Chapter 4 - The Legal Counter-Strike
The conference room at Vance & Sterling Family Law smelled of expensive leather and polished mahogany. Elena Vance, a veteran attorney with silver-streaked hair and eyes like polished steel, clicked off her iPad after watching the bathroom video for the third time.
She placed her hands flat on the glass table and looked at me.
"Clara, this is an open-and-shut case for emergency custody, a restraining order against the paternal grandmother, and grounds for an expedited divorce with full primary custody," Elena said crisply. "The grandmother engaged in intentional endangerment of a minor for digital clout. The father was complicit and attempted to suppress evidence of child endangerment. We have the video metadata, the cloud backup, and an independent witness statement from your nanny."
"Can Ethan fight for joint custody?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly despite my best efforts to remain composed.
"He can try," Elena replied, leaning back in her ergonomic chair. "Judges in this state take child endangerment extremely seriously—especially when it's documented on video. The moment he tried to wrestle the phone away from your nanny to delete the file, he committed obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact. If he plays hardball, we release the footage to the local media. Public opinion alone will destroy any chance he has."
My phone buzzed in my lap. It was a text from an unknown number.
I glanced down. It was a photo of Ethan standing outside our house, holding a coffee cup, looking miserable.
Clara, please. Mom has agreed to check into a wellness retreat. She realizes she crossed a line. Can we please just do family counseling? You're tearing our family apart over a mistake.
I slid the phone across the table toward Elena.
The lawyer glanced at the screen, a thin, humorless smile touching the corners of her lips. She picked up her stylus, tapped a button on her desk phone, and spoke to her paralegal.
May you like
"Sarah, please draft the temporary restraining order for Amanda Davis, and file the petition for sole legal and physical custody of the minor child, naming the father as a respondent under supervised visitation pending psychological evaluation. Let's have it on the judge's desk by noon."
She looked back at me. "Tell your husband to talk to my office if he has anything to say."
