Valeria felt short of breath as she watched Samuel Baxter head for the elevator.

“Fucking asshole!” she cried, as tears welled up in her eyes, and Nick hugged her, trying to calm her down.

“I'm sorry, Valeria. If he had deposited the check you wouldn't have been able to take that money from him, but even so, the lawsuit was already filed,” Connor explained.

Nick tried to keep his composure for Valeria, but he was just as angry as she was.

“What are we going to do?” he asked the lawyer.

“We'll go to trial and fight for Alice,” Connor declared confidently. “It starts in three days, so we'd better start preparing now.”

They spent the afternoon calling the witnesses the lawyer had decided to call at the first hearing. But in the days that followed, neither Valeria nor Nick could rest easy. They had left the work in the hands of the twins, Bruno, and Oli, and had devoted themselves entirely to preparing for the trial.

Valeria seemed strong and confident, but Nick knew she was having