Chapter 7 - A Father's Leverage
You would think Dominic would have given up.
But desperate men do stupid things.
Two days after I took over the company, Simone called me.
“He’s trying a Hail Mary,” she said, sounding more amused than concerned.
“What now?” I asked, bouncing Maya on my knee in my office.
“He filed a petition for emergency custody. He’s claiming you are unfit to mother because you are 'consumed by corporate vengeance' and working eighty-hour weeks.”
I let out a harsh laugh.
“He literally abandoned her in the delivery room to save a merger.”
“I know,” Simone chuckled. “But he found a sleazy pro-bono lawyer who wants his name in the papers. They are trying to use Maya as leverage to force you into giving him a settlement.”
Dominic wanted a payout.
He figured if he threatened to take my daughter, I would write him a check to go away.
He still didn't understand who he was dealing with.
“Set the court date,” I told Simone. “Let’s bury him.”
The hearing was closed to the public, but the tension in the courtroom was suffocating.
Dominic sat on one side, wearing a cheap suit that didn't fit him anymore.
I sat on the other, impeccably dressed, with Simone beside me.
Dominic’s lawyer stood up and painted a picture of a vindictive, money-obsessed woman who was using her child as a weapon.
“Your Honor, Mr. Vale simply wants to be a father to his daughter. The mother has systematically destroyed his livelihood and is now attempting to alienate him from his only child.”
The judge, an older woman with sharp eyes, looked at me.
“Ms. Grant, your response?”
Simone stood up, holding a single flash drive.
“Your Honor, we don’t need to argue about character. We have evidence of Mr. Vale’s actual regard for his daughter.”
She plugged the drive into the court monitor.
It was hospital security footage from the day Maya was born.
The screen lit up.
It showed the hallway outside my delivery room.
It showed Dominic, in his tuxedo, arguing with his lawyer on the phone before walking into my room.
The audio was crystal clear.
“I don’t care if she just gave birth. Draft the NDA. If she talks about this kid, Sterling pulls the deal. The baby doesn’t exist until I say it does. I’ll make her sign it right now.”
The courtroom was dead silent.
Dominic shrank in his chair, his face turning a sickly shade of grey.
His lawyer closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Simone turned off the monitor.
“Your Honor, Mr. Vale did not view this child as a daughter. He viewed her as a liability. He attempted to coerce my client into a gag order within an hour of a traumatic birth. He has no income, no residence, and is currently under federal investigation for fraud.”
The judge didn’t even need to deliberate.
She slammed her gavel.
“Petition denied with prejudice. Full custody awarded to the mother. Mr. Vale, you are barred from contacting the child until she is eighteen. And frankly, sir, you disgust me.”
As we walked out of the courtroom, Dominic didn’t even try to speak to me.
He just sat on the wooden bench, staring at the floor.
May you like
The leverage was gone.
The game was over.
