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Sean Peters stared at the papers spread out across his desk. He stared at them until his vision blurred, his elbows were planted, and his head was cradled in his hands.

Bills, bills, debts, rent. These were all things he would normally stress over anyways, but figure out in the end. But this letter, this one on official letterhead and a fancy stamped seal, was different. His last client on retainer, East Bay Foods, had called him that morning to inform him that they were walking away, and to expect this very letter, delivered by legal courier.

He had expected this day to come for months now, with East Bay Foods getting larger and larger and beginning to expand beyond state borders. He had been desperately attempting to prepare for this very moment, exhausting his limited connections, draining his personal savings to put out ads in the paper, on TV, and even on a little league park billboard. Nobody called.

And now, with a cold, sinking certainty, he knew that this was the end of Sean Peters & Associates. An aspirational name more than anything, for the “associates” had never materialized. Sure, he still had the odd walk-in client here and there, but that wouldn’t be enough. Reviewing a document - $150 cash. A Karen who wanted a cease-and-desist written - $300 at most. A traffic court representation - he’d be lucky to get $750 a client and those cases popped up only once or twice a month. With only walk-ins, he could barely afford his own apartment’s rent, let alone the rent and costs of a law office.

What was next? Sean couldn’t help but ponder. This was likely not just the end of his firm, but the end to his legal career entirely. The whole reason he had started his own firm was because it had been the only option. He had gone to a - to be quite frank - terrible law school that left him with no internship and no job opportunities, even though he had graduated with honors. It was a shame too, since he had been a bright student with a true passion for the law. Alas, he had been far too lackadaisical while studying for the LSATs and his poor performance had sunk the trajectory of his childhood dream.

Well, no use dilly-dallying.

He spent the rest of the afternoon numbly going through the filings required to officially dissolve the business. He typed out the notice to creditors, though he had no money to pay them. He organized what files remained to be archived at the town archives or destroyed. By 4 PM, the winter sun had begun to abandon his office, and Sean had bundled everything into neat envelopes, ready for delivery to the county clerk. He walked out to the reception area.

Vina Julett sat at the reception desk, typing away. She was making edits to their website, trying to get them higher up in the search engine results. Oh, devoted Vina.

Vina was Sean’s only other employee. Officially, she was his legal secretary. Unofficially, she was the receptionist, paralegal, office manager, courier, and the sole reason this firm had even lasted this long.

Vina was a slim woman in her late-20s, with pouty lips and a beautiful cascade of dark wavy hair. She had been at the firm for over two years now and was Sean’s legal miracle. She came from a bad background - her truck driver dad had died in a tragic accident when she was young, leaving her mom mentally frail and distant. Vina had dropped out of high school and gotten involved with some rough crowds. But she had turned it all around, got away from that life, and even got her GED and enrolled in a community college paralegal program. Then, another tragedy: her mom passed away, and the funeral costs wiped out what she had saved up for her final year of tuition. Sean had hired her when nobody else would touch his lowly firm and pittance of a salary, and nobody else would hire her with zero credentials or experience. It had turned out to be a blessing for both. She had picked up everything extremely fast, and the resourcefulness from her upbringing translated incredibly well. Meanwhile, Sean always treated her as an equal, taking everything she had to say seriously.

Sean placed the envelope on her desk. Vina nodded to him in

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