Chapter 6 - THE CUSTODY PETITION FROM A MONSTER
Victor's petition was almost impressive in its cruelty.
He claimed I was mentally unstable.
Homeless.
Violent.
Associated with organized crime.
Technically, the last part had become complicated.
He claimed Elias abducted me and the twins.
That I was being coerced.
That Noah had been secretly removed from him years earlier.
And worst:
He included photographs of my injuries as evidence that I had “self-harmed during a postpartum episode.”
I stared.
“He had his men beat me.”
Rachel nodded.
“And now he is using the injuries against you.”
That was Victor.
Turn the wound into proof the victim caused it.
My attorney—Rachel arranged one independent of Elias—filed an emergency response.
Not a Vance lawyer.
My lawyer.
Important.
Meanwhile, Elias worked with state investigators on Julian's location.
He could have sent armed men.
He didn't.
The Catskill facility was raided legally.
Samuel Miller was arrested.
Three employees detained.
Julian Vance was found alive.
Thin.
Drugged.
But alive.
Elias didn't go into the room first.
Doctors did.
Then Julian asked for him.
Their reunion was not cinematic.
No hug.
Julian looked at his brother and said:
“I was wrong.”
Elias answered:
“Yes.”
Then sat beside him.
Brothers.
Complicated.
Later, Julian asked about the twins.
His biological daughters.
He looked terrified.
“I never consented.”
“I know,” I said.
“They're yours.”
My body tightened.
Then he corrected:
“Biologically.”
Good.
“They're your children.”
That mattered more than he knew.
Noah met Julian weeks later under therapist supervision.
Again, no instant family.
No forced titles.
Victor's custody case collapsed quickly once evidence surfaced.
But then Samuel offered prosecutors a deal.
He had records.
Years of illegal fertility procedures.
Not only mine.
Victor had used reproductive manipulation on other women connected to rivals and wealthy families.
Why?
Children create leverage.
Inheritance.
Custody.
Blood claims.
Samuel had built an entire hidden business around it.
The horror was bigger than me.
Then he revealed Victor's real reason for choosing Julian's genetic material.
The Vance family controlled an old trust tied to waterfront land worth hundreds of millions.
Only direct descendants of Malcolm Vance could trigger certain succession rights.
Noah, Emma, and Lucy were those descendants.
Victor planned to control the children through me.
Through marriage.
Through legal parenthood.
He didn't want sons because of masculinity alone.
He wanted a Vance heir he could claim as his own.
When the twins were girls, he thought the trust required male heirs.
He was wrong.
The trust recognized any biological descendant.
The moment Victor learned that, his daughters suddenly became valuable.
Not to him as children.
As keys.
Then Samuel looked at Elias and said:
“Victor still has one advantage.”
“What?”
“Malcolm's trust requires a biological descendant's guardian to sign activation documents.”
Everyone looked at me.
As legal mother, that guardian was me.
May you like
Victor didn't need my daughters dead anymore.
He needed my signature.
