He clicked a silver pen and wrote my name at the top.

“I’ll represent you, Samantha.

But I’m not a charity, and this will mean calling in favors at the clerk’s office today.

I need a five-hundred-dollar retainer to start the filings.”

I swallowed hard.

Five hundred dollars was exactly what I had left to my name.

My rent was already overdue, and the diner bill left unpaid last night had cut deep into my tiny grocery budget.

If I gave him the money, I would have nothing left for the rest of the month.