Member-only story
Law Follows Me Home — Part 1: The Retreat
She came to forget the courtroom—but the law never forgets her.
Reina Cross hadn’t slept in three days.
Her last case had ended in a media storm, a broken client, and a courtroom so tense it felt like breathing was a liability. She’d stood in front of the jury with her spine straight and her voice steady, defending a man she wasn’t sure she believed. When the verdict came down—guilty—she didn’t flinch. But inside, something cracked.
She packed a bag that night. No press conference. No farewell drinks. Just silence and a one-way ticket to a coastal town she hadn’t visited since college. A place where the waves were louder than the headlines and no one knew her name.
The house she rented was perched on a bluff, all weathered wood and salt-stained windows. It smelled like sea air and old books. She liked that. It reminded her of her father’s study—the only place she’d ever felt safe.
She spent the first two days walking the beach, drinking bitter coffee, and trying not to think about the trial. But the law had a way of following her. In every conversation. Every glance. Every shadow that lingered too long.
On the third morning, she met him.
