Jun 09, 2026
· 8 chapters
The courtroom of Judge Clara Reeves smelled faintly of floor wax and old paper. It was a sterile, unforgiving room where lives were routinely measured in quarterly reports, school attendance sheets, and bank statements. At 8:55 AM, Miriam Dent sat at the plaintiff's table, looking every bit the grieving, devoted great-aunt in a cream-colored St. John knit suit. Her attorney, a man with teeth too white and skin too tanned for Chicago in April, was casually flipping through a thick binder labeled In the Matter of Maya Callahan.
Chapter 1 - The Nine O'Clock EntranceThe courtroom of Judge Clara Reeves smelled faintly of floor wax and old paper. It was a sterile, unforgiving room where lives were routinely measured in quarterly reports, school attendance sheets, and bank statements. At 8:55 AM, Miriam Dent sat at the plaintiff's table, looking every bit the grieving,
