After a devastating crash left me barely able to walk, I called my parents and begged them to care for my one-year-old twins. My mother snapped, “I still need time for pickleball! Your sister never bothers us the way you do.” Then she hung up. I stared at the hospital ceiling, remembering every mortgage payment, vacation, and debt I had covered for them. That night, I made one phone call—and stopped every cent.

Judge Rollins stood at the foot of my bed with an expression of cold indifference.

My mother and father trailed confidently right behind her, flanked by an expensive corporate lawyer.

Susan wore a designer dress that I had paid for, looking entirely too smug for the situation.

"Let us make this quick," Judge Rollins announced, opening a thick manila folder.

"The petitioners have demonstrated that the mother is physically incapacitated for the foreseeable future."

Daniel immediately stood up and objected to the biased statement.

"Your Honor, my client has the financial means to hire full-time, professional nanny care."

"Furthermore, the petitioners recently had their financial support severed by my client."

"This custody bid is nothing more than a desperate extortion attempt."

Susan gasped dramatically and clutched her pearl necklace.

"We only care about the safety and well-being of our precious grandchildren!" she cried.

Judge Rollins held up a hand to silence the room, glaring sternly at Daniel.

"Wealth does not replace a stable family environment, Mr. Cho."

"I am inclined to grant temporary emergency guardianship to the grandparents."

I felt the entire room spinning around me as my worst nightmare became a reality.

I was about to lose Noah and Lily to the very people who had abandoned me.

"You cannot do this, Patricia," I pleaded, using her first name out of sheer desperation.

"You know exactly what kind of mother Susan is."

Judge Rollins narrowed her eyes and slammed her heavy gavel down onto the rolling table.

"I am signing the temporary transfer order right now," she declared coldly.

She pulled a gold pen from her pocket and pressed it against the legal document.

Before she could sign her name, Daniel's phone buzzed loudly with a high-priority alert.

He looked at the screen and a slow, triumphant smile spread across his face.

"I highly recommend you do not sign that paper, Your Honor," Daniel stated confidently.

The Clumsy Maid Bathed His Dog—Then The Mafia Boss Said She Wasn’t Leavi...

She found her husband with another woman and walked away so quietly that...

The Mafia Boss Asked a Disabled Widow If She Was Okay

"My investigator just uncovered the identity of the person who actually owns your husband's offshore accounts."

"And it turns out, your husband is doing a lot of illegal business with my client's sister."

Chapter 4 - The Rigged Game