Chapter 6 - The Walls Close In
“What are you talking about?” Daniel stammered, pacing frantically around the empty kitchen. “Mom, Claire took the babies! She cleared out the house! I just got home and everything is gone!”
“I know,” Beatrice snapped. “Because her lawyer sent a courier to our house this morning. Your father and I received a copy of the emergency custody filing.”
Daniel felt the room spin. “They sent it to you?”
“They had to, you idiot! Because you were unreachable in Europe while your wife was recovering from childbirth alone!”
Beatrice took a deep, shuddering breath. “Daniel, there were photographs in that file. Bank statements. Receipts for jewelry.”
“Mom, I can explain—”
“Do not insult my intelligence!” she screamed. It was the first time Daniel had ever heard his mother scream. “You abandoned your newborn children! You drained your savings for a mistress! Your father is so disgusted he had to leave the house. Do not call us. Do not come here. Call your lawyer. If you can even afford one now.”
The line went dead.
Daniel stood in the empty kitchen, the silence of the house pressing against his eardrums.
He tried to log into his bank app.
ACCESS DENIED. ACCOUNT FROZEN PENDING LEGAL REVIEW.
He tried to log into the twins' trust account to transfer emergency funds.
USER NOT RECOGNIZED.
Panic turned into suffocating terror. He was alone. He had no money, no family support, and a stack of legal papers that dictated his absolute ruin.
Meanwhile, forty miles away, in a beautiful, sunlit apartment overlooking a park, I was pouring a glass of wine.
Marianne was sitting on the plush rug, playing with Noah and Lily, who were cooing and smiling.
My phone buzzed. It was a secure message from Victor Hayes.
Subject has been served. His accounts are frozen. The mother has been notified. Checkmate.
I read the message twice.
I didn't smile. I didn't cheer. I just felt a profound, overwhelming sense of peace.
The heavy, suffocating weight I had carried since the day I met Daniel Whitmore was finally lifted from my shoulders.
I walked over to the window, looking out at the green trees and the bright blue sky.
For the first time in a month, I felt like I could breathe.
May you like
I was no longer the exhausted, broken woman crying on the floor. I was a mother who had protected her children from a toxic storm.
But the war wasn't completely over. We still had to face the judge.
