Chapter 8 - He Came For My Baby Next
The custody petition was filed the following morning at 8:12 a.m.
Mara called me at 8:17.
I was still in my mother's robe, eating toast over the kitchen sink.
"Do not panic," she said.
Naturally, I panicked.
"What happened?"
"Daniel filed an emergency petition concerning temporary parenting arrangements after the birth."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"The baby isn't even born."
"I know."
"Can he do that?"
"He can file paper."
Her tone sharpened.
"That does not mean the court will give him what he wants."
I sat down.
"What does he want?"
Mara hesitated.
I hated that hesitation.
"He is asking the court to order a psychological evaluation and to prevent you from taking the child outside Cook County without consent."
I stared at the wall.
"A psychological evaluation?"
"His petition says your conduct since discovering the affair has become obsessive and retaliatory."
My toast turned to dust in my mouth.
"What conduct?"
"Hiring an investigator, contacting his company, appearing at the marital home with police, and allegedly stalking Olivia."
I stood so quickly the chair scraped the floor.
"I did not stalk Olivia."
"I know."
"I saw her leave an apartment once."
"I know."
"I went to my own house yesterday."
"I know."
"And the company issue is a legal claim."
"Emma."
Mara's voice steadied me.
"I know."
I pressed one hand against my stomach.
The baby was moving.
I forced myself to breathe.
"Why would he do this?"
"Because someone told him it would pressure you."
"Olivia."
"Maybe."
"Victor."
"Maybe."
"Daniel."
Mara was quiet.
"Definitely Daniel."
That was the answer I needed.
It would have been easier to make Olivia responsible for everything.
But Daniel had signed the petition.
Daniel had sworn to the allegations.
Daniel had decided that if he could not frighten me with money, he would frighten me with motherhood.
My mother entered the kitchen.
She saw my face.
"What now?"
I handed her the phone on speaker.
Mara explained.
My mother sat down very slowly.
"He is accusing my daughter of being unstable?"
"In legal terms, he is raising concerns about emotional judgment."
"I am going to raise concerns about his ability to walk."
"Mom."
"Metaphorically."
Mara coughed to hide a laugh.
The emergency hearing was scheduled for two that afternoon.
Mara spent the hours before the emergency hearing building a timeline on a whiteboard.
She wrote the date of the anonymous threat at the top.
Below it, she wrote the lock change.
Below that, the police report.
Then Daniel's custody filing.
"Judges like chronology," she said.
"People like chronology."
"Judges are people with less patience."
My mother sat on the sofa in Mara's office with her arms folded.
"Write down that he married the mistress three hours after the divorce."
Mara did not turn around.
"Legally irrelevant to this motion."
"Emotionally very relevant."
"The judge is not ruling on emotional relevance."
My mother looked at me.
"I still want it on the board."
Despite everything, I laughed.
The laugh ended when Mara handed me Daniel's affidavit.
He had sworn that I had "demonstrated escalating fixation" on Olivia.
The examples included my presence outside the luxury apartment where I first saw her.
I read the paragraph twice.
"How does he even know I saw her there?"
Mara turned around.
"Did you tell him?"
"No."
"Did you tell anyone?"
"My mother."
"I did not tell him," my mother said immediately.
I looked at the affidavit again.
The location was specific.
Too specific.
"Olivia told him."
Mara nodded.
"Probably."
"Which means she knew I saw her."
"Possibly."
"Then why didn't she react that day?"
Mara capped the marker.
"Because people sometimes prefer to know what you know before you know what they know."
That sentence stayed with me.
Maybe Olivia had seen me that afternoon.
Maybe the affair had not simply been discovered.
Maybe my discovery had been allowed.
The idea felt paranoid.
So I wrote it down privately and did nothing with it.
Find out before deciding.
That rule mattered most when fear made certainty tempting.
On the drive to court, I turned off every notification on my phone except calls from my doctor.
The silence felt unnatural after days of constant buzzing.
My mother drove with both hands on the wheel.
"You know what bothers me most?"
"I have several guesses."
"He knows you."
I looked at her.
"Daniel knows exactly how seriously you take being a good mother."
Her jaw tightened.
"So whoever suggested that petition knew exactly where it would hurt."
I stared out the window.
That was the part I had avoided naming.
Money frightened me because it could change my future.
The company dispute frightened me because it could erase my work.
But questioning my judgment as a mother reached somewhere deeper.
Daniel knew that.
He used it anyway.
"I keep wanting Olivia to be responsible for the worst parts," I said.
My mother was quiet.
"Because then you would not have loved the person who did them?"
I swallowed.
"Maybe."
She reached across the console and squeezed my hand.
"You can love who someone was to you and still judge what they chose to do."
The courthouse appeared ahead.
I looked at the building and felt the baby move.
"Then today I judge the choice."
By one thirty, I was in the courthouse again.
This time I wore a navy maternity dress and flat shoes.
This time Daniel sat across from me without Olivia.
He looked exhausted.
His suspension from the company had apparently become public inside the office.
His phone had not stopped buzzing since we arrived.
When our eyes met, he looked away first.
Judge Ramirez read his petition in silence.
Then she removed her glasses.
"Mr. Carter, your child has not yet been born."
Daniel's attorney nodded.
"Correct, Your Honor."
"And you are asking me to order a psychological evaluation of the mother based largely on litigation activity involving a separate financial dispute."
"There are also concerns regarding harassment of Mr. Carter's spouse."
I watched Daniel.
He did not look at me.
Judge Ramirez turned to Mara.
"Response?"
Mara stood.
"The alleged harassment consists of my client entering a home she had a court-ordered right to occupy after Mr. Carter changed the locks."
She handed up the prior order.
"Police responded, reviewed the order, and required access to be restored."
The judge read it.
Mara continued.
"The investigator was present because my client received an anonymous threat against her unborn child less than twenty-four hours earlier."
She handed up a copy of the threat.
Daniel finally looked at me.
Judge Ramirez's expression hardened.
"Mr. Carter knew about this threat?"
Daniel's attorney answered.
"He learned of it yesterday."
"And then filed this petition this morning?"
No one answered immediately.
The judge looked directly at Daniel.
"Mr. Carter?"
He stood.
"Yes, Your Honor."
"Why?"
His lawyer touched his arm.
Daniel ignored him.
"Because Emma is trying to destroy my company."
The words echoed in the courtroom.
His attorney closed his eyes.
Mara did not move.
Judge Ramirez stared at Daniel.
"That is not an answer about the welfare of your unborn child."
Daniel swallowed.
"The stress she is creating affects everyone."
"Including her."
"Yes."
"Yet you are asking this court to increase that stress with an emergency mental health evaluation."
Daniel looked trapped.
"I am concerned about her judgment."
"Based on what medical evidence?"
"I don't have medical evidence."
"Based on what testimony from a mental health professional?"
"None."
"Based on what dangerous act?"
Silence.
The judge leaned back.
"Emergency relief is denied."
My lungs finally released.
But she was not finished.
"I will not allow family court to be used as leverage in a corporate dispute."
She looked at both tables.
"If either party attempts that again, I will consider sanctions."
Daniel sat down.
His face was red.
I should have felt victorious.
I did not.
I felt tired.
So tired that the floor seemed to tilt when I stood.
Mara reached for my elbow.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes."
Then a cramp tightened low across my abdomen.
I froze.
"Emma?"
"I'm fine."
Another cramp came thirty seconds later.
Stronger.
My doctor had warned me about stress and Braxton Hicks contractions.
I told myself that was all it was.
I walked into the hallway.
Daniel came out behind us.
"Emma."
I kept walking.
"Wait."
I stopped and turned.
"What?"
He looked at my face.
"Are you okay?"
I almost laughed at the absurdity.
"You filed a petition this morning calling me emotionally unstable."
"That was not what I meant."
"It was exactly what you swore under oath."
"My lawyer drafted it."
"Did your lawyer forge your signature too?"
His face went still.
The question was cruel.
I did not regret it.
"You think I forged that release?"
"I think you have spent months signing things you did not read and blaming everyone else when they mattered."
"That's not fair."
"Neither was trying to use my baby to scare me."
His eyes dropped to my stomach.
"Our baby."
"Then act like her father."
I walked away.
My phone buzzed before I reached the elevator.
A local news site had published a headline.
PREGNANT EX-WIFE DERAILS CHICAGO MEDICAL DEAL AMID BITTER DIVORCE.
Below it was a photograph of me entering the courthouse.
The article quoted an unnamed source describing me as "emotionally volatile" and "fixated on revenge."
Mara read over my shoulder.
"Do not respond."
"I wasn't going to."
Another cramp hit.
I gripped the wall.
Mara caught me.
"That one was not nothing."
"I'm thirty-four weeks."
"Exactly."
She called my mother.
I called my doctor.
As we waited for the elevator, another notification appeared.
The article had been shared by Olivia.
Her caption was one sentence.
Some women cannot accept when a man chooses peace.
I stared at it until the letters blurred.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Something made me answer.
A woman's voice spoke quickly.
"Is this Emma Carter?"
"Yes."
"My name is Karen Pike."
I stopped breathing.
Karen Pike was the witness whose signature appeared on the forged intellectual property release.
"I worked for Carter Motion Labs six years ago."
"I know who you are."
She was silent for a moment.
"Then you know why I'm calling."
"Did you sign that document?"
Her answer came in a whisper.
"Not six years ago."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"When did you sign it?"
"Eight weeks ago."
The elevator doors opened.
I did not move.
"Who asked you to?"
May you like
Karen began to cry.
"Victor Hale."
