Page 63 of Worth the Fall

I sink back into my chair, even though this isn’t new revelation to me. The weight of the situation pressing down on me like a ton of bricks.

“I can’t believe this,” I whisper, rubbing my temples.

Miguel paces the room, his hands on his hips, his jaw ticking as he processes everything. “She’s doing this to mess with us,” he says, his voice growing louder. “She’s trying to make things complicated.”

“She doesn’t have to try,” I mutter, slumping further into my chair.He stops pacing and looks at me, his frustration giving way to something softer—concern. “We’ll figure this out, Mia,” he says, his voice steady now. “I’m not letting her ruin this for us.”

I look up at him, my heart pounding in my chest. “You can’t just fix this, Miguel. I lied to you—to my boss. I hid the fact that I was taking on her case because,” I shake my head in embarrassment. “Because I couldn’t choose between you or this job and in the end…”

“Baby stop, this isn’t your fault. This isn’t something that you need to apologize for. And maybe you’re right that I can’t fix this,” he says, leaning forward, his hands on the edge of my desk.“But I can sure as hell try.” He picks up his phone again, hitting a button and holding it up to his ear.

“Celine,” he says sharply, “I’m only going to ask you this one more time and I want you to think long and hard about the selfish choices you’ve made that will not only impact me and Mia but also your daughter. Did you choose Mason, Whitman, and Briggs because of Mia?”

I freeze, my hands gripping his arm, holding my breath as her voice drifts faintly from the phone.

“Yes,” she says, her tone smooth, unapologetic.

Miguel’s jaw tightens. “Why?”

There’s silence on the other end, heavy and deliberate. I feel my stomach churn as I glance up at Miguel. His expression remains hard, his jaw ticking, but then a faint sound comes through the phone—a soft, barely audible, “I’m sorry.”

I blink, my heart racing as I look at Miguel, but his expression changes. The anger in his eyes doesn’t soften, but his focus shifts.

“I’m sending a car to your place,” he says, his tone clipped, his words precise. “You better be in it and on the way to Mia’s office in the next fifteen minutes. No excuses.”

Without waiting for her response, he hangs up and tosses the phone onto my desk.

“Miguel!” I exclaim, panic rising in my chest. “What are you doing?”

He turns to me, his eyes sharp and unrelenting. “What the hell is going on here, Mia?”

“What do you mean? You can’t just?—”

“Do the partners know?” he interrupts, his voice steady but firm.

My lips part, but no words come out. The question sits heavy between us, and I feel the sting of tears pricking my eyes as my lip starts to tremble.

Miguel notices immediately. His expression softens, and he steps closer, sitting down in the chair across from my desk. “Mia,” he says gently, his tone no longer commanding but careful, coaxing. “Tell me everything.”

I exhale shakily, sinking into my chair as the weight of the past few days crashes over me.

“It started with Cameron,” I begin, my voice trembling. “He came to the office, unannounced, with his life coach. He had a sage bundle, Miguel. He started burning sage in my office.”

Miguel raises an eyebrow, but he doesn’t interrupt.

“And I lost it,” I admit, covering my face with my hands. “I yelled at him. Told him to get out. Then I threw both of them out—loudly, in the middle of the hallway, right in front of my boss and… and Celine.”

Miguel’s brow furrows, and he leans forward slightly, his elbows resting on his knees. “Celine saw that?”

I nod miserably. “Yes. And then—then it got worse.”

“How could it possibly get worse?” he asks, his tone half-wary, half-incredulous.

“I was so distracted and upset that I spilled coffee on my blouse before my meeting with my boss and Celine,” I confess. “And during the meeting, I missed my chair and fell to the ground—taking all my files and my iPad with me.”

Miguel’s lips twitch like he’s trying not to smile, but he quickly hides it. “Okay. And then?”

“Then,” I continue, throwing my hands up, “I went back to my office and tried to calm down. But Cameron had left the sage in my trash can, still burning. It caught fire, the sprinklers went off, and I ended up soaked and crying in Mr. Whitman’s office, explaining everything to him.”

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