Tip: You know how has been acting out lately, and we've been getting error messages instead of a new chapter, well I have found that if you click the 'refresh' button while on that page, then the chapter appears, it's like magic.

It worked for me both times I tried it, so it should work for you guys all the time.

A/N: Hem, well, yeah, there's a French saying that goes 'Il ne faut pas confondre vitesse et précipitation', meaning you shouldn't mistake rashness for speed. And I think I kind of did, by writing and not thoroughly thinking ahead and instead writing myself into a wall.

So that's part of the reason why this took aaages, the second being that I am practically the only one out of my group of friends who had no exam resits to take in September, and therefore I became the "SOS, I don't understand [Admin, European, Civil, any other kind of] law, YOU MUST HELP ME!!!" hotline for over two weeks. *sigh*

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the encouragement, I don't remember if I replied to all/any of your reviews, if I didn't I'm sorry, I meant to.

Warning, this chapter was beyond awkward to write, I'm really not happy with it.

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Dinner with Edmund that evening was beyond uncomfortable. She twitched nervously in her seat, played with her broccoli, unable to eat anything. From time to time, she cast a nervous glance at her husband, was he suspicious? Did he have any idea of what she was plotting behind her back?

If he was, he certainly wasn't letting it on. He just sat there, munching his food noisily, god, she hated that sound. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Eat in silence, for crying out loud, she felt like screaming, but she didn't.

Instead half-way through the meal, she feigned a headache and retreated to the bathroom, looking the door behind her.

She had been in there for well over an hour now.

What had gotten into her? She cradled her head in her hands, rash behaviour was so out of character for her, she much preferred the wait and see, to come up with an appropriate plan approach. She couldn't believe it. The words had flown out her mouth faster than she expected, easier than she expected, she might just as well have asked him to kill Edmund for her.

She had acted unreasonably, let her feelings get the best of her. It was her own fault after all, wasn't it? How could anyone ever be interested in her without having an ulterior motive? She was just too naïve and gullible, how many more heartbreaks was it going to take until she finally realised that she didn't live in gummy bear land? She looked at herself in the mirror, disgusted and angered by the reflection of a weak woman staring back at her.

How could she have let herself fall for him? It had been so easy, so incredibly easy, she had been drawn to him. He was interesting, and interested. He was unlike anything or anyone she had ever known before. When they were together, everything seemed to come so naturally, everything felt right, logic. So much so that she hadn't even bothered to question any of it. Just how foolish could one be?

She should have known better.

Not only was she ashamed of ever having allowed herself to have feelings for him, she was embarrassed, she had made a right display of herself. She had just waltzed into his hotel room and coldly asked him to commit a criminal offence for her, what was the matter with her? Had she gone insane? It's not even as if she had anything to hold against him. technically, Sawyer, James, whatever, hadn't done anything wrong, in regards of the law.

And anyway, how on earth would he ever be able to get Edmund to divorce her, and at the same time rob him of one hundred thousand dollars? It was impossible.

Why couldn't she be a stronger woman? She had an MD, she had survived through residency, she had done some pretty outstanding things in her field of research, but when it came to personal matters, she was a mess. Enough was enough. She didn't want to be seen as a weak and pathetic excuse for a human being anymore.

She turned the tap on and ran her hands through the cool water, before splashing her face with it. She needed to get a grip and fast.

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**

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It had been two whole weeks since she had stormed out of that hotel room, and she had yet to hear from Sawyer again.

That being said, she had left him with the words "I'll contact you", and, well she hadn't. To be honest, she just hadn't had the guts to check and see if he was still in Miami, with a bit of luck, he would have taken a French leave and ran off to some other state to sweet talk some other woman into giving him a large quantity of money.

If that was indeed the case, she felt relieved. She just wanted to forget everything that had happened between them. There was no point in lying to herself and denying the fact that she did miss him, the long conversations they had together, and just spending quality time with another person, but she had to face the harsh reality that it had all been a lie, and nothing was, in fact, real.

You'd think that that would make it easier to get over, but it didn't. And she felt kind of miserable.

Nevertheless, she had cooled off a great deal since her outburst, and had come to the conclusion, that whatever happened, she had to take matters into her own hands and turn her life around. No more sitting around, waiting for things to sort themselves out, she had to take action.

First thing on the list of priorities was making sure that she got out of Edmund's shadow and him out of her life, once and for all.

In fact, she had already gotten in touch with a divorce attorney, and started going over the details of what a separation, and then eventually a divorce would entail.

She would have to find a new job, but her lawyer, Valerie Thorn, who had the reputation of being some sort of 'cut throat bitch' in her line of work, had assured her that with her credentials, and her scientific accomplishments, Juliet would have no trouble at all finding a new job.

Valerie -she insisted that they should be on a first name basis, according to her it made things easier, had stated, her tone full of confidence, that they would take that bastard of a sorry excuse of a husband of hers to the cleaners. With all the evidence of adultery they had against him, her case was solid, they were going "win this bitch" and Edmund wouldn't know what hit him.

"It's going to be awesome," Valerie had added, with a huge satisfied smirk on her lips.

Tonight was Juliet's last night of posing as a dedicated 'hausfrau', cooking dinner for her husband, tomorrow he was going to be served with the divorce papers she had petitioned for, tomorrow was the first day of the rest of her life.

She had told Rachel earlier that day about her plans, and she had practically jumped up and did the macarena out of joy, "Oh my gosh, Juliet, that's fabulous! I am so happy that you're finally getting that moron out of your life."

They had then agreed that until she had found a new place to live, she would stay with Rachel. Even if she did own half of the house, she would never want to live in it again, every single piece of furniture, piece of art, screamed Edmund Burke. Everything he had ever bought had to be the most expensive or the most I flashy "in your face", both when possible, object on the market. The scarlet red leather sofa had never been to Juliet's liking, and the gold coloured wallpaper in den just made her nauseous.

Edmund loved flaunting his success and his wealth in front of everybody, Juliet didn't, she would rather live her life more simply.

So this was the end. A sort of last supper.

Edmund would be home any moment now, she sighed as she poured him a Whiskey for the last time. And on cue, she heard a key in the door.

"Jules," she heard him call. "I hope you don't mind, I brought someone home for dinner."

She rolled her eyes she knew perfectly well that he didn't give a damn whether she minded or not, it was so typical of him, to show up with some impromptu dinner guest. Fantastic.

She walked to the entrance hall, Edmund was tossing his jacket on its hook, she looked up at his companion, and she almost choked on air. This could not be happening …

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What the hell was he doing here? Why hadn't he ran the minute he had found out that she knew everything? He could have, it's not even as if she had anything on him, he hadn't committed any felonies, yet. Wasn't that rule number one of being a hustler? If people get suspicious, get out of there faster than a rocket on fire? And she wasn't just suspicious, she knew everything.

By now he could be somewhere else, if he had any good sense he would be somewhere else. But he wasn't, and instead he was here, in this pathetic excuse for an imitation of a traditional French Bistrot. Not that he knew what a French bistrot should look like, he had never been to France, but he had read about one in a book. Obviously the owner of this place had not even read about one in a book, because Sawyer was fairly certain that French bistrots didn't sport neon lights, flipper machines and hip-hop as ambiance music.

He just hadn't been able to bring himself to pack his belongings and leave Miami. Why? He had no idea, he couldn't leave her. He knew there was no hope of anything "happening" between them anymore, and even less chance of what he wanted to happen between them. But he had stayed, she wanted her husband to pay for what his mishaps, and deep down so did he, he thought that anyone who had treated Juliet the way Edmund Burke had deserved what was coming to him.

So he was going to grant her wishes, not only because deep down he felt like he owed it to her, but also because he genuinely wanted to help her. Maybe then she would forgive him.

He wasn't sure why it felt so important to him that she forgave him, but it did.

And that's the reason why, he was going to rid her life of Edmund Burke.

That's why he was in this place 'Chez Maurice', it was Burke's favourite hideout, he came here almost every night, at 6pm on the dot. Sawyer had been following him for the past two weeks.

He had been shocked when he had gotten his first look of Edmund Burke. He knew the man was a bit of a player, and liked chasing skirts, and so he had pictured the guy to be some sort of hot shot, good looking, brilliant, but the biggest ass of all times. He couldn't have been further from the truth, Ed was a short, scrawny, unattractive little man, with a bit of an alien look about him. His pale white skin made him look way older than his 48 years. How could Juliet have ever thought that this was the best she could do for himself?

By now Sawyer had figured out most of Edmund's habits, his daily trip to this bar was like some form or ritual.

He would always sit on the third barstool from the left and order while clearly leering at the bartender's breasts, "A double whiskey on the rocks beautiful."

He'd then sip his booze while he checked out every single female who dared enter the place. There was one thing this man was not, and that was discreet, he'd look the girls up and down hungrily, wink at them, try and usher them over. And more often than you'd expect one of them would actually wander over and sit on the stool to his right. He'd whisper things into their ear, and the girls seemed to enjoy it (what the hell could he be saying to them, Sawyer had wondered), because moments later, his hand would be on her thigh, and she wouldn't push it away. Instead, more than once, the girl would eventually take him by the hand and lead him out the door.

And each time they did, Sawyer's stomach would lurch. How dare he?

Did he not realise what he had at home waiting for him? Juliet was a fantastic woman, smart, kind, and downright gorgeous. How dare he disrespect her so obviously?! It disgusted him.

Not tonight though, this evening he wouldn't be going off with some skank, it was time to put his plan into action.

Sawyer got up from the booth where he was sitting and headed for the bar.

"A glass of your best scotch, miss, make it a double," he sighed heavily as he took the stool right next to Edmund.

The other man looked up at him, a bit perturbed by the fact that Sawyer had taken the seat normally reserved for whichever woman he managed to pull, and asked, "Trouble, my friend?"

"Ah, it's nothing, work, deal fell through, the usual, y'know," Sawyer sighed again, glad Edmund was taking the bait so easily.

"What's your line of work?"

"Investments, if you do it right there's lots of free time, big money, the perfect life, 'xcept when your partner drops out at the last minute."

"That's unfortunate," Edmund commented.

"Tell me about it, that's the fourth time this month, I've been driving around the country looking for a new business partner, and each time they bail on me at the last minute, that's what you get when you're working with amateurs. You'd think that the prospect of bringing in nearly a quarter of a million of dollars with one single investment would entice them, right? Turns out not, it scares them and sends them running for the hills," Sawyer blabbered intentionally.

"What kind of investments did you say you worked in?" he asked, and Sawyer could almost see the dollar signs dancing around in his pupils.

"All sorts, where the money is," he joked before downing his drink, and extending his hand. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you ..."

"Edmund. Edmund Burke," he said, hastily taking Sawyer's hand and shaking it. "You're leaving already?"

"Yep," he said, standing up. "I'm going for a bite to eat, and I have to head off early tomorrow morning, it's crucial that I find someone willing to invest soon, otherwise the whole opportunity will be screwed."

He started walking to the door.

"Wait," Edmund said.

Sawyer spun around on his heels.

"How long has it been since you've had a home cooked meal?"

Sawyer gave him his best puzzled look.

"My wife," he began. "She cooks a decent enough meal, and maybe you can talk me into taking part in your deal, I've got some spare money lying around and I've been looking for a smart thing to do with it. Maybe it's more than a coincidence that you sat on that stool next to me this evening, maybe we were meant to collaborate together."

"Well, who am I to refuse a real meal and a business offer?" Sawyer smiled, as Edmund scrambled off the stool, and grabbed his jacket.

Sawyer followed his lead, he had his way in and it had been almost as easy as stealing candy off of a baby.

The game was on.

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TBC