Dovey and Nelson chatted seriously as they walked across the brick courtyard. At the street, they paused, as if deciding where to go for lunch. It was a beautiful summer day, a day that would normally have made Lila feel light and agreeable. But something about the sun on her face now turned her blood hot.

The men made their decision, crossing Third Avenue and entering the building on the corner. Lila followed at a careful distance. The atrium was full of glass, and sun, and people. Straight ahead of her, an escalator carried Dovey and Nelson to the second level.

At the top, they made their way into a restaurant with tablecloths and waiters in white shirts, a far cry from the cafeteria where the rest of the employees ate. But this was Colin Nelson—the big boss—having lunch with his division head. Their meal was important and weighty and would be paid for by taxpayers’ money. Why not eat at a restaurant with a wine list?

The hostess seated the two men while Lila stayed outside, peeking in and pretending to look at a menu on the wall. She had no guiding force beyond the absolute unfairness of it all. Dovey had attacked her with every arrow in his quiver and all because she had rightfully beaten him in court. He had sunk so low as to use her suicide attempt against her, exposing the darkest part of her life to the Board of Law Examiners. Again, Sadie’s words echoed in Lila’s ears. Why did he think he had the right?

Why indeed, Lila thought to herself, and with those words, something took hold deep within her, a thought so powerful, it nearly caused her to stumble backward. He didn’t have the right—why hadn’t she realized it before? And just like that, the pieces on the chess board shifted around until Dovey’s king stood vulnerable in the corner.

She started to walk into the restaurant but paused briefly to consider Joe. What would he say if he were there? She smiled. He would tell her that she was a legal ninja Jedi. This was the woman he saw when he looked into her eyes. Then she heard the echo of Andi’s voice, yelling up to her as she stood frozen on that stone wall. You know what to do, so do it. If she was going down, it would be on her terms, not Dovey’s.

She walked into the restaurant with a purposeful stride, grabbing a chair along the way, and dragging it to the two-person table where Frank Dovey sat with Colin Nelson. When the two men looked up at her, she felt the same dizziness she’d experienced on that cliff ledge, but she continued forward, clapping the chair down to join them at their table. The look of stunned confusion on Dovey’s face was enough to make getting fired worth it.

“Hi, Frank,” she said, taking a seat.

“Um…Ms. Nash, this is a private meeting,” Dovey said, a far more polite reaction than what Lila had expected. She’d caught him off-guard.