A/N: Hi guys! So sorry for the wait for this next chapter. I didn't know exactly how I wanted this to fold out, but I figured it out and I really like it! I hope you all will too! As always, thank you so much for the support and reviews! Hope you enjoy chapter 3!

Chapter 3.

"You want to what?" Haley asked as the tried to wrap her head around what her husband just said. She thought she heard what he said, but she wanted to make sure she heard what he actually said.

"I want to bring him to court." Nathan cocked his brow as he looked at Haley, "Why are you looking at me like I'm insane?"

"Because a part of me thinks you are right now."

"Why? Haley, this is what we need to do." Nathan urged.

"No, we don't." Haley whispered looking down at the floor.

"I don't understand why you don't want to do this." The raven-haired man explained, getting a tad angry.

"I just don't, okay. Can we drop this?" Haley said getting slightly defensive.

"No, not until I find out why you don't want to put him behind bars where he belongs." Nathan couldn't figure out why she wasn't jumping at this opportunity. He thought she would be ecstatic to give that man the justice he deserves. Her response was the complete opposite of what he thought.

"I just can't." Haley said as tears filled her eyes.

"You can't what?" Nathan said as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I-I can't see him again."

Nathan felt his heart collapse at those words. How could he be so stupid? She was still so fragile, and he was stupid enough to ask her to stand in front of this guy and tell her story. He didn't even think he could do it, let alone have her go through that. He really needed to think before he opened his mouth.

Pulling her into his chest, he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Hales. I didn't even think before…I just can't deal with the fact that he is walking the streets like nothing happened, while you are hurting so."

Haley nodded her head as he spoke. She pulled back to look into his eyes. "I know, I think about it every day. Sometimes, I want to stand in a courtroom and watch them take him away." She stopped to whip away a tear. She felt Nathan rub her arms with his hands as she continued, "And then other days, I can't breathe when I think about being in the same room as him. I feel like I'm right back there in that office and there's no way out."

Nathan had so many emotions swirling through his body. He was so angry that Struss had hurt his wife so and that he was freely walking the streets. He was breaking at the sight of Haley being so vulnerable. She was always the stronger one in their relationship. No matter the situation, she was always strong. Seeing her so broken, was physically killing him. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, besides Jamie. He would do anything, anything to make sure she was safe.

Nathan pulled her back into his chest and rocked her back and forth saying, "I know how much you are hurting, baby. I understand if you don't want to take him to court. I want to do what is best for you. You are my number one priority. Always and forever."

Haley squeezed him a little tighter as she placed a kiss on his chest. "I love you, you know that?"

"I love you, too."

After a few moments of silence of the two just hanging onto each other, Haley took a deep breath and spoke into Nathan's chest, "Let's do it"

"Do what?"

Haley loosened her grasp around Nathan and looked up at him, "Let's bring him to court."

"Are you sure?"

Haley sighed, "Yeah, I think it's time for me to stop being afraid all the time and show him what he did."

"Okay," Nathan said as he kissed her forehead, "You can stop at any time. If you don't want to do it anymore, just tell me and we will stop."

"I will."

"You promise?" Nathan asked. He didn't want to cause her anymore pain. He couldn't bear to be the reason for it once again.

"I promise." Haley confirmed.

**The next day

Nathan and Haley sat hand in hand as they waited for their name to be called to Mr. Wells office. They could feel each other's nerves at an all-time high as the minutes ticked on. They had only been there for 10 minutes, but it felt like so much more. Nathan gave Haley's hand a squeeze and she looked up at him with her breath-taking brown eyes. Just as he was about to say something, he heard, "Mr. and Mrs. Scott?"

The couple stood up, indicating they were there, as the man said, "I'm Jonathan Wells. Follow me down to my office."

Once they were in the office, the man sat behind his desk and motioned towards the two chairs on the other side, "Please, sit."

Jonathan folded his hands on his desk and cleared his throat, "I understand we are here because your accountant, Larry Struss, assaulted Mrs. Scott."

Nathan nodded his head, "Yes, sir."

Mr. Wells nodded his head and pulled out a file, "This happened during your meeting about taxes?"

"Yes, we had a couple more things to go over before we sent our taxes in." Nathan stated.

"Did you see this coming, Mrs. Scott? Did he ever indicate he wanted a sexual relationship with you?"

Haley shook her head, as Nathan reached over to grab her hand. "No, he always acted very professional, but my husband was always with me."

"And your husband wasn't with you the day he attacked you, correct?"

"Yes, he was at work." Haley said looking towards Nathan.

"So, during your meeting you were alone?" Jonathan asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yes." Haley confirmed nodding her head.

The lawyer sighed and closed the file.

"Is there something wrong?" Nathan asked when he noticed the change in behavior of the man sitting across from him.

"From the looks of things, you don't have a good chance in winning this case."

Nathan and Haley looked at each other as Nathan spit out, "Wh-what?! Why?!"

"You don't have any evidence going up against Mr. Struss, with him being an accountant, they will probably rule against you."

"Are you serious?" Nathan spat out.

"I'm sorry, I really wish there was something more I could do." Mr. Wells said sincerely.

Nathan's voice started to raise as he was learning this information. This was ridiculous. "There has to be something we can do! My wife has been going through hell these past couple weeks."

"Mr. Scott, I understand your pain, I do. Unless there is someone that witness what happened to Mrs. Scott, the evidence is sketchy."

Haley placed her hand on her husband's thigh, attempting to calm him down. The man felt Haley's hand and took a deep breath before talking again, "Okay, what if we went up against Struss with what we have, would we be guaranteed to lose?"

"I can't say you are guaranteed to lose, under some miracle, you could win, but with the facts you have, it doesn't look good."

Nathan's face dropped as he placed his head in his hands. This was not going to be easy. His head lifted again when he heard Jonathan's voice.

"I have very sorry. Unless you can find someone, who witnessed the abuse or having him say he's guilty, you don't have a good shot."

The couple looked at each other feeling their hearts break. Haley didn't know what she was feeling. Part of her was happy that she didn't have to see him again, while another part of her was angry he got away with this. She knew Nathan was furious and she wanted to let him know that she was okay. Even though she was not fully alright, she wanted him to have some reassurance. He had been worried about her for weeks and needed some relief.

Nathan was steaming with anger. He couldn't believe the ass was actually going to get away with this. It wasn't fair. Why Haley? She didn't deserve this. She shouldn't have to deal with this. It's not fair. She dealt with more in her 24 years of life than normal people go through in a lifetime. Yet, through everything, she has handled it with nothing but grace and courage. He honestly didn't understand how she did it. She was built with such grace and love. He wished he could be half the person she was.

"So that's it?" Nathan asked, looking at the older man in front of him. "We can't do anything more?"

"From the looks of things, no. I'm sorry." Jonathan stated folding his hands together.

Haley and Nathan shared a glance before nodding their hands and standing up.

The lawyer shook Nathan's hand as he spoke, "If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know."

"We will. Thank you for your time, Mr. Wells." Nathan said as he opened the office door.

As the couple walked out of the building, Nathan grabbed Haley's hand and gave it a small squeeze. They were going to find a way to get through this. They just had to.

OTHOTHOTHOTHOTH

"Hey, man. Do you have a sec?" Nathan asked through the phone. After he returned home from the appointment with the lawyer, Nathan had to call someone. He was so irritated at the fact that nothing could be done to fix this situation. He needed advice from someone. The only person he could think of was his brother.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Lucas said as he sat up from his work desk. Getting a call from Nathan was not particularly unusual, expect, Nathan never called in the middle of the day unless there was something important going on.

"It's Haley."

The older Scott brother shot up from his desk, almost yelling, "What do you mean? What happened? Is she okay?"

"Yeah..." Nathan sighed, "No actually, everything is not okay."

"Nate, what's going on?"

"Do you remember our accountant Larry Struss?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, you always said what a nice job he did," Luke furrowed his brow, "Why? Did something happen to him?"

Nathan sighed. There was no easy way to tell someone information like this. He just had to say it. Taking a deep breath, Nathan said, "He attacked Haley."

Lucas felt like the wind was knocked out of him. "What do you mean he attacked her? Like verbally?"

"No, no physically. He full on put his hands on her." Nathan felt his blood boil as he thought back to that day. Nothing would ever make him forget how he felt when he found Haley so distraught. No one should ever feel that way, especially Haley. His Haley. He never wanted her to be that way again. He couldn't bear to watch it.

There was a moment of silence before Lucas said, "Oh my God, Nate...how is she?"

Nathan shook his head, sitting down on his bed. He placed his head in his head and said, "Not good. I can't do anything for her. She is distant, lost, scared. I just don't know what to do?"

"Did you go see a lawyer?"

"Yes, we saw Mr. Jonathan Wells this morning. He was the best I could find..."

Lucas didn't even wait for his brother to finish before saying, "And?"

"And... there is nothing we can do." Nathan whispered. He still couldn't believe it. He was still angry and upset that nothing could be done. It wasn't fair. Haley didn't deserve this. She shouldn't have gone through this. He should have been with her.

"What?!" Lucas almost shouted. "What do you mean there is nothing you can do!"

Nathan sighed, knowing his brother's anger. He felt the same way. "Struss took Haley into a private office so there would be no witnesses. And because no one saw what happened, the court would most likely rule against us because it's our word against his."

"This is ridiculous! There has to be something we can do!"

"I know, I know, man. I'm torn. I want to lock the asshole away for what he did, but I don't want to do anything to make Haley's condition worse."

Lucas rubbed his face as he tried to wrap his head around the situation. This was actually happening. Usually it was something you see on the news. He never expected it to happen to someone near and dear to his heart. "I think the best you can do right now, is just be there for her. Let her know that you're there, but also give her space. Haley is too independent for her own good."

"Yeah, I know..." Nathan trailed off as he thought about his wife downstairs. She was the best thing that ever happened to him. She was hurting, and he couldn't do anything to help her. Lucas was right, she was too independent for her own good. She wanted so badly for him to believe she was okay and he knew that.

"Nate, why don't you go back down to the office?"

Nathan furrowed his brow. "Why?" The last thing he wanted to do was go back down to that office. He knew the second he saw Struss, he would lose it.

"There has to be someone who saw Struss take Haley into the private office. If they saw them go in, maybe they heard something. You have to take the chance."

"You're right," Nathan nodded as he stood up. This was his last chance. Even though he promised himself he would never go back to that bank, he had to. He needed to take this chance for Haley. She was worth it. "I'm going down right now."

"Do that and call me back if you find something."

"I will. Thanks, Lucas." The raven-haired man said as he put his shoes on.

"You're welcome. Know that I'm here for anything. And that goes for Haley too."

Nathan smiled against the phone, "We know. Thanks, again."

"Of course. Bye, man."

"Bye."

Nathan hung up his phone and ran down the stairs. He had to find out if there was someone who saw Struss and Haley. No one hurts his family without paying for it. Struss was paying for this. No matter what it took. Struss was going down. Haley wasn't going to go through this anymore.