Chapter 5 - THE ARREST
Ethan stood slowly.
“For what?”
The officer handed him the document.
Victoria had accused him of assaulting her in the driveway and threatening to take the baby.
“That’s a lie,” Ethan said.
“You can explain it downtown.”
Lily jumped to her feet.
“No! My dad didn’t hurt her!”
The officer glanced at her.
“Miss, please stay calm.”
“She took the baby!”
Ethan placed himself between Lily and the officers.
“I’m not leaving my daughter.”
The second officer spoke quietly.
“There’s a temporary protective order. Victoria is asking that both children be placed with her until the hearing.”
Ethan’s stomach turned.
“She can’t take them.”
His attorney arrived moments later and pushed through the entrance.
“Do not say anything else,” he warned Ethan. “We’ll challenge the order.”
But the paper was already active.
The officers could not arrest Ethan for refusing to surrender the children.
Still, they could remove Lily and the baby from his care.
Lily wrapped both arms around her father.
“Dad, please don’t let her take me.”
Ethan looked at the officers.
“You heard her.”
“We’re not taking her right now,” one officer said. “But you cannot return to the house.”
His attorney pulled him aside.
“Where is Victoria?”
“She drove away.”
“She may be trying to move the baby before the hearing.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“We have to find her.”
His attorney shook his head.
“If you violate the order, you could lose custody permanently.”
Ethan looked at Lily’s frightened face.
For the first time, he understood Victoria’s plan.
She wanted him to panic.
She wanted him to chase her.
She wanted him to make one mistake that would make her accusations believable.
So Ethan forced himself to breathe.
“Then we do this legally,” he said.
That night, Lily slept in a temporary foster room at the hospital while the newborn remained under observation.
Ethan sat alone in the waiting area, staring at the baby monitor recording.
At 2:13 a.m., a new file appeared.
He pressed play.
Victoria was speaking to someone in the nursery.
“You promised me he would sign everything.”
A man answered.
May you like
Ethan recognized the voice.
It belonged to his own attorney.
