The next day.
November 5th.
7:00 AM.
The sky was only beginning to brighten, and the late-autumn cold had turned into a biting wind that whistled through the streets.
Adrian left his apartment carrying a container of leftovers, pulled his coat tighter around himself, and joined the pedestrians making their way through the city.
Before long, he stopped at the entrance of a familiar alley.
A head cautiously appeared from behind one of the corners.
The moment the thin teenage boy recognized Adrian, he hesitated before awkwardly walking over.
Adrian extended a hand.
“Handshake.” The boy reluctantly reached out and shook it.
He was barely over five feet tall and painfully thin, and the hand resting in Adrian’s palm felt almost skeletal, his fingers covered with a thin layer of dirt.
Adrian released him.
“Turn around.” The boy grabbed the hem of his clothes with both hands, looking embarrassed, but eventually turned in a circle.
“Too slow.
Again.” His eyes widened.
In weather this cold, spinning around quickly while wearing clothes that barely kept out the wind was hardly pleasant.
He was already miserable enough—did this man have no sympathy at all?
But then again…
This was Adrian.
Somehow, that made the unreasonable request feel almost normal.
The boy reluctantly spun again, this time much faster.
His loose clothes fluttered as the cold wind rushed through the gaps, immediately raising goosebumps across his skin.
“Much better.” Satisfied, Adrian handed him the container.
“Eat.” The boy quickly accepted it.
Adrian did not tease him any further.
He turned and continued toward the law firm.
The boy watched his retreating back for a moment before quietly saying, “Thank you.” Then he disappeared back into the alley as quickly as a frightened mouse.
7:30 AM.
Blackwood & Reed Law Firm.
Adrian pushed open the front door and walked toward the time clock as usual.
One of the attorneys already sitting in the lobby noticed him, paused, then called out.
“Attorney Cole, someone came looking for you.” Adrian was slightly surprised.
Clara and Evelyn?
After clocking in, he looked toward his colleague.
“Did they leave?” “No.
They’re waiting in Reception Room 001.” “Got it.
Thanks.” Adrian nodded and headed toward the reception rooms.
There were not many people who would come looking for him personally.
If it was not Clara and Evelyn, then the most likely possibility was Lena—the self-proclaimed Nine Heavens Soaring Dragon, Jade-Faced Thunder Sovereign, Universal Salvation Demon-Subduing, Eternal Longevity True Monarch.
After all, he had told her to come to the firm last night.
Still…
It was only seven-thirty.
Would she really have arrived this early?
Adrian was still thinking about it when he reached Reception Room 001 and pushed open the half-closed door.
The hinges gave a soft creak.
As the gap widened, the face of a man sitting on the sofa came into view.
The man looked up, paused briefly when he saw Adrian, then smiled.
“Good morning, Attorney Cole.
We meet again.” Adrian immediately recognized him.
Derek Vaughn.
The attorney representing Walter and Martha Pike.
Adrian’s expression remained unchanged, though his attention sharpened.
He did not enter immediately.
“Attorney Vaughn.
What brings you here this early?” Derek stood.
“Attorney Cole, the court summons has already been issued.
The trial begins in five days.” He paused, picked up the briefcase resting beside him, and removed a document.
“As for why I came…” He placed the paper on the table.
“It’s mainly because of this.” Adrian’s eyes moved toward the document.
The title immediately caught his attention.
[Statement of Forgiveness] His eyes narrowed slightly.
8:00 AM.
The front door of Blackwood & Reed opened again.
A tall woman in a long coat stepped inside.
The moment she entered the heated lobby, she unwound the scarf around her neck and exhaled slowly, revealing a beautiful face that initially looked unusually cold and expressionless.
Her clear eyes swept across the lobby.
“Excuse me, does Adrian Cole work here?” One of the attorneys looked up from his desk and was momentarily distracted by her appearance before recovering.
“May I ask who’s looking for him?” “My name is Lena Quinn.
I know Adrian.” As she spoke, Lena exhaled another breath and gave a slight shiver as the warmth of the building began replacing the cold she had carried in from outside.
The detached expression on her face gradually softened.
She had not been deliberately acting aloof.
She had simply been freezing.
“Attorney Cole is with someone in Reception Room 001,” the lawyer said.
“You can wait in the lounge if you’d like.” “The reception room?” Lena paused.
She was about to head toward the waiting area when another thought occurred to her.
The trial was approaching.
At this hour, could Clara and Evelyn have come to discuss Martin’s case?
“Thank you.” After confirming which direction Reception Room 001 was in, Lena headed over.
Martin’s criminal case was closely connected to the custody dispute she had handled for Clara.
With the trial so close, it would not hurt to speak with them again.
However, just as Lena reached the door and raised her hand to knock, a man’s voice drifted out from inside.
“Attorney Cole…” Lena stopped.
That was not Clara.
Nor was it Evelyn.
She was about to quietly step away when the voice came again.
“You should think this through carefully.
The court isn’t going to mediate a homicide case for you.” Lena’s eyebrows moved slightly.
“If you refuse this Statement of Forgiveness now, then when the time comes and you decide you want it…” The man’s voice became heavier.
“It won’t be this easy anymore.” Lena immediately recognized him.
Derek Vaughn?
The attorney who had approached Adrian at the police station?
Before she could think any further, Adrian’s voice came from inside.
“I won’t see you out.” Silence.
Then— “You!” Inside the room, Derek slapped a hand against the table and glared at Adrian, momentarily unable to find anything else to say.
After several seconds, he took a deep breath.
“Fine.” His voice became cold.
“You really don’t know what’s good for you.” He grabbed his briefcase.
“Then I’ll see you in court.” Derek turned and stormed toward the door.
The door suddenly flew open.
Lena, who had been standing a little too close while listening, almost had it swing directly into her face.
She jumped backward.
By the time she recovered, Derek had already marched down the hallway without even noticing her.
Lena frowned at his disappearing back.
“Why does he have to slam the door?
Does he have no manners?” Before she could move, a voice came from behind her.
“Heard enough?” Lena stiffened.
She slowly turned around.
Adrian was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, wearing an unmistakably amused expression.
He raised one hand and tapped the frosted-glass partition beside the reception-room door.
Tap.
Tap.
Although the glass was not transparent enough to clearly see a person through it, it was more than sufficient to reveal the blurry outline of someone standing suspiciously close to the door.
Unless Adrian had suddenly gone blind, there was no chance he could have missed Lena’s silhouette while speaking with Derek.
He smiled.
“Perfected Lord of the Sharp Ears, did you hear enough to confirm that I wasn’t secretly selling out my client?” Lena’s neck immediately turned pink.
The color rapidly climbed toward her ears.
“What do you mean, listening?
I wasn’t eavesdropping.” She looked away.
“I was just…
standing here for a moment.” Adrian said nothing.
“And what is ‘Perfected Lord of the Sharp Ears’ supposed to mean?” Lena added quickly.
“I already told you that ridiculous title from before was something I made up on the spot.” Her eyes wandered everywhere except toward him.
Adrian simply crossed his arms and continued looking at her.
The amusement in his eyes only made Lena more embarrassed.
After a while, she finally forced the conversation back to something serious.
“That was Derek Vaughn, wasn’t it?” She glanced in the direction he had left.
“What did he want?” Adrian stepped back into the reception room.
“He said Ethan’s family is now willing to ‘forgive’ Martin and came here hoping I would accept a Statement of Forgiveness.” Lena stared at him.
“Forgive him?” Her voice rose.
“They actually have the nerve to use that word?” Then she stopped.
Her expression slowly changed.
She rubbed her chin.
A moment later, her eyes lit up.
“Wait.” She looked at Adrian.
“You were right.” Walter and Martha were using the forgiveness statement as leverage.
They had already subconsciously realized that allowing Martin’s case to reach an irreversible conclusion would do them no good at all.
So before the trial began, they were trying to extract as much value as possible from the only bargaining chip they possessed.
Everything was developing exactly as Adrian had predicted.
And he had predicted it nearly two weeks ago.
Lena looked at him with growing disbelief.
To anticipate not only the other side’s actions but even the reasoning that would drive those actions so far in advance…
Could an ordinary lawyer really do that?
More importantly, Adrian had reached that conclusion while looking at a case Lena herself had regarded as almost impossible to resolve.
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
When had someone like this appeared in Greenwood City?
Lena suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“Wait.” Adrian looked at her.
“You really work at Blackwood & Reed?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Where else would I work?” “I’ve heard of most of the senior attorneys here, and I’ve never heard the name Adrian Cole.” Lena looked him up and down suspiciously.
Adrian appeared completely unbothered.
Before Lena could continue investigating his résumé in her head, another realization suddenly struck her.
If everything that had happened so far matched Adrian’s prediction…
Then didn’t that mean his proposed solution might also unfold exactly the way he expected?
Normally, that would have been reassuring.
The problem was that Adrian’s proposed solution was anything but normal.
Her eyelid twitched.
“Wait…” Her heartbeat accelerated slightly.
She stared at the tall, mild-looking young man standing in front of her.
“Don’t tell me…” Adrian waited.
Lena’s eyes widened.
“You’re actually going to do that illegal thing next?” The reception room suddenly fell strangely quiet.
They stared at each other.
As the silence stretched out, Lena’s sense of unease only grew stronger.
Then Adrian smiled.
“You guessed right.” Lena froze.
Adrian continued calmly, “I’m going to do exactly what I said.” He paused.
“But it definitely won’t be illegal.”