When the Past Becomes the Future

Confess

"Excuse me!" Robert exclaimed when his office door swung open banging against the wall behind it.
However when he looked up and saw who it was his heart immediately dropped. "Umm...Mr. Quinn what can I do for you?" He asked nervously trying his hardest to hide the panic in his face and voice.

"Don't start with the Mr. Quinn bullshit!" Brian snapped, "You know why we're here!"

"I do?" Robert asked his voice incredibly shaky. At only 5'6 and 170 pounds soaking wet, he was no match for a furious Brian Quinn.

Quickly Juliette fiddled with her phone until she brought up the picture of Robert with David. Brian snatched the phone from her hand and pointed it towards Robert. "Let's talk about your little meeting."

"I...ahh...well you see..." Robert stuttered realizing it was over. The biggest mistake he had ever made, the thing that kept him up most nights.

"I...I...I..." Brian repeated mockingly. Juliette looked on as Brian continued to stare right through this man. It was clear he was intimidating him immensely.

Robert had a decision to make. It was pointless to lie, it was clear they knew the truth. "I'm so sorry!" He cried out. "Tina's son isn't yours. I'm so so sorry!" Out of a mixture of guilt and fright, the man began to cry in front of Juliette and Brian.

"Why did you do this?!" Juliette shouted at him. "What kind of asshole does this?!"

"Do you have any idea what you've done to my fucking life?!" Brian screamed.

"I know! I know!" Robert responded lifting his head from his hands. "I'm an idiot for going along with this whole thing."

"Alright..." Juliette stopped him as she composed herself. "I think you need to start from the beginning and tell us everything." She followed Robert's nervous gaze over towards an angry Brian Quinn who was still pacing the small office.

"Baby please sit down." Juliette said to him motioning to the empty chair. There was no chance of this guy being forthcoming if he felt like Brian was going to bash his skull in at any moment. After a couple deep calming breaths he followed orders and took a seat.

"I just want to start by saying I am so sorry and there were so many times I wanted to call and confess at what I did." Robert started to say.

Juliette sensed Brian's anger rise again and quickly grabbed his hand squeezing tightly. "Let's get to the apology later, just tell us what happened and how you got wrapped up in this."

"Right... sorry..." Robert said looking nervously at Brian again. "Like I said, Jace Raymond is not yours. I was approached by David. His company handles the lab's finances and I met him at a meeting about a year ago. He offered me $20,000 if I would conduct a paternity test and lie about the results. I got $10,000 up front then the rest after I sent you the results."

Juliette looked over at Brian again and could tell he was still too angry to speak so she decided to do the talking. "How do Tina and David even know each other?"

"I'm not sure, they never told me much. I didn't even know they were talking about you until I showed up at your house. I assumed it was a different Brian Quinn." Robert responded. "I just..." he paused out of nervousness for a moment, "It was a lot of money he was tempting me with, $20,000 would really help with medical school."

Brian's eyes shot up in rage. "Medical school?!" He repeated through gritted teeth. "You really think you should be a fucking doctor after what you've done?! I should have you arrested!"

"You're right, you should." Robert admitted looking shamefully down at the floor. "I hope you don't though even though I do deserve it."

Maybe she was being naive but Juliette saw the remorse in this man's eyes. He was right, $20,000 was a lot of money and she knew what a con-artist David could be. She fell for his shit for years. Lovingly she linked her fingers with Brian's and thankfully felt him soften a bit. After looking into Juliette's eyes he turned towards Robert again. "If you have any emails or texts from either Tina or David, I want them." He said sternly.

Robert nodded, "I'll email them to you immediately."

"Let's go Jules," he said rising from his chair and taking her hand, "We're done with this piece of garbage." He added coldly staring right through Robert with nothing but distain.

Once back at the car Brian felt a massive headache come on. He couldn't believe this was actually happening to him. "Where's David now?" He snapped at Juliette.

Staring at him in confusion she was stunned not to mention a little aggravated at his tone with her. "How the hell should I know?" She barked back annoyed that he seemed to be taking out his frustration on her.

"You were engaged to the fucking guy Juliette! Where is he at this time of day usually?" Brian sighed. He was completely losing his patience with this day.

"Office most likely." She answered noting the time. "Why? You're not actually gonna go find him are you?"

"Seriously?!" Brian snapped. "The guy tried to con money from me! You're damn right I'm gonna go find him!"

"Can we not fight please?!" Juliette begged pinching the bridge of her nose feeling her own headache coming on. "I agree with you but you can't actually expect him to come clean do you?"

"So what do you suggest I do?" Brian asked gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were turning white.

"I think we have a better chance at breaking her than him." Juliette said.

"Tina?" Brian asked.

"Text her now." Juliette said.

"Saying what?!" Brian exclaimed, "Hey bitch I know what you did?!"

"Make something up on why you need her to come over." Juliette responded. Brian pulled his phone out of his pocket and began typing. Not being able to help herself Jules leaned over and watched as he sent the message.

"She's not gonna buy this." Brian said. "She knows I wouldn't invite her over unless something was wrong."

"Give me your phone." Juliette ordered holding her hand out.

"What are you doing?" Brian asked as he gave her his phone.

"Giving her something she won't be able to say no to." Juliette said as she began typing.

Can't stop thinking about you lately. Come over and see me baby, I really need you.

Brian looked on in shock. "Seriously?" He said rolling his eyes. "This is fucking stupid."

Within seconds his phone dinged with an incoming message. "Looks like she bought it." Juliette said flipping the phone around so he could read the new text.

Knew you'd eventually come around. I'll have my neighbor watch Jace and be right over. Make sure you're nice and hard for me ;)