Chapter 8
The trial was the worst three days of my life.
Daniel took the stand first.
He lied through his teeth.
He said Clara was a drug addict, an unfit mother, who’d kept his kids from him for years.
He said I was a bitter ex-fiancée, who’d paid Clara to lie about him to get revenge for the wedding.
He cried on the stand, saying he just wanted to be a good dad, that we were all conspiring to ruin his life.
His lawyer tried to make us look like monsters.
He grilled Clara for hours, asking her personal questions about her jobs, her money, her past relationships, trying to make her look unstable.
Clara held her head high. She answered every question calm, honest, her voice only shaking when she talked about the night Daniel broke down the door.
When I took the stand, I told the jury everything.
The wedding. The kids. The stolen money. The texts. The threats.
I showed them Lily’s drawing. I told them about the nightmares, about the school, about how scared the kids were every time a car backfired outside.
I told them about the man Daniel really was.
Not the perfect fiancé. Not the grieving dad.
A liar. A thief. A coward who hurt everyone who loved him.
The last witnesses were Lily and Milo.
The judge let them testify in his chambers, no jury, no Daniel in the room, to keep them calm.
I held Lily’s hand while she talked.
She told the judge about Daniel missing her recitals. About him yelling at their mom. About the night he kicked down the door, how she’d thought he was going to take them away forever.
“I don’t want to see him anymore,” she said, quiet, her eyes full of tears. “He scares me. I just want to be safe with Mommy and Aunt Lottie.”
Milo didn’t say much. He just nodded when the judge asked if Daniel scared him too, then climbed into my lap and buried his face in my shoulder.
When it was over, the jury deliberated for four hours.
We sat in the hallway, holding hands, waiting.
Clara was shaking so bad I had to wrap my arm around her.
Lily and Milo were coloring on the floor, too young to understand how much was riding on this.
Finally, the bailiff called us back in.
The jury foreman stood up.
“We find the respondent, Daniel Reed, unfit to parent,” he said. “We grant full permanent custody to the petitioner, Clara Bennett. We order all parental rights of Daniel Reed terminated, effective immediately.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
Clara burst into tears, collapsing into my arms.
The judge banged his gavel.
“Mr. Reed,” he said, looking at Daniel, who was sitting at the defense table, his face white with rage. “You are hereby ordered to pay $800 a month in child support until the children reach 18. You are to have no contact of any kind with Ms. Bennett, Ms. Carter, or the children, in person, by phone, by text, or through any third party. Violation of this order will result in immediate arrest and felony charges. Court adjourned.”
Daniel stood up, his chair scraping the floor.
“This isn’t fair!” he yelled. “They’re my kids! You can’t do this—”
Two bailiffs grabbed him before he could take a step toward us.
They led him out of the courtroom, yelling threats the whole way.
I didn’t flinch.
I didn’t care what he said anymore.
He was gone.
He couldn’t hurt us ever again.
We walked out of the courthouse into the bright sun.
Lily ran ahead, spinning in circles, her dress flaring out around her.
Milo chased her, laughing, his little legs pumping as fast as they could go.
Clara grabbed my hand, squeezing tight.
“We did it,” she said, crying happy tears. “We actually did it.”
I squeezed back.
“Yeah,” I said, smiling. “We did.”
For the first time in months, I felt completely, totally safe.
May you like
The worst was over.
Now, we got to start living.
