Chapter 6 - The Temporary Order
Judge Rowan denied Graham’s emergency custody request.
Then she did something he clearly had not expected.
She issued a temporary protective order concerning the children.
Neither Graham nor Vivian could remove Noah or Oliver from my care.
Graham received limited supervised visitation until a full evidentiary hearing.
Vivian received none.
The judge also prohibited both sides from disposing of disputed marital assets.
When Pike tried to argue that I was retaliating financially, Marcus stood.
“My client has only restricted access to assets she independently owns.”
The judge looked curious.
Pike looked confused.
Graham looked terrified.
Outside the courtroom, he caught up with me.
“Elena.”
Marcus stepped between us.
I raised a hand.
“It’s fine.”
Graham looked exhausted.
“Can we talk?”
“You had three years to talk to me.”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting an anniversary.”
My voice stayed low.
“You helped your mother build a legal story designed to take my children.”
His eyes filled with something I wanted to believe was shame.
“Mom told me you were planning to leave.”
“And you believed her.”
“She showed me messages.”
I stopped.
“What messages?”
He hesitated.
Marcus noticed immediately.
“What messages, Mr. Harrington?”
Graham looked at him.
“Private messages between Elena and someone named Daniel.”
I frowned.
“I don’t know a Daniel.”
Graham reached for his phone.
Pike rushed toward us.
“Graham, do not disclose evidence outside counsel.”
Graham ignored him.
He opened several screenshots.
The messages appeared to come from me.
One read, Once the babies arrive, I can finally leave him.
Another said, Graham will never know they aren’t his.
I stared at them.
The number displayed at the top was not mine.
“It was saved under your name.”
Graham said it as if that proved something.
“Did you ever call the number?”
Silence.
“Did you hear my voice?”
“No.”
“Did you ask me?”
His jaw tightened.
“I knew you’d deny it.”
I almost laughed.
“So you accused me of betraying you without asking whether the messages were real.”
“My mother hired someone to verify them.”
Marcus extended his hand.
“Send me copies.”
Pike intervened.
“Absolutely not.”
Marcus smiled without warmth.
“Then we will obtain them in discovery.”
Graham looked between us.
Something was finally beginning to disturb him.
Not because he trusted me.
Because for the first time, he was realizing that Vivian might have lied to him too.
I returned to the hospital.
The twins were cleared to leave that afternoon.
Marcus arranged a private apartment in one of my company’s residential buildings.
I did not go back to the mansion.
Not because Vivian had won.
Because I no longer wanted my sons spending their first weeks inside a place where their father had helped plan their removal.
That evening, Marcus called.
“The number in those screenshots was activated eleven weeks ago.”
“Owner?”
“Prepaid account.”
My heart sank.
Then he continued.
“But whoever created it made one mistake.”
“What?”
“The first activation connected through the Harrington mansion’s Wi-Fi.”
I closed my eyes.
There had been only three adults with regular access to that network.
Me.
Graham.
May you like
And Vivian.
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