Tennessee Line to LA Lights (A Matthew Gray Gubler FanFiction)

Chapter 11

"So what are my options?" Stephanie sat across the conference table from Roger, her lawyer, tapping her foot impatiently.

He sighed and shuffled the papers in front of him, "Mrs. Wright, we have gone over your options; you can either give into his demands and sign over 50% of everything you own, including future royalties or you can take him to court."

"But if I take him to court, wouldn't he just get arrested due to the warrant?" Stephanie leaned forward.

Roger nodded his head, "That would be the major risk you would have to take. The court would be lawfully responsible to report the warrant and have him arrested. He would then be sent back to Nashville and more than likely incarcerated and would be under no obligation to sign the divorce papers."

"This isn't fair! I have taken care of this man for fifteen plus years and he just pops up when things are really starting to go my way and demands to take what I have earned. There has to be a way to stop him."

"Mrs. Wright, as hard as this is for you to hear, you might want to consider just giving into his demands, or at least we can try to set up a meeting and give him a counter offer." Roger leaned back in his chair, the pen in his hand twirling between his fingers.

Stephanie shook her head, "I don't want to give in to his demands."

"If you don't, there is no guarantee that you will be able to get the divorce that you want. He does not have to sign the paperwork and under divorce law, Tennessee is an equitable distribution state, so they would give Dustin what they deem to be fair."

"Well shit, fair would be nothing," Stephanie was starting to get very angry.

"Mrs. Wright, I understand that this is difficult but we must try and keep a cool head about all of this. Let me see if I can get a hold of him and we can arrange a meeting."

"Would he agree to meet with us, considering the warrant out for his arrest?" Stephanie tapped her fingers against the glass table top.

Roger shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I'm not entirely sure. I have tried on several occasions to reach him at the number he called me at but he has yet to return any of my messages. Also, I have a contact down at the LAPD and I had them trace the number. It is a pre-paid cell, paid for with cash. So, at the moment, we have to wait until he contacts me again, but I will do what I can."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "I have a lot to think about then. Please, call me as soon as you hear from here again."

Over the course of several weeks, Stephanie and Roger had many conversations with Dustin. Unfortunately, none of them were in person and the majority of them were done through messages. Dustin held his ground, refusing to take any sort of compromise that they offered. He would only repeat himself and tell him that it was 50% or there would be no signing. Stephanie was getting so frustrated and the longer that this dragged on, the more tempted she was to take the offer. She wasn't getting much help from the people in her life either. Adrienne told her to take the offer, stating it was better to have him out of her life than to keep fighting him over something as trivial as money. Stephanie would argue that money wasn't trivial but Adrianne would counter with the fact that they would figure it out and money wasn't everything. Matthew, on the other hand, was telling her to fight him for what was fair and that she shouldn't allow him to bully her the way he was trying.

She was sitting on her living room floor, her notebook in front of her, pencil in hand, and not a single thing written on the paper. She groaned, this whole thing with Dustin was giving her writer's block. She needed to make a decision and she needed to make it soon. She had deadlines and an album to finish up and Dustin was hindering her progress. Her phone sang out, glancing down to see that it was her lawyer, she picked it up.