Chapter 14 - THE FATHER WHO WANTED ACCESS
Richard's petition for access to Clara became the first thing Khloe fought from a hospital bed.
The hearing was held remotely because she could barely stand without assistance.
Harrison refused to let her sit through more than necessary.
Miranda handled most of the argument.
Richard appeared from his attorney's office in a charcoal suit.
He looked composed.
The sight infuriated Khloe.
She was wrapped in a hospital robe with a splint on her wrist and bruises spreading across her shoulder.
Richard looked ready for a shareholder meeting.
Douglas Vane began carefully.
"Mr. Harrington has not been charged with any offense arising from the courthouse incident."
"He did not push Mrs. Harrington."
"He did not instruct Ms. Kensington to use violence."
"He is the child's father and seeks reasonable, supervised access while the investigation proceeds."
Miranda responded with facts.
The anonymous threats.
The purchase of the prepaid phone by Vanessa's assistant.
The postpartum contingency.
Richard's contacts with Khloe's doctor.
The message telling Vanessa not to let Khloe leave.
The later message telling her to make sure Khloe did not walk away again.
The fact that Richard left the courthouse before police finished interviewing witnesses.
The fact that he described the shove as an accident before he had seen the available video or spoken to investigators.
Vane objected repeatedly to implication.
Judge Calder listened.
Then she addressed Richard directly.
"Mr. Harrington, why did you tell Ms. Kensington not to let your wife leave?"
Vane leaned toward his client.
Richard answered anyway.
"I wanted to speak with Khloe."
"Why?"
"Because I had discovered Vanessa had lied to me about something important."
Khloe watched his face on the screen.
Judge Calder continued.
"What had she lied about?"
Richard hesitated.
Vane finally said, "Your Honor, that issue may intersect with other proceedings."
Judge Calder's eyebrow rose.
"That is not an answer."
Richard looked down.
"She told me she was pregnant."
Khloe felt something inside her go still.
There it was.
Public.
Under oath.
Richard continued.
"I recently learned that may not have been true."
Judge Calder looked at him for a long moment.
"And you wanted to discuss Ms. Kensington's claimed pregnancy with your wife?"
"Khloe apparently had evidence."
"I wanted to know what she knew."
"So you asked Ms. Kensington to stop Mrs. Harrington from leaving the courthouse."
Richard swallowed.
"I asked her to keep Khloe there long enough for me to talk to her."
"Did you know Ms. Kensington had previously sent threatening messages to Mrs. Harrington through an assistant?"
Richard's face changed.
"No."
Miranda leaned toward Harrison.
He wrote something on a pad.
Judge Calder continued.
"Did you know Ms. Kensington had confronted Mrs. Harrington after an earlier hearing?"
"I knew they spoke."
"Did you know the conversation was hostile?"
Richard hesitated.
"Vanessa was upset."
"That was not my question."
He looked toward his lawyer.
"Yes."
Judge Calder sat back.
"Then your decision to use an angry potential witness as an intermediary with your thirty-five-week-pregnant wife was, at minimum, extraordinarily poor judgment."
Richard's face flushed.
Vane tried to redirect the discussion toward supervised parenting time.
He emphasized that Clara was Richard's daughter.
He argued that no evidence suggested he would physically harm the infant.
Khloe listened until she could not stay quiet.
"May I speak?"
Harrison looked at her.
Miranda did too.
Judge Calder nodded.
"Briefly."
Khloe adjusted herself carefully against the hospital pillows.
Every breath hurt her ribs.
"I am not asking the court to punish Richard because he cheated on me."
Her voice trembled at first.
Then steadied.
"I am not asking the court to erase him as Clara's father because I hate what he did to our marriage."
"I am asking the court to consider that before my daughter was born, Richard created a written plan to put a privately selected nurse into my postpartum care and document me as unstable."
"He contacted my doctor with false claims about my mental state."
"He moved money in violation of court orders."
"He used a woman he knew was angry with me to stop me from leaving a courthouse."
Khloe swallowed.
"That woman pushed me down thirty marble steps."
"My daughter had to be delivered in an emergency because her heart rate was failing."
"I almost died."
Richard looked down.
Khloe continued.
"I am not saying he pushed me."
"I am saying his judgment has repeatedly put his control over my safety."
"Until someone independent tells me my daughter will be protected from that same judgment, I do not believe he should have private access to her."
Silence followed.
Judge Calder thanked her.
Then she ordered that any initial contact between Richard and Clara occur only through a neutral supervised setting after Clara was medically discharged and after a parenting evaluator reviewed the relevant safety records.
Richard would receive medical updates through counsel.
He would not enter Khloe's hospital floor.
He would not contact Khloe directly.
He would not use third parties to contact her.
It was not everything Khloe wanted.
It was enough for now.
When the screen went dark, she exhaled.
Harrison reached for the laptop.
"You did well."
Khloe leaned back.
"I feel like I got hit by a truck."
"You got hit by thirty stairs."
"Thank you for the correction."
Miranda smiled.
Then Harrison's phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway.
Khloe watched through the glass as his expression changed.
When he returned, he closed the door behind him.
"Vanessa had her bail hearing."
Khloe's stomach tightened.
"Is she getting out?"
"Not today."
"The judge imposed secured bail and strict no-contact conditions."
"Her lawyer argued the fall was accidental."
Khloe stared at him.
"Accidental?"
"He says Vanessa pushed you away during an argument but did not intend for you to fall down the staircase."
"The video shows both hands on me."
"Yes."
"It shows me pulling away first."
"Yes."
"It shows her stepping forward and shoving."
"Yes."
Khloe's jaw tightened.
"Then let them call it whatever they want."
Harrison nodded.
"The video will keep being the video."
Later that afternoon, a detective returned.
He had more questions about the moments before the shove.
Khloe answered carefully.
When they finished, he hesitated.
"There is something you should probably hear from us rather than the news."
Harrison looked at him.
"What?"
"We recovered additional messages between Mr. Harrington and Ms. Kensington."
Khloe's pulse increased.
"About me?"
"Some."
The detective opened a folder.
"At 11:52, Ms. Kensington wrote, She knows I lied."
"At 11:53, Mr. Harrington responded, I know."
"At 11:55, she wrote, She is going to use it against me."
"At 11:56, he wrote, Then make her listen until I get there."
The detective paused.
"At 12:03, Ms. Kensington wrote, She always walks away like she is better than me."
"Mr. Harrington replied, Make sure she doesn't walk away again."
Khloe felt a chill despite the hospital blanket.
"And after the shove?"
The detective's expression changed.
"There was one unsent draft on Ms. Kensington's phone."
"It was addressed to Mr. Harrington."
"What did it say?"
He read it.
You said you would protect me if I stopped her.
Khloe looked at Harrison.
He remained very still.
"Unsent?"
"Yes."
"We do not know whether the statement is true."
"We do not know what she meant by stopped."
"But it is part of the evidence."
Khloe nodded slowly.
The detective left.
Harrison began pacing.
Khloe watched him.
"You think Richard is going to be charged."
"I think investigators have questions."
"More lawyer language."
"Yes."
Khloe looked toward the window.
Clara was due to be brought up for skin-to-skin contact within the hour.
She wanted to think only about that.
Instead, another question pressed into her mind.
"What exactly did Vanessa lie about?"
Harrison stopped pacing.
"The pregnancy."
"We know that."
"No."
Khloe looked at him.
"I want to know how far she took it."
"Did she fake a test?"
"An ultrasound?"
"A due date?"
"Did Richard move millions because he thought he had another baby coming?"
Harrison's expression told her the same question had already occurred to him.
"Her attorney called Miranda this morning."
"Why?"
"Vanessa wants to discuss cooperation."
Khloe stared at him.
"With us?"
"With investigators first."
"But her lawyer believes information she has about the financial case may also affect the divorce."
Khloe felt anger rise.
"She nearly killed my daughter and now she wants to trade information."
"That is what defendants do when their position becomes worse."
"Do I have to agree?"
"No."
"Prosecutors make their own decisions about criminal cooperation."
"We decide only whether we listen to information relevant to your case."
Khloe looked at Clara's empty bassinet card on the table.
Clara Rose Harrington.
Then she looked back at Harrison.
"Listen."
"Do not promise her anything."
"Do not protect her from consequences."
"But listen."
Harrison nodded.
"That was my plan."
The cooperation interview happened the next day without Khloe present.
Harrison did not attend the criminal portion.
He received only what Vanessa's counsel later authorized for the civil case.
At 7:30 that evening, Harrison entered Khloe's room carrying a folder.
His face was unreadable.
Khloe was holding Clara against her chest.
The baby slept beneath her chin.
"Tell me."
Harrison sat down.
"Vanessa was never pregnant."
Khloe closed her eyes.
She had expected the answer.
It still landed hard.
"Never?"
"Not during the period she told Richard she was."
"How did she convince him?"
May you like
Harrison opened the folder.
"That is the part you are going to hate."
