Chapter 3 - The Web of Lies
The next forty-eight hours were a blur of legal injunctions, emergency custody hearings, and blinding rage.
Thanks to the medical report from Dr. Aris and Lily's own statement to a child psychologist specializing in trauma, the judge granted me temporary full custody. An emergency restraining order was slapped on Evelyn, barring her from coming within five hundred feet of Lily, my home, or Lily's school.
But Evelyn was a wealthy, well-connected woman. She hired Richard Vance—a high-priced, ruthless defense attorney—who immediately went to work spinning the narrative.
I sat in my lawyer’s office on a rainy Tuesday morning, staring at a stack of legal documents. My attorney, Sarah Jenkins, slid a piece of paper across the desk.
"Evelyn's legal team is claiming 'parental alienation syndrome,'" Sarah explained, adjusting her glasses. "They are arguing that you coached Lily to say those things to the doctors. They’re claiming the bruising on her arms is from playground falls, and the chilblains are from Taylor letting her play in the snow without proper boots last winter."
"That's insane," I growled, clenching my fists. "She was in a freezer, Sarah! I pulled her out of it!"
"And Evelyn is claiming she didn't know Lily was in there," Sarah replied smoothly. "She says she was inside the house making tea. She's painting you as a disgruntled ex-husband who saw an opportunity to frame her. And Taylor is backing her up."
"Taylor is terrified of her," I said, leaning back in my chair. "Evelyn controls the trust fund. Evelyn paid for the house we lived in. Hell, Evelyn paid for the divorce lawyers. Taylor has never made a single decision in her life without her mother’s approval."
"We need proof," Sarah said. "Witness testimony from a five-year-old is fragile in court, especially against a well-funded defense claiming coaching. Is there anything else? A nanny? A neighbor? Security cameras?"
My heart skipped a beat.
Security cameras.
When Taylor and I had first moved into the Aspen Ridge house, I had installed a smart-home security system. It had cameras on the porch, the backyard, and—crucially—inside the garage to monitor my expensive woodworking tools. When the divorce proceedings started, Taylor had changed the Wi-Fi passwords, and I lost access to the live feeds.
"The garage camera," I said, my pulse accelerating. "It records to a local encrypted hard drive bolted to the server rack in the basement. Evelyn wouldn't know how to wipe it. Taylor probably forgot it even exists."
May you like
Sarah smiled, a predatory gleam in her eyes. "David, if that hard drive is still there, it belongs to the marital estate since the property settlement hasn't been finalized. I can draft an emergency subpoena for the immediate seizure of that server today."
I nodded, feeling a spark of genuine hope for the first time in days. "Get it. Before Evelyn realizes her mistake."
