Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Are You Selling or Not?
Ashley Shaw walked up a few steps, pulled out the chair opposite Shane Coleman, and sat down directly.
"Attorney Coleman, I’m not here to play around. I want to formally hire you as my lawyer."
Shane Coleman sized up the girl sitting across from him.
The girl was dressed in a white dress, with a pleasant scent of soap on her, and a small face framed by oversized black glasses, as if they might be too heavy for her at any moment.
A typical student appearance.
But he noticed that the way this young girl spoke and acted was somewhat incongruent with her age, and her gaze held a maturity and calmness beyond her years.
At least for now, he hadn’t seen this type of girl before.
He couldn’t help but chuckle.
"No money? Little girl, you might not know me well, but I don’t do business at a loss."
Ashley Shaw met Shane Coleman’s gaze.
"Don’t worry, I won’t make you do business at a loss. If you take my case, I’ll give you a big gift package, how about it?"
Shane Coleman teased her a bit.
"A big gift package? Like one of those blessing gift boxes?"
"You could say that, this gift will indeed be a blessing to you."
Shane Coleman tilted his head, his curiosity piqued.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Promise me first, if you’re satisfied with the gift I give you, can you take my case?"
As Ashley Shaw spoke, she pressed the recording button in front of Shane Coleman.
At this point, Shane Coleman couldn’t treat her as just a naïve little girl.
He clearly felt that the person sitting across from him was not a naïve young girl, but rather an experienced fox.
He lost his earlier casual demeanor and grew serious.
"Then I have to see what your gift really is. If it is, as you say, a satisfactory gift, I can take your case."
"Alright."
Ashley Shaw paused the recording and looked at Shane Coleman.
"Attorney Coleman, did you just take on the case of movie star Owen Sinclair?"
Shane Coleman raised an eyebrow, a little surprised that the young girl knew about this.
"Where did you hear about this?" Given her assertive tone, he didn’t see the need to deny it.
The case with Owen Sinclair was being conducted in secret, and only his assistant knew about it.
Where did she get her information?
Ashley Shaw smiled and said, "I have my channels. Besides that, I also know that Owen Sinclair has long suspected his wife of infidelity but has no evidence. So, he hired you to secretly investigate and gather proof of her affair, hoping to make her leave with nothing. But she’s very cautious, and so far, you haven’t found out who her affair is with."
Shane Coleman’s expression grew more serious than before.
"So?"
"Owen Sinclair’s wife’s affair is with Owen’s manager. Moreover, they plan to take the money and run."
"..."
"The gift I’m giving you is this, are you satisfied?"
"..."
Ten minutes later, Ashley Shaw walked out of Shane Coleman’s office.
She knew about Shane Coleman’s reputation from the time Warren Prescott had sent her that cute sticker in her past life.
At that time, she suspected Warren Prescott had someone else outside, so she impulsively searched for divorce lawyers.
The most popular divorce lawyer online then was Shane Coleman.
Thus, she also learned about Shane Coleman’s famous case: the divorce of movie star Owen Sinclair.
And as fate would have it, the Sinclair case was occurring right now.
On the way there, she worried she was too late because Shane Coleman eventually found out who Owen’s wife was having an affair with.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too late.
She delivered the explosive news to Shane Coleman early.
So naturally, Shane Coleman agreed to assist her and even gave her some advice on the spot.
Thanks to Shane Coleman’s reminders, she gained a lot.
On the way home from the law office, Ashley Shaw dialed Ariana Grant’s number.
"Ariana, I’ve found a really great lawyer for you."
"Listen, if you want to get that house, follow what I say."
Ariana Grant was a bit dazed.
"You hired a lawyer?"
"Yes!"
"You..."
"Don’t ask too much for now, trust me."
Ariana Grant was silent for a second and said, "Okay! I trust you, what should I do?"
"You have to first trick your parents into going to court. Once in court, side with your dad and help him get ownership of that house, then you..."
"Wait..."
Ariana Grant interrupted her on the other end of the line: "Ashley, you might not understand my parents very well. Even if we go to court, I have to help my mom. My dad is a mercenary person. If the house ends up in his hands, let alone give it to me, he might not even let me live in it."
Ashley Shaw scratched her head, not knowing how to explain.
She couldn’t just say: Your mercenary dad is soon going to latch on to a rich woman, and he won’t even care about this old house with all the money she’ll have.
Nor could she say: Your mom already has someone she’s seeing, and she’s pregnant, and the baby will be a son. She’s going to leave the house to him in the future.
Just as Ashley Shaw was unsure of how to persuade Ariana Grant, Ariana Grant’s voice came through over the phone again—
"Never mind, never mind, let’s not overthink it, I’ll follow your plan!"
"?"
"You’re smarter than me and won’t hurt me, so I’ll just do as you say."
"..." Ashley Shaw wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
"My mom’s here, I can’t talk right now, I’ll hang up, but I’ll do what you said!"
The call ended, and Ashley Shaw let out a long breath of relief.
She trusted Shane Coleman’s abilities, and she’d already set a target for Ariana Grant, avoiding the mistakes of her past life.
No matter what, at least it was a good start.
Hopefully, everything would go as planned.
...
Before she knew it, evening had arrived.
Ashley Shaw arrived at the convenience store as promised.
The store manager had waited for her specially.
Ashley Shaw, after all, was an adult disguised as a student, quickly getting the hang of things in the store, making the manager very satisfied.
"When there are no customers in the evening, you can rest on the reclining chair behind the cash register, but make sure to get up when someone comes in."
"Okay," Ashley Shaw nodded.
Her obedient demeanor gave the store manager peace of mind to hand over the store to her.
However, just as the store manager left, a wave of customers arrived right after.
All of them looked innocent like students but dressed maturely.
The group directly asked to buy cigarettes.
Ashley Shaw adhered to the store manager’s instructions and asked perfunctorily, "Are you all adults? We don’t sell cigarettes to minors."
The moment after her words fell, a teenager with a whiff of alcohol slammed his fist on the cash register.
"Cut the crap, are you going to sell or not?"
The girl next to him laughed casually.
"Hey, Tiger, you shouldn’t ask like that, or people who don’t know might think you’re asking her ’selling what?’"
The girl’s words made the group of youths laugh uproariously.
"Selling or not?"
"How much to ’come out’?"