Chapter 7 - THE CUSTODY ORDER
Audrey turned toward Derek.
His face went white.
“I didn’t file anything.”
Lorraine spoke immediately.
“Don’t answer.”
Derek rounded on her.
“Did you file for custody?”
“No.”
“Mom!”
Charles put down his drink.
“This hysteria is unnecessary.”
Audrey crossed the room.
“Who filed it?”
The detective handed Nathan, who had just arrived, a copy.
Nathan read quickly.
His expression darkened.
“This was submitted electronically at 4:36 yesterday.”
Audrey had been standing inside her own bedroom at 4:36.
Holding Maisie.
Looking at Sienna.
The petition claimed Audrey had suffered an acute postpartum psychiatric crisis.
It said she removed the newborn from the marital home without medical clearance.
It said she had threatened Derek.
It said she was hiding the baby at an unknown location.
All lies.
Attached was a declaration from Raymond Keller.
Audrey stared at his name.
“He has never evaluated me.”
Nathan nodded.
“I know.”
Another attachment.
A letter supposedly from Audrey’s obstetrician.
Nathan read it.
“Also fake.”
Then he reached the final page.
Something changed in his face.
“What?”
Nathan looked at Derek.
“Your electronic signature is on the petition.”
Derek shook his head.
“I didn’t sign it.”
Lorraine stepped back.
Too late.
Everyone saw.
Derek saw too.
“Mom?”
“I did what was necessary.”
His mouth opened.
“You forged my signature?”
Lorraine’s expression hardened.
“You’re welcome.”
“For kidnapping my daughter through a court order?”
“She is your daughter!”
“She’s five days old!”
Audrey watched the family fracture in real time.
For six years, Lorraine had treated Derek like a prince.
Now Audrey finally understood.
Lorraine hadn’t worshipped her son.
She had used him.
Nathan was already speaking to the detective.
“The order was obtained through materially false representations. We need emergency review.”
The detective nodded.
“I can contact the judge’s clerk.”
Audrey looked at Charles.
“You knew about this.”
“No.”
She studied him.
He was lying.
Not fully.
But enough.
“Why custody?”
He said nothing.
Audrey suddenly remembered something.
Vance Family Holdings.
The trust.
Her grandfather’s complicated rules.
One clause surfaced from memory.
A clause Audrey had barely considered because she had been childless when she inherited control.
Nathan saw her expression.
“What?”
“The successor provision.”
His face changed too.
“Oh.”
Derek frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Audrey looked at Charles.
Now she understood.
“If I became legally incapacitated after having a child, my voting authority wouldn’t automatically return to the trustees.”
Charles remained silent.
“It would move into a guardianship structure benefiting my direct descendant.”
Maisie.
Nathan continued.
“And whoever controlled Maisie’s legal interests could influence the voting trust.”
Lorraine looked confused.
Derek looked horrified.
Audrey stared at Charles.
“This was never about Derek becoming powerful.”
“No.”
Finally.
Truth.
“You needed Maisie.”
Charles’s smile disappeared.
That was enough.
Derek stepped toward him.
“You used my daughter?”
Charles replied coldly:
“You used your own daughter when you ignored seventeen calls.”
Derek hit him.
One punch.
Charles crashed into the drinks cabinet.
The detectives moved instantly.
Lorraine screamed.
Helena covered her mouth.
Audrey didn’t move.
Derek was handcuffed despite shouting that Charles deserved it.
The irony was almost perfect.
Then Nathan’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
Audrey knew before he spoke that something had gone wrong.
Nathan looked at her.
“The judge suspended the custody order.”
Relief hit her.
Then he continued.
“But someone filed another petition.”
“For what?”
“Emergency guardianship.”
“Of Maisie?”
Nathan slowly shook his head.
“Of you.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“Based on what?”
“A sworn psychiatric evaluation.”
“By Keller?”
“No.”
Nathan looked down at the document.
“This one is signed by Dr. Elaine Vance.”
Audrey froze.
Helena whispered:
“No.”
Audrey turned toward her mother.
Elaine Vance was Audrey’s older sister.
May you like
A psychiatrist.
And the one person in the family Audrey had trusted without question.
