Chapter 3 - THE SMEAR CAMPAIGN
By Monday morning, Julian had bailed himself out. I knew he would; his mother, Beatrice Vance, came from old real estate money and viewed her son as a flawless golden child.
I immediately filed for a temporary restraining order, which the judge granted based on the police report. Julian was barred from coming within 500 feet of the apartment or Lily’s preschool.
But Beatrice didn't need to come near me to launch an attack.
By Wednesday, my phone was blowing up. Beatrice had weaponized her country club friends and Julian’s toxic family members. My Facebook was flooded with messages accusing me of being a "hysterical, vindictive wife" who was trying to alienate a loving father over a "simple time-out."
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” his aunt texted me. “Julian is a pillar of the community. You’re traumatizing that poor child by keeping her from her father.”
Julian’s lawyer, a vicious $800-an-hour shark named Richard Sterling, filed an emergency motion to lift the restraining order and demand 50/50 joint custody.
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In the legal filing, Sterling claimed that Julian had only placed Lily on the terrace for "three minutes" to calm a severe tantrum, and that I had orchestrated the police presence to gain leverage in a premeditated divorce.
He was trying to gaslight the court. He was trying to prove I was the crazy one.
