The Billionaire Boss's Scandal

Talking To The Lawyer

Amara sat uncomfortably in her lawyer's office. It wasn't that she didn't trust her lawyer, but, if she was being honest with herself, she was scared. Joshua probably had some dirty tricks up his sleeves, and Amara wasn't sure how to deal with that. So many "what ifs" were running through her head. She only wanted what was best for her children.

"Okay, thank you." 

Amara looked up as her lawyer, Justin Richards, hung up the phone. He looked at her with sad, brown eyes.

"Looks like we're taking this to court," he said.

Amara exhaled. There had been a possibility that they wouldn't have had to go in front of a judge, but obviously, that wasn't going to happen.

"So," Amara shifted. "What now?"

"Well, you're going to have to make a case for yourself," Justin explained. "There's a lot of things that are going to be addressed during the case--" he started listing things off on his fingers-- "Best interests for the kids, any violence that may have occurred between the two of you or the babies, the conflict between you two, how the kids feel about this, and the roles and responsibilities between each parent."

Justin wrote all those things down and handed the paper to Amara. "Given that your kids aren't very old, it may make things harder, because it's your word against the father's."

"What do you mean?" Amara asked. She hadn't realized that her kids' ages would have much to do with anything.

"The babies can't talk yet," Justin said. "So we can't know how they're feeling about the situation."

"But they've never even met their father," Amara argued. 

"Exactly," Justin said. "So we don't know whether it's in their best interests for them to even meet him, let alone live with him. That part will have to be up to you."

"What about my roommates?" Amara asked. "Can they help me out?"

"Absolutely," Justin answered. "In fact, it's encouraged that you have a character witness at one of these trials."

Amara nodded, slightly relieved. She had Gabby and Ethan for that. And given that they were with her far more often than Joshua was, maybe the judge would see them as more credible.

"Now, in a lot of cases like this," Justin continued, "there is a possibility for joint custody, if the other parent seems fit."

He stopped when Amara started to shake her head.

"No way," she said firmly. "He hasn't been involved until there was something in it for him, there is no way I'm letting I'm have any form of custody."

"Has he ever paid child support?" Justin asked.

"No. Not even when I was pregnant."

"Excellent," Justin said. When Amara gave him a surprised look, he explained, "That helps your case a lot. It just proves that he hasn't had any interest in them until now. The judge will see that."

"Okay," Amara said. She was starting to feel a bit better.

"Any violence between the two of you?" Justin asked.

"No," Amara answered. Then a thought occurred to her. "But he is a little controlling. He seems to think that, just because he says something is going to happen, it will."

"Okay." Justin wrote that down. "If the father does gain joint custody of the children, what are you the most afraid of?"

Amara took a big breath as her chest suddenly began to feel heavy. This was something she had never, ever wanted to think about.