Chapter 21

It took Phin a week to admit to Emily that Sterling had submitted an official complaint to the bar association. It was late at night. Emily curled up next to Phin, but neither of them could sleep.

She had known something was eating at him. He kept telling her it was nothing, but with enough badgering, he’d caved and told her the news.

Now, they both lay silently. Emily’s mind whirled with how she could fix this for Phin. She knew he would tell her to leave well enough alone, and it wasn’t that she didn’t trust that he knew what he was talking about. It was more that she knew that she’d caused this to happen in the first place.

“I’ll take care of it,” said Phin into the dark room. “I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d worry.”

Emily didn’t answer. She didn’t know whether to find it comforting that he didn’t want to worry her, or to be annoyed that he thought she was so fragile that she couldn’t handle the truth.

A few days later, she sat in the district attorney’s office,