Chapter 7 - The Midnight Break-In
The forged document trembled in my hands as the reality of Grant’s blackmail set in.
He had orchestrated this entire nightmare perfectly, leaving me with absolutely no legal escape route.
If I fought for my children, he would send me to prison and take them anyway.
Grant snatched the paper back from my hands and told me I had twenty-four hours to sign the custody surrender forms.
He walked back to his luxury car and drove away, leaving me standing alone in the cold mist.
I drove back to Eleanor's office and collapsed into the leather chair, weeping uncontrollably.
Eleanor read the copy of the forged document and cursed loudly.
She said the forgery was flawless, and the court would absolutely believe it belonged to me.
I wiped my tears, refusing to let my children become trophies for a billionaire's spoiled daughter.
I told Eleanor that Grant used to keep a physical backup hard drive of all his illicit corporate dealings.
He kept it hidden in a floor safe inside my parents' house in Columbus, thinking it was the most secure location.
If I could retrieve that hard drive, I could prove he orchestrated the fraud long before the forged signature.
Eleanor warned me that breaking into my parents' house was a massive, dangerous felony.
I looked at my three sleeping children on the office couch and told her I literally had nothing left to lose.
I drove back to Columbus under the cover of utter darkness.
I parked three streets away and crept through the muddy backyards until I reached my childhood home.
I knew the security code for the back patio door because my father had never bothered to change it.
I slipped quietly into the dark house, listening to the rhythmic ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway.
I crept into my father's study and knelt on the floor, peeling back the heavy Persian rug.
The hidden safe was exactly where I remembered it.
I typed in my mother's birthday, and the heavy metal door clicked open with a soft thud.
I reached inside and grabbed the small black hard drive, feeling a massive surge of triumph.
Suddenly, the bright overhead lights flicked on, completely blinding me.
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I turned around and froze in absolute, paralyzing terror.
My father was standing in the doorway, aiming a loaded hunting rifle directly at my chest.
