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And he doesn’t deserve the illness that was put upon him.
He was a smart man, top of his game, and legit.
Hart Law is legit.
I can now see what I couldn’t see before.
I don’t think Nathan’s father was involved. I think it was all down to Kevin Taylor.
Because there is no evidence in the files to suggest Daniel had any involvement in fraudulent or corrupt activities in my family’s case. In any of his cases.
Too clouded by my grief and with a need to blame someone, anyone, I failed to see the truth.
I flick through my photos on my screen one after the other, there are the documents, backed up by public records of evidence reports and the crash report, telling me I was completely off base.
I spent hours in the records room at Hart Law and I figured out all is above board. Every fact checks out; no issues and everything is in order.
Except for the redacted letter, which still confuses me. The case was filed, thoroughly conducted, and the verdict was clear: not guilty.
There are no lies or secrets hidden in plain sight. Just facts and an outcome that has never sat well with me but one I must learn to accept.
Eventually I will find peace, but I’ve been unsettled for so long, it will take a while to shift that unease.
I close my phone down and place it on the nightstand, then slide back down under the comforter and make myself comfortable.
Working for Hart Law has given me the clarity and perspective I needed. Being here has reaffirmed that too. This sacred time with his brothers has been exactly what I needed.
It’s time to let go of the past and move on, accept what has been.
And begin a new future.
With Nathan.
I turn on to my side to be met with Nathan’s deep breathing, telling me he’s in the heaviest of sleeps, something he’s struggled with for as long as he can remember, though he tells me he sleeps better next to me. But I think it’s the massages and more downtime that is helping.
I think I love him.
Worry works its way into my veins and I pray Julie never tells Nathan about who I really am and what my original intention was, because not only will it break Nathan, it will also destroy us, me, him, his family.
I don’t want that.
Kevin’s family is something I need to look into more, find out everything I can about them. That’s where my focus lies now.
But learning more about Julie’s unsettling behavior tonight at dinner where Max recounted in detail what she did on herpath of revenge makes me feel uneasy. From fake news stories to using shady informants and paying wannabe actors to fabricate quotes and articles, it would seem that Julie’s pillow talk was loose lipped in the afterglow, which left Max feeling cold and was ultimately what made him ask her to leave his apartment.
Like I said, the Hart family have standards.
But it made Julie wreak havoc on the Harts, which she is still doing. Max showed me a fake article written by her about a court case that never happened. Nathan said they never sued her because it would have attracted unwanted and negative attention, choosing to ignore it.
She’s dangerous.
A dagger behind a smile. And I realize now she was very good at it with me. She used my weakness, and I think she saw me as an opportunity to get her revenge on Max.
I don’t recognize the woman he spoke about tonight.
How could I when I’ve only ever been out for a few drinks and events with her? And thinking about it now, not many people were that enamored to see her, and all made excuses to be elsewhere. I’ve opened my eyes to what I had overlooked.
My grief has not only made me act out of character and make decisions that came from pain, but it made me gravitate toward someone who may or may not have my best interests at heart.