Abandoned to the Mafia, I Rose as the Don’s Most Trusted Lawyer Chapter 03
Marcus kept his word.
The new apartment was near the school, only a ten–minute walk away.
Floor–to–ceiling windows filled the living room with daylight, and the balcony was warm with sun by
morning.
On my first morning there, I squinted as sunlight poured through the glass.
I stood on the balcony for ten full minutes and did nothing but let it touch me.
It wasn’t until tears landed on the back of my hand that I realized I was crying.
I didn’t know why.
For the first time, all the fear and hurt I had buried for years finally had somewhere to go.
I cried for a while, wiped my face, and went back inside.
A row of new books sat on the desk, delivered by Noah the night before.
There were books on family law, contract law, and
criminal procedure, along with all the textbooks I needed for school.
Every book had been neatly arranged on the shelves.
I lowered my head and breathed in the scent of fresh ink from the new pages.
When Marcus came in carrying breakfast, I was sitting at the desk in a daze.
He glanced at me but didn’t ask any questions. He set
the paper bag on the dining table and went to the kitchen for a glass.
I watched him awkwardly pour milk.
A little spilled onto the table, and he immediately wiped it up with a paper towel.
“What are you staring at? Come eat.”
I sat down, picked up a toasted bagel, and took a bite.
It was crisp, so I took another.
I ate too quickly because no one had ever taught me how to behave at a table.
Eating had only ever been about survival.
If I wanted to live, I had to get the food down as fast as
possible because I never knew when the next meal would come.
One rare evening, Mom cooked a full dinner.
I had been hungry for so long that I ate too fast, and a piece of food lodged in my throat.
I coughed uncontrollably and could barely breathe.
Mom only glanced at me.
“You eat too fast. You’re embarrassing.”
I had to stumble into the kitchen alone, turn on the
faucet, and gulp down several mouthfuls of water before I could swallow what was stuck.
Something in Marcus’s eyes shifted.
“Little lawyer, do you hate your parents?”
I considered the question for a moment.
I had always been quieter than other children my age,
and I didn’t know how to charm people the way Claire did.
I liked to read.
Anything I read once, whether words or rules, stayed in my memory.
Back then, I had even wondered whether there was something wrong with me.
When I ran to tell my parents, they looked at me as though I were a freak.
“You spend all day reading that useless garbage. Aren’t
you afraid you’ll rot your brain? Put the book down and wash the dishes.”
To them, reading was the most worthless thing I could do.
The first time I earned the highest score in my grade, I brought my report card home.
Mom was braiding Claire’s hair and didn’t even look up.
“Leave it over there.”
I placed the report card on the dining table and waited,
hoping she would at least look at it.
The next day, I found it in the trash.
The paper had been crumpled into a ball and thrown away with scraps of food.
I pulled it out, carefully smoothed it flat, and hid it beneath my pillow.
I looked at Marcus.
“What does hate feel like?”
Marcus was silent for a moment.
Then he peeled a hard–boiled egg and placed it on my plate.
“Those people don’t matter. Study hard. Get into the
best university. Earn the best grades. When you grow
up, you’ll decide what you want to do with your own
life. You won’t need anyone’s permission to live the way you choose.”
He paused.
“And when you become a lawyer, I’ll stand guard outside your office.”
George completed the transfer paperwork the next day.
He enrolled me in the best private school in the area.
Tuition alone was nearly fifty thousand dollars a year,
not counting uniforms, activities, or anything else.
I had no idea how much debt Marcus and the others
would have to recover to earn that kind of money.
On the day Marcus took me to school, he stuffed a thick
stack of cash into my coat pocket.
“You don’t worry about money. Your only job is to
study. Once you get your degree, you can deal with all those damn contracts for me.”
His tone made it clear that he wasn’t asking for my opinion.
I nodded and looked back at him from the school entrance.
I suddenly remembered how my old school had required us to buy materials for science class.
Mom always gave me only half the money and said the
family couldn’t afford the rest.
Eventually, I learned to skip lunch and give the money
I saved to the school.
That way, she wouldn’t complain every day that I was
wasting her money.
Sunlight fell across Marcus.
Part of a black bird–of–prey tattoo showed beneath his shirt collar.
My homeroom teacher led me into the classroom and
asked me to introduce myself.
I stayed silent for several seconds before speaking.
“My name is Erin Carter. I like reading.”
I didn’t know what else to say.
At my old school, the teachers had preferred Claire
because she knew how to charm adults.
They rarely called on me, and none of the other
students ever spoke to me first.
I had almost never received any attention at school.
My homeroom teacher smiled.
“What kind of books do you like?”
I thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth.
“Law books.”
The classroom went silent for a beat, then erupted into laughter.
“Law books?”
“Does she think she’s a lawyer?”
“She’s twelve. What a poser.”
The teacher rapped her knuckles against the desk at the front of the room.
“Quiet. Everyone has different interests. Show some basic respect.”
The laughter faded, but several students continued whispering about me.
Everyone was staring.
I walked to the back row and sat down.
I lowered my head and focused on my textbook.
The words blurred in front of my eyes, then slowly became clear again.
I didn’t cry.
I couldn’t cry.
From then on, my life became stable for the first time.
Every day, I listened carefully in class.
After school, I kept reading.
At night, I returned to the apartment and explained everything I had learned about the law to Marcus.
He often fell asleep halfway through, slumped against the couch, but I still loved that life.
When the first round of exams came, I earned the highest score in my grade.
I carefully placed my report card inside my backpack, planning to show it to Marcus when I got home.
I left for only a few minutes to use the restroom.
When I returned, my backpack had been thrown onto the floor.
My textbooks and notes were scattered everywhere.
Several boys were standing on my books, laughing.
“She got the highest score right after transferring here. She had to have cheated.”
“Rip up her notes. Let’s see how she cheats next time.”