Broken Trust

Chapter 8

Camilla

I know what is coming next. Our divorce won't be an easy one, since they will do their best to take everything from me. This time I will be prepared, but to be prepared, I have a lot of work ahead of me. I start by making a list, of everything they accused me of during the trial. I know that things are not exactly the same, so we will have to plan for other possible accusations, but I will start with what I know.

It's not an easy task. I was numb for most of the trial, too startled to understand what was happening. But I know about some of the big issues that presented themselves. I also remember a couple of the character witnesses they brought, so I will need to be prepared for them. In Sharon's case, I need to talk to Rachel and see if the recording I made could be used against her. I really doubt I could use it to accuse her of anything. I have no way to prove what she did, but maybe it will be enough to make her look bad, so her testimony won't be believed by others.

It takes me a while, but I have a list of names of people that could be able to help, and a list of people who I need to confront.

"How is it going?" Rachel asks as she looks at the list from over my shoulder. "What are you working on?"

"This is a list of people I have been meeting with. Some of those meetings were at hotels or remote locations. I'm sure that if they took pictures of me walking inside some of this places they could make it look bad."

"I think I recognize a few of those names," she studies the list. "Isn't this one Richard Prescott's husband?"

"Yes, he is an activist, and also runs a refuge for LGTBQ+ youth. You know how many of these kids ends up in the streets because their families can't accept them for who they are. I've been meeting with him at least once a week, and he is a hugger. A picture with him would be really condemning. just because it would look really bad,” I loved him as a friend, and it was totally platonic between us, since he didn’t like women, but some of the pictures of us together made it to the trial, and from the angles and the situations it looked really condemning. I’m pretty sure that it was some of the most damning evidence they got, but it won’t happen again. I mean, they will have the pictures, but I won’t be blindsided and will be able to explain what is happening. And if we get Raoul there, just talking with him will be enough to clarify things.

"I can see that. We just need him to have him around to testify and we can clear that up. If I remember correctly no one who knows him will believe he would have an affair with a woman," I have to smile at that, it’s just like I feel about it. Raoul can be a little too much sometimes,hile Richard is so calm and collected. They are really a great couple. "And maybe I can invite Richard to help with the case. He is a human rights lawyer, not family, but he is really smart and knows a lot of tricks that could help us."

"I don't know if he has the time," I protest, even if the idea of having someone else in my corner kind of cheers me up.

"He loves to fight injustice, and this one qualifies. He also works in a law firm that has many experts in family law, and he could get us some help there. I work family law, but you know I'm not expert, and we are going against the best of the best. Of that I have no doubt."

"Yes, if they planned this, then they are also prepared for the divorce trial, and since the pre-nup is pretty clear, we need to prove that I never cheated on him, or I will end up with nothing."

"On the positive side, for something this big, there has to be proved without any doubt that you cheated, or the judge won't proceed. The most likely scenario is that he will ask for everything to be divided,” I wouldn’t mind that, if I can protect my business, but they won’t stop that easily.

"I can't trust that. I really believe they are going to do their best to destroy me. If Scott is not part of this, they will work hard on making sure that he thinks I'm guilty, not just the judge. And if he is part of this setup, then he will be able to give a lot of evidence that under the right light, could make me look bad. It will be mostly hearsay, but with people like them, their word against mine, I'm at a huge disadvantage."

"Don't think that way. We need to trust the system," but I already know how flawed the system is, just like she does. It's so easy to be swept under the influence of powerful people like the Stones. They will make me look like a gold digger and a w***e, and I can't allow them to do that. This time I will be ready to fight back.

"You know that having the truth behind you doesn't guarantee that you will win. We need to make sure we have everyone involved in this willing to say the truth. Otherwise, we will need a lot of evidence to prove they are lying.”

“I think I can contact most of these and, what? Ask for them to give a declaration telling the truth about our involvement?”

“I think most of them will have to be called as witnesses.”

“I will contact them and warn them beforehand, so they will know.”

“Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? We don’t even know if they are going to file for divorce or when.”

“It’s when, and the sooner we prepare the better. There’s no way to know when they are going to ambush us with this. We can’t be caught unprepared.”

I wasn’t going to be the a victim this time, I was going to show them they had messed with the wrong person. This time I knew all of their tricks, and I only had to find a way to stop them.

They had accused me of a lot of things, and since I had done any of those, I believed they wouldn't be able to prove it, but they made innocent things looks so bad, that by the end I looked like a greedy gold digger that had many lovers and no respect for her marriage.

What bothered me the most, was what had happened at the end. After thinking about it for a long time, I was pretty sure that it was William who was with Sharon when I was murdered. What I wanted to know, what I needed to know, is if Scott is involved. I want to think he was just misguided. Not that it would make me hate him less, but it would make me feel less betrayed.

“I have a lot of work to do. Since all we know is that they are going to try and frame me as a cheater. I know of a lot of situations that could be misrepresented to make me look bad and we will need to be prepared to disprove them,” I see the list again, it’s a long one.

“We just need to make sure to make you look good. Since I know you do a lot of charity work. We will need a lot of character witnesses,” Rachel was writing some stuff in her tablet.

“How long do you think we have? If they are already working on this?”

“Well, it could be days, or weeks. I’m pretty sure they will use any contacts they can to try and move it forward. If, like you think, this was planned, then they will be fully prepared, and taking time from us to stop us from being prepared, will be one of their priorities.”

“So, start working on that. We will need a strong strategy.”

“I will have to protect my business, just in case, and then start working on making sure that we have all the support we need.”

It’s going to be hard work, but I’m determined to make it. This I promise to myself. I will win this time.