Chapter 18 - The False Victory
Settlement negotiations began.
Nathan offered almost everything Rebecca requested.
He surrendered claims to the estate.
He agreed to repay misused company funds through his remaining equity.
He agreed that I would have primary custody.
He accepted supervised therapeutic contact with Ethan until Dr. Walsh recommended otherwise.
He waived any future fiduciary role in Ethan's trust.
Brooke offered cooperation in exchange for resolving some civil claims.
Victoria refused everything.
Still, it felt close.
The estate sold within nine days.
A family bought it with three young children.
I walked through the empty rooms one last time.
Ethan came with me.
He stood in his old bedroom.
The outside key had been removed.
“Are you sad?” I asked.
“A little.”
“Me too.”
He looked around.
Then he picked up a forgotten paper airplane from beneath the radiator.
He smiled.
“I thought this was gone.”
It was the model he had rebuilt after the basement accident.
He carried it downstairs.
At the front door, he looked back once.
Then he left.
I thought that was our ending.
It wasn't.
That evening, Rebecca called.
“Claire, don't panic.”
Nobody says those words before good news.
“What happened?”
“Victoria filed an emergency petition.”
“For what?”
“Grandparent access.”
I almost laughed.
“She has barely spoken kindly to him in months.”
“She claims you're alienating Ethan from his paternal family.”
“Nathan supports the restrictions.”
“I know.”
“She called him unstable too, didn't she?”
Rebecca paused.
“Yes.”
Victoria's petition painted everyone against her as mentally compromised.
Nathan was weak.
Brooke was coerced.
Olivia was confused.
I was vindictive.
Ethan was manipulated.
Victoria alone was clear-minded.
It was almost elegant.
Almost.
Then Rebecca said.
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“Someone submitted an audio recording.”
My stomach tightened.
“Of what?”
“You speaking to Ethan.”
I frowned.
“When?”
“After the school incident.”
My blood went cold.
That conversation happened inside my father's apartment.
Only Ethan, Dr. Walsh, and I had been there.
The recording was edited.
My words had been cut together.
“You never have to see them again.”
In reality, I had said.
“You never have to see them again until you feel safe and your therapist agrees.”
The second half was gone.
Victoria claimed the audio proved parental alienation.
“How did she get a recording from inside this apartment?”
Rebecca was silent.
Then I remembered something.
Olivia's tablet.
It had been inside the apartment.
And before Olivia brought it to me, Victoria had access to it.
We checked.
The tablet contained remote-family management software.
Someone with administrator access could activate certain syncing features.
Including audio backups from a child's accessibility settings.
Michael changed the password immediately.
The administrator account belonged to Brooke.
Brooke swore she did not know it was still active.
Then the login records appeared.
Someone had accessed the account three days earlier.
From a Palm Beach hotel.
Victoria was in Palm Beach.
May you like
Our false victory ended in one ugly realization.
Even after losing the estate, the money, and Nathan's loyalty, Victoria was still willing to use children as weapons.
