Reunited with My Lawyer Ex

Chapter 4 Past Regrets and Office Woes

Alexander and I had never really "courted" each other. We'd been in the same advisor group, hit it off, and fallen in love slowly, day by day.

Our relationship had been intense—two straight-A students, both hailed as geniuses, breaking the law school's unspoken rule: no dating across direct academic years.

Our breakup, however, had been anything but graceful.

As student body president, he'd taken on every event and competition the school and college had to offer.

At the time, our academic advisor had been Helena Cross, a young, attractive recent graduate who'd had an obvious crush on him—so obvious, everyone could see it. Alexander, though, had been completely oblivious.

Helena had repeatedly made physical advances and openly provoked me, even though she knew I was his girlfriend.

I'd demanded he set boundaries, but he'd brushed me off, calling me overdramatic.

We'd fought over it more than a dozen times.

On the fourth day of our fight, I'd gone to the college office to submit my paperwork to withdraw from the exchange program.

Outside the door, I'd seen Helena leaning against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

He hadn't pushed her away—he'd let her cry, his hand resting lightly on her back.

The pain had felt like a knife to my heart. I'd slammed the door shut, torn the paperwork to pieces, and thrown it in the trash.

Two weeks later, without a word to him—who'd thought we were still just fighting—I'd boarded a plane to Merilica.

I'd heard later that he'd been in the middle of a competition when he'd heard I'd left the country.

For the first time in his life, the calm, collected lawyer had panicked.

He'd stumbled out of the final round, running red lights all the way to the airport, but my plane had already taken off.

His decision to abandon the competition had cost his school the championship, a title they'd held for over a decade.

The school administration had given him a formal reprimand, and he'd taken a year off from school.

I'd changed my phone number after that, cutting off all contact with him.

That night, I'd been so agitated I hadn't slept until dawn.

I had no idea what he was playing at, but my gut told me he was getting back at me—after all, no one had ever made him look so foolish, so broken.

*****

Bad news kept piling up.

His team had submitted new evidence, dragging out a case that should have been settled weeks ago.

This delay had pushed back my full-employment at Cystone Law Group, and I still hadn't found a permanent place to live.

Cystone Law Group was second only to Core Splendor Law in Kingston City, but something about the firm had felt off from the moment I'd walked in.

HR's attitude had done a 180 after I'd been hired, dumping a case no one else wanted on my lap.

If they'd wanted to make things hard for me, they could have given me a challenging case.

Instead, they'd handed me one so simple that any law student could have won it. I couldn't figure out what the firm's higher-ups were playing at.

"Vivian, sort through these case files," Isabelle Frost snapped, dropping a box of documents on my desk.

Isabelle was the same age as me and had been the youngest full-time lawyer at Cystone before my arrival, so it was no surprise she'd taken the most dislike to me.

I looked up, my tone firm. "That's not my job. I can't do it."

Isabelle raised her chin, looking down her nose at me. "Get off your high horse, Vivian. Just because you worked at Insight Legal Counsel doesn't make you better than everyone else. This is Kingston City, this is Cystone Law Group!"

"I didn't just 'work' at Insight Legal Counsel." I corrected her, my voice calm but sharp. "I was their youngest lawyer, the only foreigner—and only foreigner and woman—in their Top 10. I'm not refusing because I think I'm better. I'm refusing because I did this kind of work years ago. If you're gonna use your status as a full-time employee to make me do this for the salary Cystone pays me, you'd better check with your uncle first."

Isabelle's uncle was one of Cystone's partners, a prominent lawyer in Kingston City.

"I left the files here—suit yourself. Don't come crying to me when the higher-ups ask why it's not done!" Isabelle huffed, storming off.

I shook my head, turning back to my work.

*****

I left the office promptly at 5:30 p.m.—I made a point of leaving on time every day, no exceptions.

But when I reached the entrance, the office was pitch black, and the front door was locked. I was new, so I didn't have a key yet.

I called several colleagues, but either no one answered or they hung up immediately.

A glance at i********: revealed the reason: photos from an office dinner—everyone had left without me.