Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Chapter 81

Juliet had spent the past hour sitting nervously on her sofa, with her hands clasped together as she tried to pass time with her thoughts alone. Estee had said she would be there at 1pm but it was now 2pm and Juliet wasn't surprised she was late but the waiting was just adding to her nerves.

She was nervous because what this meeting was about; this whole custody and court situation was something that had her constantly on edge. However, she was also nervous because it was Estee. The woman could be extremely intimidating and her stern and abrupt personality could make someone like Juliet feel about ten times smaller while around her.

It also didn't help that the last time she had properly spoken to Estee was when the whole issues went down with her dad Mike. It was when she had found out about her adoption and how Estee had known this whole time.

"She's just in here." Juliet heard Dylan's voice as he guided Estee down the hall.

When the door had gone, he had been the one to get up and answer it, knowing just how nervous Juliet was.

"Hello!" Estee chirped in her strong French accent; one of the only things she had kept from her life in France.

"Hey, how are you?" Was Juliet's same enthusiastic response as she stood to her feet and Estee took her by surprise and pulled her in for a hug. It was brief but it was a hug and it gave her some hope that these next few hours may be a bit more relaxed than she had been worried they would be.

"Good, good. Sorry I'm late, I was having lunch with Aaron's family."

"No, don't worry it's fine." Juliet shrugged it off, yet inside she was feeling the opposite as Estee's lateness had just added to her nerves.

"So let's get right to this." Estee continued as she took a seat on the sofa and began pulling papers and her laptop from her bag.

Juliet and Dylan were looking back at her completely clueless as they felt out of their depths. They did not know what to expect and therefore, they were unsure of what was going to come from this meeting.

"Hunter has remained with you since birth, correct?" Estee asked and earned a nod from Juliet causing her type something up on her laptop.

"Has he ever been away from you for a long period of time? For a particular reason I should know about?" Was the next question and Juliet looked shocked, as though she was inferring something but truly she was just trying to gather facts.

"No never. He's always been with me."

"Good, okay. How is your relationship with Dylan? Is this a permenent arrangement?"
Yet again, Estee's questions had Juliet completely taken back and feeling slightly offended. Who did she think she was? It was as though she wasn't taking them seriously.

"These are just important questions, Juliet." Estee insisted when she noticed the look on her face. "I need to understand your story so I can defend you."

Her stern voice showed just how business focused she was on this. She was serious about her job and she wanted to make this abrupt so she could get her facts and succeed.

"Yes, it's permanent. We are engaged." Juliet held her hand out as though she needed to prove it.

"Good and is marriage on the cards anytime soon?"

"Um..." Juliet looked to Dylan, not knowing where they stood with that.

After the issues they had previously experienced due to her feeling extremely insecure, they had put any plans on hold. Therefore, they had not spoken about it since.

"I'll take that silence as a no." Estee replied. "But the judges will be told yes, that marriage plans are fully in progress."

When Juliet didn't say anything due to feeling slightly awkward, Dylan spoke up for them.

"Yeah, that's fine. It will be happening soon anyway." He replied while reaching out for Juliet's hand and giving it a light squeeze.

She turned to look at him as a smile formed on her face. It was as though that moment was a reassurance from him that they were okay and what had previously happened would be forgotten.

"Perfect. Moving onto Matt Russle then..." Estee continued once she had finished typing on her laptop once again. "Is there anything you think he could hold against you? Any bad history?"

"No, not that I can think of." Juliet answered once she had truly though it through.

She couldn't think of any moments that would be worth telling the judges about. She had always been there for Hunter and always put her kids first, no matter what, so what could Matt possibly say?

"Okay but I can think of one." Estee insisted earning a frown from Juliet. "Your biological mother is Rebecca Gibson. You are related to a family of gang members which can potentially be very dangerous for Hunter."

Even though Estee was just stating facts, the way she spoke sounded offensive. Juliet didn't know what Estee's views were on Rebecca but she could guess they were not good considering she was also one of Mike's ex's.

"But Matt is actually in a gang. Surely that's even worse?" Juliet asked, not seeing the point. "I don't even speak to the Gibson's."

"Yes but he will be using whatever he can. You need to understand that this will be brutal Juliet. They are going to be digging up as much of your past as they can. So we need to be prepared."

Although this meeting was meant to be filling Juliet with more reassurance, it was just making her feel worse. She was terrified and as Estee laid the truth out about what this court process was going to be like, she just felt completely sick.

She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to have to go through this court case and stand up there and defend herself. Yes, she had Estee who was amazing at what she did but she couldn't hide behind the woman, she had to speak up too.

"It also means we need to do the same with Matt. We need to find as much evidence against him as possible."

Estee's words sent a chill through Juliet. She was so grateful to be having her help and increasing her chance of winning the case but she didn't want to pull Matt down in the process.

It didn't make sense to her how two people who used to be married and shared so much love would put each other through this.

However, she also knew that Estee had a point and that Matt had started this, so she had to ride it back just as bad.

"So if you want to win this you need to trust me and be completely honest. You need to tell me everything." Estee finished as she reached out and took Juliet's hands in hers and although it was a big ask, for the first time since finding out about her dad, Juliet did feel like she trusted Estee.

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