden sense of hatred for the person making my father do this.
“I’ll do it,” I say, finally, my voice, small. “I’ll work for them.”
It’s just one year. I will do whatever I can to get another opportunity.
And that is how I find myself becoming an employee in Stone Corporation.
