Chapter 3 - The Fake Order
I stared at the police officer in complete and utter disbelief.
"That is my house, and those are my children!" I screamed frantically.
The officer held up the legal document so I could see the bold black text.
It was an emergency custody injunction signed by a powerful family court judge.
The document explicitly stated that I was an unstable danger to my own children.
"This has to be a forgery, we were just at dinner an hour ago!" Ethan argued furiously.
Ryan stood in the doorway, pretending to look like a terrified and concerned father.
"She attacked my mother with boiling soup, officer, she is completely out of her mind," Ryan lied smoothly.
My mother stepped forward, her face pale with fear for her grandchildren.
"You know exactly what Diane did to provoke that," my mother pleaded.
The officer shook his head and ordered us to return to our vehicles immediately.
I felt my entire world collapsing as I was forced to abandon my crying babies.
Ethan grabbed my arm and gently pulled me toward the car before I could be put in handcuffs.
We drove back to my mother's small apartment in absolute, suffocating silence.
I sat on her worn couch, sobbing uncontrollably into my trembling hands.
Ethan was pacing back and forth across the small living room, staring at a photo he had snapped of the court order.
"Maya, look very closely at the signature date on this document," Ethan said urgently.
I wiped my tears and squinted at the glowing screen of his smartphone.
The judge had signed the emergency custody order exactly three weeks ago.
This meant the soup incident was just a convenient excuse for a plan they had been building for a month.
They had orchestrated the entire dinner to make me snap in front of dozens of wealthy witnesses.
I realized I was fighting a war against monsters who were ten steps ahead of me.
May you like
Suddenly, a notification popped up on my phone from an old smart home app.
It was a motion alert from the hidden camera I had placed inside the twins' favorite stuffed bear.
