Chapter 6 - The Attorney I Never Hired
The attorney was named Phillip Grant.
I had never met him.
I had never spoken to him.
Yet his office possessed a file labeled Jennifer Reed - Custody Evaluation Preparation.
Mara obtained the records through subpoena.
The contents were worse than the investigator’s report.
There were notes describing me as emotionally unpredictable.
There were statements allegedly made by Daniel.
There were emails from Susan.
There was even a proposed psychiatric evaluation request.
All of it had been prepared before Lily was born.
One email from Susan read:
We need enough documented concern that Daniel can act immediately if Jennifer becomes difficult after delivery.
Another said:
The baptism gives us a natural deadline because the family will all be present and can observe her behavior.
There was the plan.
In writing.
The party had never been only a celebration.
It had been a stage.
Daniel and Susan expected me to perform the role they had prepared for me.
An overwhelmed wife.
A resentful mother.
A woman incapable of controlling herself.
But one email disturbed Mara more than all the others.
Susan had written:
Once D has temporary custody, we can petition regarding administration of Lily’s financial interests.
Mara placed the printout down.
“They knew about the trust.”
I felt sick.
“My mother and I are trustees.”
“Currently.”
“What does that mean?”
“If they convinced a court that you were unfit, they could challenge your role.”
“And my mother?”
“They would still have a fight.”
“So why risk it?”
“Because Daniel needed money.”
We already knew that.
What we did not know was how desperately.
The forensic accountant answered the question.
Daniel was not fifteen thousand dollars in trouble.
He was not eighty thousand dollars in trouble.
He was more than two hundred thousand dollars in debt.
Credit cards.
Personal loans.
A failed cryptocurrency investment.
A private business venture that had collapsed.
And payments to Chloe.
Daniel had been moving money from account to account for nearly a year.
The reason I had not noticed was simple.
He had hidden most of the debt under DSR Consulting.
Susan had helped.
Robert had not.
The accountant found one more account.
It contained $97,400.
For several hours, we thought we had finally found Daniel’s missing money.
Then we discovered it was not his money.
It belonged to his employer.
Daniel had access to a client-retainer account through his position.
Money had been moved from that account into DSR Consulting in small transfers.
The earliest transfer was eleven months old.
Mara stared at the report.
“This just became much bigger.”
I looked at her.
“Did he steal it?”
“We need the company to verify.”
Robert verified it the next morning.
He called Mara first.
Then he called me.
Daniel had been suspended.
An internal investigation had begun.
His access badges had been disabled.
His corporate credit cards were frozen.
And three major clients had already demanded explanations.
Daniel blamed me.
Of course he did.
His first voicemail lasted three minutes.
“You had no right to drag my job into this.”
The second lasted five.
“You are destroying Lily’s future.”
The third became a threat.
“When I get custody, you will understand what you’ve done.”
I saved all of them.
Monday morning arrived.
The emergency custody hearing began at 9:00.
Daniel wore a navy suit.
He looked composed.
Susan sat behind him.
She had returned.
Her expression suggested that she believed they could still win.
Victor Shaw argued first.
He described me as vindictive.
He described the baptism confrontation as deliberately humiliating.
He suggested I had manipulated private marital communications.
Then he said something I did not expect.
“Mr. Reed also has serious questions regarding paternity.”
I turned toward Mara.
She looked equally surprised.
The judge frowned.
“Paternity of whom?”
Victor placed a document on the table.
“Of Lily Reed.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Daniel stared straight ahead.
Victor continued.
“My client recently obtained a private DNA test indicating that he may not be Lily’s biological father.”
The courtroom blurred for a second.
I looked at Daniel.
He finally met my eyes.
There was no confusion on his face.
No pain.
Only calculation.
He had found another way to rewrite the story.
I whispered to Mara.
“That’s impossible.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
The judge ordered an independent court-supervised DNA test immediately.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“If this private test was manipulated in any way, Mr. Reed, you should understand that the consequences will be significant.”
Daniel said nothing.
Outside the courtroom, Susan walked past me.
For a moment our eyes met.
She smiled.
That smile told me something terrifying.
May you like
This was not an improvised defense.
They had prepared for this too.
