“I have news,” Mr. Alvarez said, walking into his office. Lisa and Vin had been waiting nearly an hour while her lawyer talked to someone.
“Good news?” Vin asked. He adjusted his cane along his leg, glancing at Beau’s niece.
Alvarez shrugged. “It might be, it might not be, depends on how it goes. The judge has asked to meet with us in chambers before Ms. Ellis’ hearing for her emancipation.”
“What does that mean?” Lisa asked. She looked quite odd, diminished. Following Alvarez’s instructions, she’d removed almost all of her piercings; the one in the corner of her nose remained, a defiant little twinkle of silver, and dyed her hair. It wasn’t, she assured Vin, her natural hair color, but it was at least a color along the typically genetically possible lines. That, coupled with the lilac
