Chapter 7 - The Counter-Attack
The next morning, the house smelled like pancakes.
I walked into the kitchen to find Lily sitting on a stool at the island, wearing an oversized t-shirt of mine, happily mixing batter while Clara flipped pancakes at the stove. The sight of them there, illuminated by the morning sun, hit me like a freight train.
This. This was what I had been missing.
At 10:00 AM, David pulled into my driveway in his sleek Mercedes. He walked in wearing a sharp suit, carrying a thick leather briefcase.
"Julian," David greeted, giving me a firm handshake. He turned to Clara, his professional demeanor softening. "Clara. Julian has told me everything. Don't worry about retainer fees; this one is on me."
We sat at the dining room table while Lily watched cartoons in the living room.
"Mark is filing an emergency injunction for temporary custody," David said, pulling out a stack of papers. "He’s claiming your apartment is unsafe—ironic, since he threw the brick—and that you're exposing his daughter to a 'random man'."
Clara gasped, her hands covering her mouth.
"Relax," David smiled, a sharp, predatory grin. "Mark is a bully, and bullies are usually stupid. I had my investigator look into him overnight. Mark hasn't paid a dime of child support in five years, which is a felony in this state given his income bracket. Furthermore, he has three DUIs in Connecticut, and his current business is under investigation by the IRS for tax evasion."
I felt a dark satisfaction settle in my chest. "So we crush him."
"We don't just crush him," David said, sliding a document toward Clara. "We force his hand. We present this evidence to his high-priced lawyer. We offer him a choice: he voluntarily signs away all parental rights, completely legally severing his ties to Lily. In exchange, we don't report his location to the IRS, and we don't press charges for the vandalism or the back child support."
Clara looked at the document. It was a termination of parental rights.
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"Will he sign it?" she asked, trembling.
"Men like Mark care about their money and their freedom above all else," David said confidently. "He doesn't want to be a dad. He wants to win. When we show him that losing means going to federal prison, he'll sign it before the ink is dry."
