Chapter 6 - THE RESTRAINING ORDER
Sandra Gomez sat across from Megan in a small, private consultation room off the main emergency lobby while Robert and Julian paced back and forth outside the glass windows like caged animals.
“The situation is very complicated, Miss Vance,” Sandra said, reviewing the digital files on her tablet. “Sarah Vance has a prior history with our department after her son's death last year. The medical debts forced her into bankruptcy, she lost her job as a dental hygienist, and the local police have responded to two prior welfare checks at her old address.”
“What happens to Lucy now?” Megan asked, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
“Since her mother is incapacitated in the ICU and there are no known living relatives in the state, Lucy will be placed into an emergency temporary foster home as soon as she is cleared by the pediatric unit tomorrow morning.”
Megan felt a sharp, heavy lump form in her chest. “A foster home? She's disenchanted, Sandra. She's spent three weeks sleeping in a car. If you put her into a house with strangers right now, she will break.”
Sandra sobbed sympathetically. “I understand your concern, Miss Vance. And I commend what you've done today—you likely saved Sarah's life by finding that vehicle. But you have no legal standing here. You aren't family, you aren't a certified foster parent, and based on what's happening outside that door, your own family is strongly opposed to your involvement.”
The door to the consultation room swung open without a knock.
Robert walked in, followed by a tall, sleek man holding a leather document folder—Arthur Sterling, the head of Vance Financial's legal team.
“Sandra Gomez?” Arthur Sterling said, stepping forward with an authoritative smile and offering his card. “I'm Arthur Sterling, legal counsel representing the Vance family. We would like to ensure that my client, Megan Vance, is fully cleared of any liability regarding this evening's events.”
Megan stood up, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Liability? What are you talking about, Arthur?”
“Megan, sit down,” Robert ordered flatly. “Arthur is handling this.”
“I will not sit down!” Megan turned on her father. “Did you call our corporate lawyer to the hospital?”
“I called our corporate lawyer to protect this family from a disastrous scandal,” Robert replied coldly. “Arthur has already spoken to the hospital administration and the local chief of police. We are making sure that your name is completely removed from any public reports regarding Sarah Vance's drug overdose.”
Arthur turned back to the CPS worker. “Mrs. Gomez, my client was merely acting out of misplaced civic sympathy after a minor disturbance at her wedding. She will not be acting as a witness, nor will she be involved in any guardian futureship proceedings regarding the minor, Lucy Vance.”
Sandra Gomez looked at Arthur Sterling, then at Robert, and finally at Megan, her expression turning professional and distant. “I see. Well, as I told Miss Vance, the state will assume full physical custody of Lucy tomorrow morning regardless.”
“No,” Megan said, her voice dangerously quiet.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her.
“Megan, enough,” Julian said from the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. “This has gone far enough. You've had your dramatic moment. Now let the lawyer do his job so we can go home.”
Megan looked at Julian, then at Arthur Sterling, and finally at her father. She felt a profound, crystal-clear realization wash over her. For twenty-eight years, she had lived inside the gold-plated cage her father had built for her. She had taken the corporate job he chose, dated the men he approved of, and planned the wedding he paid for.
She reached behind her neck, unhooked the diamond necklace her father had given her as a wedding present that morning, and dropped it onto the glass table with a heavy, metallic clink .
“Arthur,” Megan said, staring straight at her family's lawyer. “I want you to draft a petition for temporary emergency guardianship of Lucy Vance under my name.”
Robert's face went dead white. “Have you completely lost your mind?!”
“If you refuse to draft it,” Megan continued without breaking eye contact, “I will hire my own family law attorney by midnight, I will call every news outlet in San Francisco to explain why the daughter of Vance Financial left her own wedding to save an abandoned child while her father tried to cover it up, and I will resign from the executive board effective immediately.”
The room went dead quiet. Even the hum of the fluorescent lights seemed to fall into silence.
Robert stared at his daughter, his mouth slightly open, realization slowly dawning on him that the quiet, obedient girl he had controlled for three decades was gone forever.
“You're choosing a street kid over your own husband?” Robert whispered, his voice trembling with a terrifying blend of rage and betrayal.
Megan looked past her father to Julian, who was staring at her with cold, distant disgust.
“He was never my husband, Dad,” Megan said softly, looking down at her bare, unadorned ring finger. “We never signed the marriage certificate at the church. The papers were supposed to be signed at the reception.”
May you like
She turned back to Sandra Gomez.
“Tell me what I need to do to take Lucy home tomorrow.”
