"Love Contract: The Prosecutor's Private Attorney"

“Want a Bet?”

It was the afternoon when Estella returned to the law firm. A few interns at the desks were yawning from their drowsiness, but as soon as they saw her, they quickly put on an energetic facade and stared intently at their computer screens.

Estella smiled quietly to herself, quickly scanning everyone present before noticing a vacant desk.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she recalled the owner of the desk and turned to the nearest young woman, asking, “Where’s Tom?”

The young woman followed her gaze to the desk and realized the person was missing. Then, as if remembering something, she pointed in a certain direction behind her, “A client just came for Tom, should be in the reception room now.”

“Which client?”

The young woman thought for a moment, uncertainly saying, “It seems to be Ms. Brown who wanted a divorce before.”

Hearing this, Estella’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, feeling a headache coming on: “Again?”

The young woman said nothing acquiescing to the question.

The woman standing there sighed, and when she spoke again, there was a hint of resignation and helplessness: “Which reception room?”

Intern: “Room 2.”

With the answer, Estella abandoned the idea of heading to her office and turned towards the reception room instead.

Facing Olivia Brown for the second time, Tom felt conflicted.

The woman across from him seemed more haggard than the first time they met, her face’s wrinkles and freckles fully exposed without the aid of makeup.

Judging from her file, she was just in her forties, yet her sparse and dry hair draped over her shoulders, and the dark circles under her eyes were left uncovered, giving her the appearance of being a decade older.

“Knock knock knock—”

The brief silence was broken by a gentle knock on the reception room door.

Tom thought it was an intern coming in to refill the tea, so he suppressed his inner irritability and said in a low voice, “Come in.”

With permission, the door was opened a c***k. When he raised his eyes to look, he saw the woman standing outside the door slightly lifting her eyes and winking at him.

Tom was taken aback, never expecting it to be Estella.

Before he could speak, the woman suddenly crooked her finger at him, silently signaling him to come out without a word.

The person inside the room understood and slowly got up, speaking to Olivia Brown: “Ms. Brown, please tidy up your emotions, I’ll be away for a few minutes.”

Olivia Brown was preoccupied with the lawsuit, knowing her emotions were not in a good state, and just nodded her head in silence.

Exiting the reception room, Tom closed the door behind him and looked at the woman leaning against the wall, his expression tightening: “Ella.”

Estella responded with a very faint “Hmm,” casually glancing at the blurred figure on the frosted glass, and slowly said, “What’s going on?”

Tom sighed, “Ah, it’s still about the lawsuit. She accused her husband of infidelity and domestic violence, wanting a divorce. But her husband is a police officer himself and refuses to divorce, always denying the infidelity and domestic violence.”

“So?”

Tom: “We have no evidence of infidelity, no evidence of domestic violence; it’s been so long that even an injury appraisal can’t find anything now. Every time she wants to call the police, her husband always has a way to get rid of them. Getting a protective order is extremely difficult, and with the opposing lawyer being Ethan Harris, private negotiations are out of the question, and I don’t think our chances in court are very high either.”

As he spoke, he shook his head. Originally, he just analyzed the pros and cons in his mind, but now that he said it out loud, he really couldn’t refute it anywhere.

Hearing the name Ethan Harris, Estella’s expression cooled slightly: “If it’s Ethan Harris, it’s indeed a bit tricky.”

After all, the other party is a leader in handling divorce cases. Although it is said that the methods are not very elegant, it does not hinder the performance.

Looking back at Tom, he is still a novice, dealing with such a cunning senior is probably a small trick to see the great.

Estella pondered for a few seconds, faintly hearing the muffled sobs coming from inside. Even separated by the frosted glass, she could clearly identify the vague and thin figure was slightly trembling.

Crying so cautiously and sadly, Tom also sighed to adjust his emotions: “Ah, part of the reason she wants to divorce is also for the sake of the children. How much impact such a family has on children! So she desperately wants to get custody of the children.”

Hearing this, Estella was slightly stunned: “Is that so?”

Perhaps it was because she had been to the orphanage more recently, and the children were calling out “Sister Ella” one after another, her emotional defense line was unconsciously lowered a bit.

Watching the children play innocently, she almost forgot that they were all abandoned by their parents. Occasionally thinking about it, she only felt her heart was tightly sour.

There will always be parents in the world who abandon their children, but there are also parents like Olivia Brown who are persistent and unwilling to give up.

Since it’s rare, how could she turn a blind eye.

Thinking of this, Estella’s eyes narrowed slightly, put away the previous indifference, and suddenly spoke: “I’ll go in with you to understand the situation.”

Tom: “Ah?”

Although Estella is his senior, she also has three years of work experience more than him, but when he heard this sentence, Tom still hesitated for a while and reminded in a low voice: “Ella… This is a divorce case, not a criminal case.”

Estella glanced at him, his face cold: “Are you questioning my ability?”

Tom was chilled down his spine and immediately explained: “Absolutely not!”

“I know you are very powerful, if she can’t help but kill her husband, I will definitely recommend you first!”

Estella: “…”

“Don’t talk nonsense, go in.”

The two entered the reception room one after another, and Tom made up a reason to explain Estella’s appearance. Ms. Brown was troubled, and that sense of helplessness would feel extremely relieved even if one more person helped her share the burden.

Olivia Brown finished tidying up her emotions, her eyes were still red, and her voice carried an unmistakable cry: “Mr. Stone, please help me. I really can’t… can’t continue to live with a scumbag. He hit me, scolded me, and cheated, and I had endured these before. But now he even wants to lay a hand on my daughter, I have called the police, but every time he always has a way to get those police away, I…”

Speaking of this, she couldn’t control her emotions at all, covering her mouth and suppressing her sadness: “I really have no way out, Mr. Stone, please help me.”

Tom looked at Estella on the side with some difficulty, the latter was casually flipping through the documents in his hand, and the emotions between his eyebrows and eyes were very light, as if he was not affected by the woman’s near collapse at all.

I don’t know what Estella’s mind is, he had to clear his throat and explain first: “Ms. Brown, I know your thoughts, but according to the materials we have in hand, whether we can divorce is really hard to say.”

“Moreover, the issue of custody, as long as there is evidence to prove that your husband has abused you, there may be some chance of winning, but it seems that we are all a bit insufficient at the moment.”

He spoke very slowly, trying to explain the cruel facts that have to be faced in as gentle a voice as possible.

Olivia Brown bit her lip, and the tears that had just been restrained came back again when she heard this.

Tom saw it in his eyes and hurriedly said, “Of course, the more evidence you can produce, the greater the chance of winning.”

Olivia Brown’s hands on the table were tightly clenched together, and she was somewhat embarrassed to speak softly: “But I… I only know the other party’s appearance, and the evidence I have taken before was all secretly taken by me. You said that even if it is proved that he is cheating, it cannot be equated with him not being able to take care of the child.”

Every time the result of the question is the same, Tom frowned with some irritation.

Olivia Brown said the point he did say, although he really wants to ignore it, this is also a fact.

If a child over eight years old can choose to follow the father or the mother, then this problem will be easily solved. But Olivia Brown’s daughter is just a child who has just graduated from kindergarten, and the court will naturally not listen to her wishes.

“Snap -”

A crisp sound came from the side, and the black file was mercilessly placed on the table, attracting the attention of the two people.

Estella raised her eyes and smiled, and in the entire reception room, only she was calm and bright: “Can you show me the evidence you took before?”

Her voice is very pleasant, not sharp nor sweet, but it is very convincing to listen to.

Olivia Brown nodded and took out the file bag from her bag like a lifesaver.

Estella said thank you with a smile, then opened the file bag and took out the photos.

The angle of the shot and the handling of the light were clearly obtained in a hasty and non-standard way. Not to mention that the environment could only vaguely be identified as the background of a hotel, even the two faces were very blurry.

It’s just like those baseless gossip photos on Weibo. If it weren’t for the title to indicate who the protagonists are, they might not be recognized.

Tom wasn’t the first time to see these photos, but every time he looked at them, he felt a sense of hope being strangled.

He frowned: “Ella, these photos are definitely unusable.”

Estella raised her eyebrows without denying, her gaze lingering on the photos for a full half minute before she shifted her sight to the woman opposite her.

“Ms. Brown, the photos don’t show much, but you’ve seen the person in real life. The woman in the photo seems quite young, right?”

Olivia Brown didn’t know what she was driving at and answered truthfully, “Yes, she’s an intern at my husband’s company, about to graduate from university.”

It was very close to the guess Estella had in mind. Without saying anything more, she slowly put the photos back into the file bag.

Her calm demeanor gave Olivia Brown a glimmer of hope. A light appeared in the woman’s lifeless eyes, and she stood up a little excitedly:

“Ms. Thompson, can I… possibly win?”

Estella’s movements paused, her dark eyes staring straight at the woman opposite her: “Given the current situation, it’s not just about custody, even the divorce is uncertain.”

Her voice was like a ladle of cold water, dousing Olivia Brown’s heart and causing the newly ignited light to suddenly disappear from her eyes.

Seeing her momentarily dazed appearance, Estella leaned back leisurely: “There’s no use in being anxious.”

“Useful materials are collected step by step, the more real and clear your evidence is, the more confident you will be when standing in court.”

“I can help you, but it will take time.”

Olivia Brown’s heart leaped with joy, but reason returned, and she clearly knew that she had hardly any evidence in hand now, with only a mouth, it’s hard to convince others.

Her eyes flickered: “But I don’t have evidence.”

“No evidence is fine.”

The woman interrupted her, her voice clear and cold, her attitude decisive.

Tom: “?”

Estella’s eyebrows curved, and the corners of her eyes slightly raised. Although she was smiling, the smile did not reach her eyes:

“Take it step by step.”

“We can create evidence.”

“What? Did I hear that right? What do you mean by creating evidence!”

——

After seeing off Olivia Brown, Tom turned back when Estella had already returned to the law firm. Thinking of the scene just now, he immediately chased after her.

“Ella Ella!”

Estella was stopped by his shout, a bit impatiently glancing at him: “Why are you shouting so loud? Do you want Boss to scold you?”

Tom didn’t care if Boss could hear it now, his mind was full of the confident appearance of Estella in the reception room just now.

“You said create evidence, let alone domestic violence, how can you make up the evidence of infidelity casually? Besides, where are you going to find people? Ethan Harris is so shrewd and cunning, he must have warned Derek Warren that since he doesn’t want to divorce, he will definitely not be caught at this critical moment.”

Estella tilted her head, seemingly wanting to stay away from his loud voice. After the boy finished speaking, she answered the second question before in a leisurely manner:

“Of course, you need to find the protagonist for the story.”

“Huh?”

“The other party is just a college student who hasn’t graduated yet, and her purpose is very simple, just to get money and climb up. Judging from the development of this lawsuit, what she wants should be the position of Ms. Warren.”

Estella said, pressing the elevator’s up button.

“So Derek Warren’s obvious reluctance to divorce and his desire to seize custody of his daughter are contrary to her goals. In other words, even if he succeeds in divorcing, with his ex-wife’s daughter around, given Olivia Brown’s love for her daughter, she will not only be unable to break clean with Derek Warren, but her daughter will also become a huge obstacle in front of her.”

“In that case, let’s hit her where it hurts. We want a divorce and custody, and she doesn’t, which is a win-win situation.”

Tom was somewhat tempted: “But it’s just what you think, so what even if it is?”

“The result is already there.”

As the elevator closed, the woman’s faintly smiling words slowly sounded in the confined space.

He subconsciously asked: “What?”

For a few seconds, no one spoke. Until Tom thought Estella didn’t hear his question and was about to ask again, the elevator “dinged”, and the door slowly opened.

The woman in high heels took a few steady steps, and in the quiet corridor, you could clearly hear a very light sneer, containing a faint contempt and an already determined confidence.

“Ethan Harris will lose.”

“Derek Warren will too.”

“Want to bet?”