Plot Twist

27. i'm actually offended

The first meeting I had with Gregory and Charlotte - the two amazing lawyers that were Sébastien's childhood friends - went really well. Their insight on the case made me feel very positive about this whole situation and its outcome, which helped me to sleep at night at least.

The day after I'd received the letter, Sébastien reached out to them to set up a meeting as soon as possible and at three o'clock in the afternoon, he sat by my side as I reunited with them via video chat. Accepting help seems so easy until you're the one in need of help and in need to accept it. It was harder than I'd thought, especially because it was such a generous offer. But there was no doubt that it felt really, really nice to have someone next to me as I was practically fighting for my life and my daughter's future.

That first meeting felt like a job interview, but even more thorough. They got to know me and the case, they saw what they would be dealing with.The lawyers had asked me to send them a bunch of documents that they'd need for legal purposes and for building the case - whatever that meant - before we reunited again. But before we scheduled another video call, as my lawyers, their legal advice was for me to go to the trial.

"If his team is reaching out, it is because they have some evidence. Running and hiding will only imply that you feel guilty about what you did. And that's giving them leverage." They said.

That twisted my brain into a knot. After all, responding to his threat that came in the shape of a fancy court letter notification was the last thing I wanted to do. But I also knew that I had to trust them. Sébastien had told me that they were the best in their line of work and that he trusted them so... I trusted them as well. To be honest, it's not like I had any other better option.

"Are you okay?" Sébastien asked me, planting his hand on the end of my back.

"Yeah, why?"

"You've been hand whisking the brownie mix for over twenty minutes."

His words caught up with me and I dropped the silver whisk, nervously cleaning my hands on my apron, slapping them against my thighs.

Sébastien and I have been spending most of our time at L'Amour, perfecting the recipes of the items that would be on the menu before we'd make a careful selection. And I hate that I can't even fully enjoy living my lifelong dream because of the dark cloud of intrusive thoughts that hangs over my head every second of every day.

"You know, thinking about it won't change how things will go."

"I know." I nodded before letting out a sigh of despair.

"You know what you need to do, don't you?"

I didn't respond, but my face didn't show any signs of confusion. I knew all too well what I needed to do. I just had a hard time accepting that I needed to do it.

"You need to talk to Lucas and tell him about everything before the trial starts."

A wave of worry and concern washed over me. But it was hard to pinpoint what was worrying me the most - telling Lucas about what I had done and what had actually happened, or admitting that I had hidden a massive secret from him, my brother and best friend who had always been there for me. Either option was scary as hell.

"I know. I just... don't know when or how I'm going to do that."

"Saturday might be a good option."

On Saturday was Lexi's birthday. Despite everything that's been going on regarding me, David and his case, I've tried to keep a strong front for Lexi and tried to act as if nothing was going on. So, I planned a small birthday party at the house for her, with some family, some friends (mine and hers), and of course, Sébastien. When I'd told her about it, she was over the moon excited about the idea and the only demand that she had was that Sébastien would be the one to make her birthday cake, as per her requests.