Chương 9
“I’m scared.”
“Of divorce?”
“Of what he does when I try.”
“That’s different.”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I want one.”
“Good.”
She made a note.
“Now we talk about what that actually means.”
For the next forty minutes, she gave me no promises.
She explained that emergency protection could be requested quickly, but family court, criminal investigations, housing, financial records, and custody could take time.
Daniel would be allowed to respond.
He could accuse me of instability.
He could request evaluations.
He could produce witnesses.
The law would not automatically know who was telling the truth.
I felt hope draining from me.
Naomi saw it.
“This is not me telling you he wins.”
“It sounds like it.”
“This is me telling you what he may try so you don’t mistake procedure for belief.”
I stared at her.
“He always makes procedure sound like truth.”
“Abusive people often love paperwork.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Daniel kept receipts.
Messages.
Medical bills.
Even photographs of groceries when he accused me of wasting money.
He had always liked proof when he controlled what it proved.
Naomi asked whether I had independent bank accounts.
“No.”
Credit cards.
“No.”
Employment.
“Not anymore.”
“What did you do before marriage?”
“I handled accounts for a catering company.”
“Bookkeeping?”
“Yes.”
“Payroll?”
“Sometimes.”
She made another note.
“Why did you stop?”
“Daniel said commuting while pregnant was irresponsible.”
“Were you pregnant then?”
“No.”
Naomi paused.
“How long before the pregnancy?”
“About a year.”
She looked at me over her glasses.
“That matters.”
“Why?”
“Financial control.”
I stared at my hands.
I had thought abuse meant bruises.
Daniel had been building the cage long before he hit me.
Naomi continued.
“Do you know anything about household assets?”
“No.”
“Tax returns?”
“He filed jointly.”
“Did you sign?”
“He brought pages for me to sign.”
“Did you read them?”
“He got angry when I tried.”
Naomi became still.
“Ava, did you ever see the complete returns?”
“No.”
“Do you know approximately what Daniel earns?”
“He said sixty thousand.”
“Lifestyle consistent with that?”
I almost laughed.
“He drove a seventy-thousand-dollar SUV.”
Naomi wrote faster.
“Who paid rent?”
“We didn’t.”
“Why?”
“His uncle owned the building.”
“Vehicles?”
“Company.”
“Travel?”
“Company.”
“Credit cards?”
“His uncle’s business paid some.”
Her expression changed.
“What company?”
“Miller Imports.”
“Exact legal name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
She tapped her pen against the desk.
“Do not go searching through old accounts yourself.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you accidentally accessing something Daniel can characterize as unauthorized.”
I nodded.
“Your lawyer can request documents properly.”
The door outside the bathroom opened.
I heard Marcus speaking sharply.
Then Elias.
The volume rose.
Naomi heard it too.
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.”
A knock came at the bathroom door.
“Ava.”
Elias.
I stood too quickly and grabbed the sink as dizziness hit.
“What?”
“We need to talk when you’re done.”
Naomi watched my face.
“Something happened?”
“I think so.”
“Finish this sentence first.”
“What sentence?”
She leaned toward the screen.
“You are not required to follow the loudest person in the room.”
I swallowed.
“Okay.”
“Say it.”
It felt childish.
Then I understood why she wanted me to.
“I’m not required to follow the loudest person in the room.”
“Good.”
She gave me her direct office number.
“I’ll file for emergency protection today.”
The call ended.
When I opened the bathroom door, Elias was waiting.
Marcus stood several feet behind him holding a tablet.
Neither man looked calm.
“What happened?”
Elias gestured toward the sitting room.
“Come sit first.”
“No.”
He stopped.
I folded my arms.
“Tell me here.”
Marcus looked at Elias.
Elias exhaled.
“Daniel filed something in family court.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“A petition.”
“For what?”
Marcus answered.
“Emergency custody of Lily and Grace.”
The hallway seemed to narrow.
“On what grounds?”
He hesitated.
I already knew.
“Say it.”
“He claims you are mentally unstable, medically impaired, and being manipulated by me.”
I looked at Elias.
“And?”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“He attached Marianne’s signed statement.”
I thought of the photograph on my phone.
The original wording.
The changed version.
“He has the altered one.”
“Yes.”
“Then we give them the real one.”
“We will.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Both men stared at me.
I tightened the robe around my waist.
“Not you.”
My fear was still there.
So was the dizziness.
So was the pain.
But something else had begun to exist beside them.
Naomi called back less than ten minutes later.
“I just saw the filing.”
I had returned to the bedroom because the nurse threatened to recruit Marcus to carry me there if I refused.
“Can he do that?”
“He can file almost anything.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“He cannot simply walk out with your children because he typed accusations into a petition.”
I stared at Lily sleeping beside Grace.
“What happens now?”
“We answer.”
“How fast?”
“Fast enough that I need you focused.”
I looked toward Elias.
He was standing near the far window, deliberately out of earshot.
“Tell me what to do.”
“First, I need the photograph of Marianne’s original statement and the messages showing when she sent it.”
“I have them.”
“Good.”
“Second, I need Officer Reyes’s incident information once it exists.”
“I can ask.”
“Third, no social media, no statements, no interviews.”
“I don’t use social media.”
“Excellent.”
She paused.
“Mr. Vance does.”
I looked at him again.
“He has people.”
“That is exactly what worries me.”
Naomi asked to speak with him.
I handed over the tablet.
Elias came closer.
“Naomi.”
“Mr. Vance.”
They had known each other for less than an hour and already sounded mutually irritated.
“I need you to do something difficult.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Elias looked at the screen.
“That’s vague.”
“Do not have your communications team defend Ava.”
“They haven’t.”
“Do not have your lawyers threaten Daniel.”
“They haven’t.”
“Do not call judges, prosecutors, commissioners, donors, hospital executives, reporters, or anyone else who owes you a favor.”
May you like
His expression cooled.
“I don’t call judges.”
