Stanton Box Set

My heart sinks and Cameron drops his head. “Fuck,” he whispers.

The room sits in silence as Joshua swears on the bible and goes through the motions.

“Is your name Joshua Stanton?” the lawyer asks.

Joshua nods. “Yes,” he replies.

“I’m going to go back to the beginning, shall I?” He pauses and looks around at the room for effect. Oh get off it, this jerk should have been an actor. “Natasha Marx is your first cousin is she not?” he purrs.

Joshua swallows the lump in his throat. “Yes,” he replies. The reporters gasp and start to scribble on their pads fervently.

“And when she was just a seventeen-year-old child you snuck into her tent one night on a camping trip with the sole purpose to seduce her.”

Joshua hesitates as he thinks about his answer. “No, we had started a relationship that was consensual,” he replies.

“But you did have sex with her when she was just seventeen in a tent,” he replies.

“Yes,” Joshua replies.

“And did Natasha’s parents know about this?”

“No,” Joshua replies

“You didn’t tell them because you knew that they would not approve, is that right?” he asks innocently.

“Yes,” Joshua murmurs.

“You left her then and moved to America and made your fortune in app development and became a household name,” he asks.

“Yes,” Joshua replies.

“But then you went back to Australia to see Natasha?” he questions, seemingly puzzled.

“I went back for my brother’s wedding,” Joshua replies.

The jerk-off raises his eyebrows in humour. “Oh yes, you mean Natasha’s cousin,” he replies.

Joshua glares at the prosecutor.

“It was at this wedding that you reconnected?” he asks.

“Yes,” Joshua replies.

“But you didn’t reconnect at all, did you? You decided on that very day that Natasha Marx was going to belong to you and nobody else.” He sneers.

“No,” Joshua replies cold-faced.

“Joshua, have you ever used prostitutes?”

Joshua drops his head shamefully. “Yes,” he murmurs.

“Oh that’s right, because you were sleeping with one in Sydney while you were…” He holds up his fingers to accentuate his point. “Dating Natasha.”

“No,” Joshua replies. “I was never unfaithful to Natasha.”

“Did Natasha not satisfy you in bed?” he sneers.

I can feel the anger radiating from Joshua. “You will pay her more respect,” he sneers.