THE LAWYER WHO LOVED HER ENEMY

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

THE SEAT BESIDE THE ENEMY

Five years earlier

The morning I entered St. Aurelia University College of Law, I made myself three promises.

First, I would never let anyone intimidate me.

Second, I would never allow my family's past to define my future.

And third—

I would never fall in love with a man who carried the surname Cross.

At the time, I thought the third promise was ridiculous.

I didn't even know an Adrian Cross existed.

I certainly didn't know that one day, his name would become the most painful name I had ever carried in my heart.

But that morning, as I stood outside the massive university gates with a leather folder pressed against my chest, I knew exactly who I wanted to become.

A lawyer.

Not just any lawyer.

The best.

The kind of lawyer who could walk into a courtroom filled with people who underestimated her and leave without giving them a reason to doubt her again.

I looked up at the university's stone facade.

ST. AURELIA UNIVERSITY was engraved across the entrance in enormous gold letters.

Students moved everywhere.

Some were laughing with their friends. Others were rushing toward their classrooms, holding books against their chests. A few stood near the entrance, already discussing cases and legal doctrines as if they had been studying law for years.

I took a slow breath.

"You can do this."

I whispered the words to myself.

My fingers tightened around the folder.

Inside were my admission papers, notebooks, pens, and the one thing I had carried with me since the day I decided to become a lawyer.

A photograph of my father.

I didn't look at it.

I didn't need to.

I knew his face by heart.

My father had once been a respected corporate attorney.

Then everything changed.

One accusation.

One case.

One powerful family.

And suddenly, the man who had spent his entire life defending other people could no longer defend himself.

People called him corrupt.

A liar.

A criminal.

I had been twelve when it happened.

Too young to understand why strangers suddenly looked at us differently.

Too young to understand why my mother stopped smiling.

Too young to understand why my father stopped wearing his suits.

But I remembered the night he looked at me and said something I had never forgotten.

"Serena, if you ever become a lawyer..."

He had paused.

"Don't become one because you want revenge."

I had stared at him through tears.

"Then why should I become one?"

He smiled sadly.

"Because someone has to love the truth enough to defend it."

That sentence became the foundation of my life.

I wasn't becoming a lawyer to avenge my father.

At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

I walked through the university gates.

And unknowingly, toward the person who would challenge everything I believed.

---

The first-year law classroom was already half full when I arrived.

I checked the room number again.

Room 304.

This was it.

I stepped inside.

The room was larger than I expected. Tall windows covered one side, allowing the morning sunlight to fall across rows of dark wooden desks.

At the front was a large whiteboard.

Behind it stood a polished wooden desk with the university seal engraved across the front.

I chose a seat near the middle.

Not too close.

Not too far.

Perfect.

I placed my things down.

A girl sitting beside me smiled.

"First year?"

I looked at her.

"Is it that obvious?"

She laughed.

"A little."

"I'm Serena."

"Camille."

We shook hands.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

I smiled.

"Me too."

She looked surprised.

"You don't look nervous."

I glanced down at my hands.

They were shaking slightly.

I immediately hid them beneath the desk.

"I've learned how to hide it."

Camille laughed.

"I think we're going to survive."

Before I could answer, the classroom suddenly became quieter.

Students began looking toward the door.

I turned.

And that's when I saw him.

A young man walked into the classroom.

Black suit.

White shirt.

No tie.

His dark hair was slightly disheveled, as if he had made no effort to make it perfect—and somehow that made him look even more composed.

He wasn't smiling.

He wasn't looking around.

He simply walked into the room as though he already belonged there.

Several students whispered.

"That's him."

"Who?"

"Adrian Cross."

My stomach tightened.

The name meant nothing to me.

Yet somehow, everyone else seemed to know it.

Camille leaned closer.

"That's Adrian Cross."

"And?"

She stared at me.

"You seriously don't know who he is?"

"No."

"His father owns Cross Holdings."

I shrugged.

"So?"

She lowered her voice.

"His family is one of the richest families in the country."

I looked at Adrian again.

He didn't seem interested in the attention.

He walked toward the seats.

Then he stopped.

Directly beside me.

I looked up.

He looked down.

Our eyes met for the first time.

His eyes were dark.

Calm.

Almost annoyingly confident.

"You're sitting in my seat."

I blinked.

I looked at the empty desk beside me.

Then at him.

"There isn't a name on it."

He didn't move.

"I always sit there."

I raised an eyebrow.

"And?"

His expression barely changed.

"Move."

Camille looked at me with wide eyes.

I almost laughed.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

I leaned back in my chair.

"There's an entire classroom full of empty seats."

"Not that one."

"Why?"

"Because that's mine."

I stared at him.

For three seconds.

Then four.

Finally, I smiled.

"Interesting."

He waited.

I opened my notebook.

"Then I suppose you'll have to learn something today."

His eyebrow lifted.

"What's that?"

I looked directly into his eyes.

"That the law doesn't recognize entitlement."

A few students nearby went silent.

Someone coughed to hide a laugh.

Camille covered her mouth.

For the first time, something changed in Adrian's expression.

Not anger.

Something closer to amusement.

He pulled the chair beside me out.

Then sat down.

I stared at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Learning."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Learning what?"

He opened his notebook.

"That arguing with you is going to be more interesting than I expected."

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to laugh or throw my pen at him.

So I did neither.

Instead, I turned toward the front.

"Good."

He glanced at me.

"Good?"

I smiled.

"Because I don't plan on making law school boring."

---

The professor arrived five minutes later.

Everyone immediately became silent.

A tall woman in her fifties walked into the classroom carrying several folders.

She placed them on the desk.

Then looked at us.

"I'm Professor Eleanor Reyes."

Her voice alone was enough to make the entire room sit straighter.

"I have been teaching law for twenty-three years."

She paused.

"And in those twenty-three years, I've learned one thing."

Nobody moved.

"Intelligence will get you into law school."

She walked toward the board.

"Hard work will get you through it."

She turned around.

"But integrity..."

Her eyes moved across the room.

"...will determine whether you deserve to become a lawyer."

I immediately wrote the sentence down.

Beside me, Adrian did the same.

Professor Reyes began discussing the foundations of law.

She asked questions.

Students answered.

Some confidently.

Some hesitantly.

Then came the question that changed everything.

Professor Reyes wrote on the board:

WHAT IS JUSTICE?

She turned toward us.

"Mr. Cross."

Adrian looked up.

"Yes, Professor?"

"What is justice?"

He didn't hesitate.

"Justice is the fair application of the law regardless of a person's identity, wealth, or influence."

Professor Reyes nodded.

"Good."

Then her eyes moved toward me.

"Ms. Vale."

I sat straighter.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Do you agree?"

I looked at the words on the board.

Then at Adrian.

"I agree with the principle."

Professor Reyes waited.

"But?"

I folded my hands.

"Justice isn't always the same as applying the law."

Adrian turned toward me.

Professor Reyes smiled slightly.

"Explain."

"Sometimes laws are written by people with power. Sometimes the law protects a system rather than the people harmed by it."

The room became quiet.

"So if we simply apply the law without questioning whether it serves justice, we're not necessarily creating justice."

Professor Reyes stared at me for a moment.

Then smiled.

"Excellent."

Adrian leaned toward me.

Quiet enough that only I could hear him.

"You're going to be trouble."

I didn't look at him.

"I've been told."

---

By lunchtime, everyone seemed to know about our argument.

Camille and I sat beneath a large tree outside the law building.

"You realize you challenged Adrian Cross on your first day."

"I answered a question."

"You challenged him."

"I didn't."

She gave me a look.

"Serena."

"What?"

"Nobody talks to Adrian like that."

I shrugged.

"Maybe someone should."

She laughed.

Then her expression became serious.

"Be careful."

"Why?"

"Because people like him aren't used to losing."

I looked toward the law building.

Through the glass doors, I could see Adrian talking with several students.

He laughed at something someone said.

For the first time, he looked younger.

Less intimidating.

Almost normal.

I looked away.

"I don't care if he loses."

Camille smiled.

"Then what do you care about?"

I thought about my father.

About his photograph inside my folder.

About his final words to me.

"Winning."

---

That afternoon, Professor Reyes announced our first assignment.

A mock trial.

Teams of two.

She began calling names.

"Camille Santos and Miguel Torres."

"Daniel Cruz and Hannah Lim."

I waited.

Then—

"Serena Vale..."

I looked up.

Professor Reyes glanced at the list.

"...and Adrian Cross."

The classroom erupted in whispers.

I slowly turned toward him.

He was already looking at me.

His lips curved into the faintest smile.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Professor Reyes looked over her glasses.

"Is there a problem, Ms. Vale?"

I immediately straightened.

"No, Professor."

"Good."

She continued.

"You have two weeks."

Adrian leaned toward me.

"Looks like we're partners."

I stared at him.

"Don't get comfortable."

He smiled.

"I wasn't planning to."

I gathered my things.

Then stopped.

"One more thing."

He looked at me.

"What?"

"If you try to tell me what to do..."

I leaned closer.

"...I'll argue with you."

His smile widened.

"Promise?"

I frowned.

"What?"

"Because I was hoping you would."

I walked away before he could see the smile threatening to appear on my face.

I didn't know it then.

But that was the beginning.

The beginning of every argument.

Every competition.

Every late-night study session.

Every glance that lasted too long.

Every moment when hatred slowly became something neither of us could name.

I entered that university determined to become a lawyer.

I thought my greatest battle would be against the law.

I was wrong.

My greatest battle would be against the man sitting beside me.

Adrian Cross.

The son of the family I hated.

My greatest rival.

My greatest enemy.

And, eventually...

the man I would love more than anyone in this world.

But before we became enemies...

we were partners.

And neither of us knew how dangerous that would become.