Chapter 6 - The Custody Threat
The silence that followed Clara’s words was heavy, broken only by the soft, steady breathing of their daughter sleeping on the cot. Arthur didn’t defend himself. He couldn’t. Every accusation she had hurled at him was entirely accurate, verified by three years of absence and emotional neglect.
“You’re right,” Arthur said quietly, looking down at his hands. “I chose the firm. I convinced myself that if I just made enough money, if I secured enough status, I was fulfilling my role as a father and a husband. I was arrogant, blind, and completely selfish. But yesterday, when I heard Lily crying over that phone while I sat in a room full of men who wouldn't care if I dropped dead tomorrow, the whole illusion shattered.”
Clara looked back at him, her expression wary, searching his face for the lawyer’s tricks she had grown so accustomed to during their divorce proceedings. “What are you saying, Arthur?”
“I’m saying I was fired last night,” he replied, looking her straight in the eye. “I walked out of the Victor Vance closing to come to the apartment. Richard Hayes rescinded my partnership and terminated my contract on the spot.”
Clara’s eyes widened in genuine shock. “You walked out on Victor Vance? Arthur, that deal was your entire life. You worked twenty-hour days for two years to get that client.”
“And it wasn't worth a single second of Lily’s childhood,” Arthur said firmly. He leaned closer to the bed, resting his elbows on his knees. “When I went to your apartment last night, I found something else in your desk drawer, Clara. I found a letter from a family law firm dated six months ago. It was a formal inquiry regarding modification of physical custody, citing your extended work hours and lack of child supervision during evenings.”
Clara’s face went completely white. She shrank back against the pillows, her breath catching in her throat. “How… how did you find that?”
“Who sent it, Clara?” Arthur asked, his voice dropping into a dark, protective tone. “I never authorized any lawyer to investigate our custody arrangement. I haven't spoken to a family attorney since the day the divorce was finalized. Who threatened to take Lily away from you?”
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Clara closed her eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek. “It was Richard Hayes. He called me to his office six months ago. He told me that your billable hours were slipping because you were taking alternate weekends off to see Lily. He said that if I didn't voluntarily agree to reduce your visitation schedule to one weekend a month so you could handle the Vance merger, he would use the firm’s legal resources to file for full physical custody on your behalf. He showed me private investigator reports about my three jobs, my credit card debt, and the hours Lily spent alone after school before the babysitter arrived. He told me any judge in Chicago would look at my bank account and hand Lily over to you in ten minutes.”
Arthur’s blood turned to ice. His managing partner—the man who had mentored him, who had toasted at his wedding—had blackmailed his ex-wife into giving up her visitation time just to squeeze ten extra billable hours a week out of him for a corporate merger.
