“You used me,” I said quietly.
“Of course I did!”
Daniel had approached during the outburst.
“Nick,” he said evenly, “I can’t represent you anymore.”
“You’re my lawyer!”
“I was.
You deliberately misled this court. And you just admitted a lot of things out loud.”
He handed me a business card. “Call this number.
Use my name. They’ll take your case pro bono.”
“I’m choosing ethics.”
For the first time since the hospital room, Nick looked small.
Back at my sister’s house, I crouched carefully in front of Chloe.
“You saved me.”
She smiled, and I finally let myself cry.
For the first time since surgery, I felt stronger — not because I had sacrificed something, but because I had stopped letting someone take from me.
Nick tried to leave me with nothing.
But he forgot one thing.
I wasn’t alone.
