Chapter 8 - The Judge's Shadow
I slammed my foot onto the gas pedal, weaving recklessly through the slick, rain-soaked streets of the city.
My heart hammered in my throat as I redialed David's number again and again, but it kept going straight to voicemail.
The corrupt judge had completely bypassed the legal system, weaponizing the law to steal my child.
I knew that if CPS took Lena into the foster system, my parents would use their wealth and influence to ensure I never saw her again.
I finally pulled into my neighborhood, the tires screeching as I took the corner too fast.
My blood ran cold as I saw the flashing red and blue lights illuminating the dark street.
Two police cruisers and an unmarked black government SUV were parked aggressively in my driveway.
I slammed my car into park on the street and sprinted across the wet lawn.
The front door of my house was wide open, and a female CPS worker was standing on the porch holding a thick legal folder.
"Where is my daughter?" I screamed, pushing past a startled police officer to get inside.
The living room was completely empty, and the silence in the house was deafening.
The CPS worker turned around, her expression hardening as she looked at me.
"Natalie Sterling, we have an emergency removal order signed by a superior court judge," she announced coldly.
"You have no right to take her, the allegations are completely fabricated!" I yelled, desperate to find my family.
An older police detective stepped out of my kitchen, holding his notebook.
"We don't want to do this the hard way, ma'am," the detective said firmly.
"Where is the child?"
I looked around the house, realizing with a massive surge of relief that David's car was not in the garage.
He hadn't answered his phone because he was already running.
"I don't know where she is," I told the detective, and for the first time today, I was telling the absolute truth.
The CPS worker scoffed, clearly not believing a word I said.
"If you are hiding the child to evade a lawful court order, you will be arrested for custodial interference," she threatened.
I stood tall, refusing to let them see me break.
"Arrest me, then," I challenged her, holding out my wrists.
The detective sighed heavily, unclipped his handcuffs, and walked toward me.
"Turn around and place your hands behind your back," he ordered.
As the cold steel locked around my wrists, my phone suddenly began ringing on the entryway table.
The caller ID displayed my mother's name.
The detective picked up the phone, answered it, and put it on speaker so everyone in the room could hear.
May you like
"Natalie, darling," my mother's voice crooned, sounding victorious and cruel.
"Did you really think your pathetic husband could hide her from us at the lake cabins?"
