Chapter 4 - April nineteenth
“Dad?”
Thomas wouldn’t look at me.
Harrison almost smiled.
It was weak, but it was there.
For the first time since Dad entered the room, Harrison believed he possessed something valuable.
A secret.
Marcus noticed too.
“What happened April nineteenth?”
Harrison straightened.
“Your father-in-law isn’t exactly who your wife thinks he is.”
Dad picked up his hearing aids and put them back in.
A deliberate signal.
The moment was over.
“At least I know what I am,” Dad said.
Harrison’s smile disappeared.
Detective Ortiz interrupted.
“This conversation can wait.”
Marcus was removed from the room.
His shouting echoed down the hallway.
“You’re making a mistake!”
Then:
“Emily, you need me!”
That sentence almost made me laugh.
For years, he had convinced me I needed him.
His money.
His connections.
His family.
His approval.
Yet with Lily against my chest, I felt something I hadn’t felt in years.
Relief.
Then Ortiz showed me the paperwork.
A temporary protective order had already been prepared based on previous evidence.
The hospital incident strengthened it.
Marcus would not simply return home tonight.
Harrison turned toward the door.
Ortiz stopped him.
“We need your phone.”
“My attorney will speak for me.”
“That’s your right.”
He looked toward Dad.
“Thomas.”
Dad said nothing.
“Whatever you think you’re doing, remember April nineteenth.”
Dad finally looked at him.
“I remember every second.”
Harrison left with an officer.
I waited until the door closed.
“Dad.”
He sat beside me.
“Who was Harrison?”
“A man I knew overseas.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“No.”
“Then tell me.”
He looked at Lily.
“I will.”
“When?”
“When you and Lily are somewhere safe.”
I hated the answer.
But something in his expression told me the story was not his alone to reveal.
Then Detective Ortiz’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She turned toward me.
“The Vance family attorney just filed an emergency petition.”
“For what?”
“Temporary custody of Lily.”
Six hours old.
They were already trying to take my daughter.
May you like
And attached to the petition was a psychiatric evaluation claiming I was dangerous.
Signed three weeks before Lily was born.
