Chapter 8 - THE CUSTODY PETITION
Mara had the filing within fifteen minutes.
Emergency petition.
Temporary custody request.
Allegations of emotional instability.
Impulsive behavior.
Dangerous anger.
I read the words twice.
Then a third time.
My hands became cold.
The petition had been drafted before the dinner.
Robert had planned to file it the following morning.
Helen had provided an affidavit.
It described me as erratic.
Jealous.
Increasingly hostile.
It claimed Lily’s anxiety was the result of my parenting.
And it asked the court to place both children primarily with Robert until I completed a psychiatric evaluation.
I looked at him.
“You planned this.”
Robert rubbed both hands over his face.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
“When?”
“I was advised to protect myself.”
“From what?”
“You were investigating the accounts.”
“So you decided to take my children.”
“No.”
He stepped toward me.
“I was trying to keep things from spiraling.”
Mara moved between us.
“Do not approach her.”
Robert stopped.
Helen smiled faintly from the doorway.
I turned toward her.
“You wrote that Lily is emotionally disturbed.”
“She is.”
“She is eight.”
“And already manipulative.”
Ethan stared at his grandmother.
“You said that?”
Helen looked toward him.
“Adults are talking.”
“No.”
His voice became stronger.
“Did you say that about Lily?”
Helen ignored him.
That was another mistake.
Mara read through the petition.
Then she looked at me.
“They made one very significant error.”
Robert’s attorney was no longer on the phone.
Robert stared.
“What?”
Mara looked toward him.
“You filed this while still acting under the Bennett trust’s fiduciary authority.”
He frowned.
“So?”
“So your affidavit states Claire’s instability threatens trust assets.”
Mara turned another page.
“Which means you used confidential trust information in a personal custody action.”
Robert’s face changed.
Mara continued.
“And because those trust records involve minors, your filing created an automatic audit trail.”
The accountant looked up.
“We now have grounds to examine legal fees.”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
Mara typed something.
Seconds later, she looked toward me.
“Found it.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-eight thousand dollars.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“Paid from a trust-controlled business account.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“You used my father’s money to hire a lawyer to take my children from me.”
Robert whispered.
“I was going to put it back.”
I almost laughed.
People who steal love that sentence.
Mara closed the laptop.
“Claire.”
I looked at her.
“We can seek an emergency protective custody order before sunrise.”
Robert’s head snapped up.
“No.”
Mara continued.
“Given the recordings, witness statements, financial misconduct, and preplanned filing, we have grounds.”
Robert stepped forward.
“They are my children.”
I looked at him.
“They were your children at dinner too.”
May you like
He stopped.
That was the sentence that broke him.
