Stiletto Sisterhood

Original Edition: Priya| One night only

Hands shaking, heart racing, Priya closed the bathroom door. Locked it.

Alone. She was alone and could let the mask drop. Tears welled. The surprising ache of them blistered and stung as they burst from her—a ruptured dam letting all her pent up emotion spill. A relentless, gushing flood she couldn't control, only purge.

She shuffled on weak knees to the row of porcelain sinks and braced the closest one, holding herself together just enough to look up at her smiling reflection.

Tears rolled thick down her cheeks and thankfully she'd had the foresight to wear waterproof mascara or else the mess would've been beyond simple repair. She could deal with blotchy cheeks and red nose but raccoon eyes? Hell no. Turning on the water, she dipped her hands into the cold stream and pressed wet hands to her warm face.

I won. And not just won—slayed. The expression on Crowley's legal team as she handed over the file outlining Tim Crowley's underhanded involvement in years of tenant harassment/abuse was something she'd never forget.

He'd rolled into the judge's chambers with three, two men and one woman. The woman Priya immediately recognized as a long-standing litigator who'd crushed any other whispers of malpractice into dust. The other two had been more for show and intimidation as she knew well enough that Leilani Ogaki was a veritable hurricane few could withstand.

And she had.

Genie had stood by her the whole time, shoulder to shoulder, holding her ground with strength of belief in her that was beyond touching. They'd been a team. A unit as she worked Crowley into a settlement that would see Genie out of renting and into ownership of her gorgeous little Brownstone. She's lived there for fifty-three years and had a solid record as a valuable tenant all that time. Crowley's company was hemorrhaging money and the developers had plans to restore the Brownstones to sell for triple the offer.

So what was worse? Taking a ten-million-dollar paper cut or facing a crippling $1.5 billion-dollar knockout?

Without a single, credible leg to stand on, Crowley's defense collapsed like a Styrofoam cup beneath a boulder. And not only had the judge awarded in Genie's favour, but she'd also demanded an additional five million dollar payout for punitive damages.

After that, she'd make a quick call to Heather, informing her of the settlement agreement and over the next few hours it had been full steam ahead to get everything drafted and finalized before end of day. A chaotic blur of activity that hadn't let her feet touch the ground long enough for the reality to sink in until this moment, right now.

With a sobbing giddy, bounce in her five hundred dollar heels and thousand dollar suit, Priya pulled out her phone from her purse and unlocked the screen. To her surprise, the first number she pulled up wasn't to one of her Sisters...but Hadrian. Not letting herself pause to over think it, her thumb swiped across his number and the call rang out.

He answered after the first ring.

"Hey." He sounded surprised, but pleasantly so. "How'd it go?"

A laugh burst out of her that wavered on a bright, weepy note. Priya pressed her hand to her mouth and smiled. "You're telling me you haven't heard by now?"

He laughed too, a gentle, grating sound that made her shiver. "Yeah, I did. But wanted to hear it from you. Congratulations are in order."

"It's crazy. It's so crazy, I can still hardly breathe. It's like...everything I've before this moment—it was important and meaningful, but different. As a student, somehow I felt like there was always this barrier between me and my cases. Like a force field." Scheisse, she was babbling.