The final forming
of a person's character lies
in their own hands
-
Anne Frank

_________________

"Ouch!" My head is killing me and so is the stupid light flickering in from those damn curtains. I'm sprawled out on my stomach. Brushing my hair away from my face, I squint at the clock. 7:05 a.m. I try to move but my legs feel like dead. I feel like dehydrated yet my bladder is ready to burst. I grimace while sitting up and swinging my legs off the edge of the bed. I ease to my feet and suppress a moan when I feel something inside my head jumping. Why is my head beating harder? Did my heart move to my head? My fingers circle my temples with firm pressure to alleviate the throbbing in my head and to keep it from exploding.

After relieving myself and washing my hands, I pick up the glass of water and Advil from the nightstand and gulp it down my throat. The soothing sensation feels like Heaven and so the two Advil. My mouth tastes like... Yuck! I walk out of the washroom after a long shower only to move into the closet. I change into a tank top and black pants. I brush my hair and let it off without tying it.

Memories rushes back to my mind like a hurricane.

Daniel!

Questioning Daniel!

Deal with Daniel!

Feeding Daniel!

Drunk with Daniel!

Negotiation with Daniel!

Kissing Daniel!

Orgasm...?

Oh my God!

I did it, ain't I?

Yes you did!

Noooooooooo!

Yes!

I walk out of the closet, thinking about several ways to face Daniel but all my thoughts comes to a halt when I find Daniel standing in the middle of the room.

"Come here." He says it while staring me in the eye, a vein throbbing in his temple. A little shiver runs up my spine. It isn't fear, but I'm not sure what it is. 

I hesitate for a second before I move towards him. Once I'm near him, he pulls me towards him by my waist, pressing himself against me. I looked up at him, holding my breath. Daniel leans in closer to me and I suddenly get a faint whiff of the cologne he's wearing – something different from his usual and so delicious that I lick my lips and hold my breath when he drops his head close to mine. He veers his face to the side of mine, so close that I can feel his warm breath against my cheek until he stops right by my ear. My heart starts beating faster and I smile to myself, realizing that he's not in angry mode.

"You're crazy when you're drunk," he murmured, his thumbs sliding underneath my top the tiniest bit.

"Hmm," I snorted, which changed to a snortmmm as he nuzzled my neck. "You want to tell me something?"

He brought his face back to mine, tinged with the slightest of blush. "Today's the party."

"So what?" I asked, shaking his shoulders.

He buried his head once again into my neck. He continued on his nuzzle path, now sweeping kisses back up toward my ear. My lips curves into a huge smile

"I want the first dance," he whispered, and my smile froze as he licked my skin. The way he said it made my nerve jump in excitement.

"What if I won't dance with you?"

He groaned into my neck. "Now you’re just killing me." He made an action to pull away, and I tugged him back.

"Really?" I said, turning my head to allow him better access to my sweet spot. Well, the sweetest spot accessible right now.

He answered with a kiss on my collarbone. "Why are you always so 'hard to get' type?"

I chuckle. "Let's see what the night is like," I said, arching up into him, feeling my breasts press against his chest. "I never had sex in the morning."

"Now you’re talking," he told reaching my bra strap, which he was pushing aside to dance little kisses on the skin underneath. My shoulder was in heaven. He gathered my hair back into his fist, sweeping it off my shoulders. He inhaled deeply. "Looks like we're going to break another rule."

"I don't care," I blurt out as I pull his face closer to mine. I try to capture his lips but stops when the door opens wide. Daniel drops his hand from under my top but doesn't let go of me.

I turn towards the door only to find Hope standing there, biting her lip."I'm so sorry," she mutters, looking worried.

I glare at her. She turns to walk out but stops when Daniel speaks up. "It's okay, Hope. I'm leaving anyway."

I sighed. "I'm going to cancel her raise."

He dropped his head back to my shoulder. "Let's continue this later."

I smiled. “But you still want to lick me, don't you?”

He groaned. "Stop teasing," he mutters, stepping away from me. He gives Hope a small smile before walking out.

I sigh as I turn my attention towards Hope. She stares at the floor, closing her eyes.

"Now, what is so important that you denied me the right to get laid?" I snap, walking towards her.

"Marco is here and he says it's urgent."

My body alarms immediately. I don't waste a second as I walk out of the room to meet Marco. He's probably done with the investigation of what happened in the office.

Hope stops walking and I turn my head towards her, only to find her staring at something. I follow her gaze and my eyes widens when I see the sight in front of me. I cross my arms over my chest and lean my hip against the wall, pretending like I'm not completely thrilled by this information, because that would make me a hypocrite.

"Are they really going to do it here?" Hope asks, her eyes focused on the scene going on.

"I think so," I mutter, smiling wide.

I stare at Ryan who had his mouth all over a Leila's face. His hands moving all over body, holding her close to his body as she's the last source of air in this world. I look around to make sure there's none standing there and gawking at them like us.

"Though this is an interesting show, I really am not sure that Thomas and Daniel would appreciate such a wild show," I snap, loud enough for them to hear.

They both freeze and within seconds, they step away from each other. Leila clears her throat as she faces me while Ryan closes his eyes probably in embarrassment.

Looks like I got another way to solve my problem!

"We need you to come back to the firm immediately. There's a problem," Marcus said, when he caught the sight of me.

I give him a nod before I turn towards Ryan and Leila who were standing behind me. "I want the list of Daniel's shareholders as soon as possible," I state, before walking out of the house without another word.

I ignored Ryan's voice calling out my name as I settle in the car. Marcus and Hope joins me, Marcus starts the car and the car starts moving.

Thiry minutes later, I was sitting on the head seat in the conference hall of my office. Marco, Ben —who reached yesterday back from his town— and James, our associate lawyer sat on their respective seats which is my left side while Hope choose to sit opposite to Marco on my right side. I lean back on my chair, twirling it slightly allowing myself to move along with the chair.

"Your guess was right," Marco started, placing a set of papers on the conference table which I assume are the details of the account. "Around 1 million was taken from the firm's account and few details were shared. This has been done through two accounts."

"Two?"

Marco nods his head. "One from the general manger and the other one is from Adam's account." Adam?

A chill passes down my spine but I cover my expression without giving anything away.

"No way," Ben snaps loudly. "He wouldn't do it."

Marco nods his head. "Maybe but according to the records, this is what we got. The GM and Adam has to face disciplinary action. The committee should be formed immediately."

I close my eyes. Adam wouldn't do it and I trust the general manager too. It's someone else but still I can't avoid the displinary committee. Loosing the firm's details or sharing it is definitely a mistake so proving their innocence is not that easy. So this is why the share holders were causing a fuss about. The case details in the firm are not shared with anyone unless there's a court order so leaking of information can affect the the credibility of the firm. And moreover money is involved. One million is not an amount you can ignore and especially since this can affect the whole firm.

"Who are the members in the committee?" I ask, opening my eyes.

"Not fixed since the general manger cannot attend as he himself is the culprit here. There are only two partners left since Adam is out and you're on vacation," Marco replies, looking tensed.

I shake my head. "Give me the list of the associates that are shortlisted for promotion as partners," I tell Hope who gasps in shock.

"You're planning to add more partners?"

I nod my head.

"I think it's great," Ben replies. "We need more help. The firm has grown so much that just four partners is not enough. We started with one office but now we have around three branches around the country so it's pointless to keep just four partners."

"But it's so sudden," Hope says.

I shake my head. "It's not. I was already planning to do it," I inform, smiling at her. "I need the whole list within three hours."

As Ben said, the firm has grown faster than I expected it to grow. The number of clients has increased and there are around eighty associates working in these three branches. All the four partners work in this branch while the two branches is manged by the respective general managers and head of departments until and unless there's an issue where the partners should get involved.

I stare at James who gives me a small smile in return. He's my team. When I say my team, I mean criminal department. Cassy deals with family issus, Adam and Ben deals with civil cases so the only partner who is not the head of any department is me. James is the head of criminal department since I hold the position of the CEO of the firm. The lawyers working under my department is comparatively less experienced than the other departments so it was always me personally who handovered the cases to the associates. James has been a great help since he just like me has enough experience in this field.

"I heard you're stuck with a murder case," I comment, my eyes fixed on him.

James nods his head, his green eyes looking weak and tired. "It's not going well." I could sense the defeat in his voice. James is one of the best lawyers of this city, he's one of the lawyers who earns a fortune for the firm. He recently joined our firm but it definitely helped the firm.

"Want some help?" I ask, raising my eyebrows in question.

He cocks his head as if studying me. "Why? Because it's a teenage case?"

"It's a teenage case?" I retort, not exactly knowing what the case is about. To be frank, I didn't care what it was because a part of me trusted James to take the right case. I'm cent percent sure that he wouldn't defend a person who deserve punishment. We had that in common.

He chuckles, shaking his head at me being cocky. "Your help is always welcome."

I nod my head in approval before turning towards Hope. "Anything else?"

She nods her head. "Lawyer Anderson wants to meet you. He says it's urgent and he isn't ready to talk to anybody else."

My face scrunches up in confusion. What does a rookie lawyer wants to tell me?

I blinked. Then, I blinked some more. "What did you just say?"

The man sitting across the table from me repeated himself.

Still, I stared at him. I heard him correctly the first time. He was loud and clear. No problems. But my brain couldn't wrap itself around the sentence that had come out of his mouth. I understood all the individual words in the sentence, but putting them together in that moment was the equivalent of telling a blind person you wanted them to see something real quick.

"I saw them," he repeated causing Hope to scowl in annoyance.

I sat back against the chair and took in the hair on his head, his smooth, unlined face and the clean shirt he had on. For being in his early twenties, he was a looker.

Calm down, take a deep breath, and get it together, Ally. Focus.

I needed to focus on something else to relax.

You knew something like this would happen.

But I didn't want it to happen in this building. How dare they?

"Lawyer Hart," Allen Anderson, rookie civil case lawyer said my name again. "I didn't want to tell me bu-"

"It's Lawyer Avery," I tell him, earning looks from Hope, Ben and Marco while James smirked.

Seriously?

What? I don't want him calling me that name when I have a new surname which I absolutely love. I had been trying since years to get rid of my parents' surname.

"Uh-huh," he mutters, blinking at me twice before continuing, "I don't have anything against Lawyer Joey but I couldn't close my eyes when something like this was going on."

I smile at the rookie lawyer. "So what you're telling is that Lawyer Joey had sex with a teenager in her office and you saw it. Is that right?"

"Not exactly," he replies, his expression is between embarrassment and awkwardness. "I didn't see it but.." he stops when he sees the looks he's getting from Hope, Marco and Ben. Except me and James, others looks like they might eat him alive.

I sigh. "Anything you tell me will be confidential and will not affect your job unless and until it's true," I assure him. He didn't deserve the looks they were giving him if what he's telling is the truth.

He nods, takes a deep breathe and looks me in the eye before saying, "I saw a girl walk inside Lawyer Joey's office. Though I didn't see what happened it was pretty obvious from the sounds I heard while I was waiting in the secretary's cabin to see Lawyer Joey. You could ask the secretary if you don't believe me. She looked like she might throw up. Anyway, the girl walked out with a look.. um that's petty obvious. I thought to let it go since it's none of my business but something happened after few days. The same girl came with few of her friends who were girls and a boy of their age when Lawyer Joey was not in the office. I didn't know what happened but the boy.." he trailed off. He face turned red in anger. "He looked messy. His forehead was bleedy, his shirt was dirty and he looked tired and ashamed. I just... I couldn't forget the look on his face when he saw me standing outside the office."

I took a deep breathe. "Are you telling me that the boy was bullied?" I asked, my fingers forming a fist.

"I'm not sure but I guess so."

"It's not Cassy's mistake," Hope piped in.

I glared at her causing her to look down. It was Cassy's mistake because Lawyer Joey is none other than Cassy. Cassandra Joey! My best friend whom I trusted the most until few days ago. She might not know about the bullying but the fact that something like this has happened in her office is not something that can be ignored. I'm sure, Betty, her secretary wouldn't let anyone inside unless she got a direct order from Cassy.

"Do you know the kids?" I ask but he shakes his head.

I grab my phone and search for a familiar photo in my gallery. Once I found it, I turn my phone towards him so that he can see the photo. He leans forward as if he wants to confirm something, his expression changes to familiarity and I knew the answer before he could open his mouth.

"That's the girl I talked about. The one who came on both days," the rookie lawyer said as if he achieved something big.

"No way," Hope shouts, rising to her feet. Anger oozing out of her, her defenses taking place around her.

"Sit down, Hope," I say, my voice sharp enough for her to sit back. Right now, Hope reacting like this is not what we want. It's irrational.

"I'll take care of this," I tell him, earning a huge grin from him. "You did a good job." He gives me a nod before walking out of the conference room.

"He's lying," Marco states. Ben and Hope nodding their head in acknowledgement. They continue blaming the rookie lawyer while I dial Cassy's number.

Within few seconds Cassy picks up the call. "I want you in the office. It's important," I tell her, keeping my voice calm.

"Ally, listen to me. I didn't mean what I said yest-" she stops when a voice moans out her name causing me to tighten the grip on my phone.

Before she could say anything further, I hang up the phone. I text Adam asking him to come to the office tomorrow morning which he replied with an approval.

"Do not tell Cassy and Adam what has happened until tomorrow morning," I order, my gaze moving from Hope to Ben to Marco.

"Cassy wouldn't do it," Hope says, her voice weak.

They all already knew something was off but they don't want to admit it. The fact that my sister is the girl the rookie lawyer was talking about isn't a surprise for me anymore. I knew something was wrong with Cassy and the fact that my sister is the reason is a truth.

Cassy and Ashley are having sex. I'm not against it. I'm not against the fact my sister likes girls. I'm not against my best friend dating my sister. I'm not against her bringing my sister to her office.

But I'm against them hiding it from me.

I made Ashley to stay with Cassy because I trusted Cassy to take care of my baby sister. I thought she would tell me everything so the idea of me knowing about their relationship from someone else is not acceptable for me. Moreover, allowing Ashley to bring her friends into Cassy's office is not acceptable either. Closing her eyes against the fact that Ashley is bullying some boy is not acceptable either.

I didn't earn Ashley's custody simply because I was bored. I did it to make sure that she was studying well and behaving as a good student. I trusted her to not take a wrong decision. I feel stupid not realizing what was going on. How long did they plan to hide it? Cassy probably knew about everything that was happening around Ashley but still she choose to lie to me rather letting me correct her or doing it herself.

You married for the wrong reason.

Judge's voice ring in my ears. He knew it. He choose to not tell me because he wanted me to find out myself. He knew I wouldn't believe it unless there's a strong reason to not trust my sister and best friend.

Is this why Ashley said nothing when she heard I was getting married for getting her custody? I thought she wanted to come and stay with me. I thought she wanted to get out of there. Did I make a mistake?

Are you regretting the decision to marry Daniel?

Never! That's one of the best decision I've ever made in my life.

How could I regret it when I have a human teddy bear to cuddle? Where else would I get such tasty homemade food? Why would I miss out such mind-blowing orgasms? And he isn't difficult to look at either.

You got to be kidding me!

What? I don't regret marrying Daniel. I just don't like the fact that this started because of Ashley.

I'm also sad that the last member of my family whom I trusted chose to betray me.

Oh Ally!

I wish Daniel was here! So that I could jump upon him like a spider and never let go.

I take another breathe, turning towards Hope. "She would. This isn't the first time someone is cheating or betraying me. I'm used to it," I say, rising to my feet. "You all knew something was going on with Cassy but chose to not to believe it since you trust her so much and also didn't want to hurt me. But no mater what, truth is truth. Judge had warned me earlier and I already knew what it was. I always expect the worst so don't worry about me getting hurt." I grab my phone and the papers I need before moving towards James.

"Let me know when we can meet to chat about the case," I tell him, giving my usual grin. He rises to his feet and steps forward to wrap his arms around me. I wrap my arms around his back as I welcome his friendly hug.

"I'm sorry," he mutters. "You deserve much better." I know! And I'm glad he decided to confront me directly instead of finding excuses for others so that I won't be hurt.

I'm a big girl and knows very well to deal with this shit.

I pull away from James after a hug which lasted for hardly five seconds before turning towards Hope once again. "Knock before you enter my room again. I'm a newly wed who's celibate for almost a month because you always choose to take up the role of cock-blocker. I'm tired of using the vibrator to get off," I warn her in my serious tone.

She bites her lips in embarrassment while the men chooses to laugh out loud. And then I knew I was going to overcome this hurdle too.

Though there are people that choose to hurt me, I still have others around me who would do anything to not wipe this smile off my face and that was all that mattered.