Chapter 7 - THE VISITATION
While Detective Chen worked with the DA to secure an emergency warrant for Rebecca’s arrest on charges of murder and child endangerment, I received a court-mandated notice regarding a supervised visitation request.
Even from jail, Rebecca’s defense attorney had filed an emergency motion demanding weekly supervised visits with Maya and Leo, citing her "constitutional rights as a stepmother and primary caregiver."
I was furious. The mere thought of those children ever laying eyes on her again made my blood boil.
However, family court judge Patricia Sterling ruled that under standard legal procedure, a brief, highly supervised virtual visitation must take place to evaluate the children's psychological response before permanent parental rights could be legally severed.
"It's just a thirty-minute video call through the court's secure portal, Mr. Miller," Marcus Thorne advised me gently in my living room. "The children will be in the same room with you, and a court psychologist will monitor their reactions. It will be the final nail in Rebecca's legal coffin. Seeing their terror on camera will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that reunification is impossible."
On Wednesday afternoon, the laptop was set up on my dining table.
Leo sat beside me on the couch, wearing a soft gray sweater, clutching his stuffed bear. Maya was playing quietly with building blocks on the rug nearby.
"You don't have to talk to her, buddy," I told Leo, resting a hand on his shoulder. "The second you feel scared, we shut the laptop off."
Leo nodded solemnly. "I'm not scared of her anymore, Uncle Thomas. But I don't want to see her face."
"Understood."
At exactly 2:00 p.m., the secure video portal blinked green.
The screen flickered, revealing a harsh, fluorescent-lit visitation booth at the county jail. Rebecca appeared on camera. She wasn't wearing her designer clothes anymore; she wore an orange jumpsuit, her hair unbrushed, her face pale and twisted into an ugly snarl of bitter resentment.
"Leo! Maya!" she shrieked through the tinny computer speaker, slamming her hands against the glass partition on her end. "You ungrateful little monsters! Look what you did to me! Look where I am because of your lies!"
Leo didn't flinch. He didn't cry. He simply looked at the screen with the cold, detached gaze of a survivor who had stared down a monster and won.
"We didn't lie," Leo said clearly, his voice steady and strong. "You locked us in the dark. And we're never coming back."
Rebecca’s face contorted into pure, unhinged rage. She leaned so close to the jail camera her distorted features filled the entire monitor.
"You think you've won, Thomas?!" she screamed directly at the webcam, glaring straight at me. "You think you're so smart with your fancy house and your corporate job! You don't even know what your precious brother was hiding! Ethan wasn't the saint you think he was! He was knee-deep in something far worse than you could ever imagine, and before this week is over, your entire family name is going to be dragged through the absolute dirt!"
I slammed the laptop shut, cutting her off mid-sentence.
My heart hammered against my ribs. What did she mean? Was there something else Ethan had hidden in that safe deposit box?
May you like
Before I could process her threat, my phone rang. It was Detective Chen, and her voice sounded frantic.
"Thomas, you need to turn on the local news right now. Rebecca’s defense team just filed an emergency injunction—and they dragged you directly into it."
