Chapter 5 - The Legal Battle Lines
The clock on the wall read 2:14 AM when Sawyer finally returned to Gracie’s hospital room. The room was dark, save for the soft green glow of the heart monitor and the moonlight filtering through the blinds. Gracie was asleep, her small face relaxed for the first time in days, tucked safely beneath the hospital blankets.
Sawyer sat in the vinyl armchair beside her bed, his phone buzzing silently in his hand. The screen lit up with dozens of missed calls and text messages from Carolina, her lawyer, and his mother-in-law, Bonnie.
He opened a single text from Carolina’s attorney: “Sawyer, Carolina is currently in holding at the 4th Precinct. This is a massive misunderstanding. If we file for an emergency temporary custody hearing, it will ruin both your reputations. Let’s handle this quietly through a private mediator. We can agree to a temporary separation.”
Sawyer’s jaw tightened. He deleted the message without replying. He dialed a number he knew by heart—Arthur Pendelton, the senior partner at Pendelton & Associates, the most ruthless family law firm in the state. Arthur was a personal friend and the man who had drawn up Sawyer’s corporate contracts for a decade.
The phone rang twice before a sleepy but alert voice answered. "Sawyer? It’s two in the morning. What’s happened?"
"I need an emergency ex-parte order for sole legal and physical custody of Gracie," Sawyer said, his voice dropping into a chillingly calm, professional register. "No visitation. A lifetime restraining order against Carolina Hale and Bonnie Vance. I want them barred from coming within one thousand feet of my daughter, her school, or any property I own."
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Sawyer... those are scorched-earth tactics. What did she do?"
"She cracked my daughter’s ribs, Arthur. She’s been systematically abusing her every time I leave the city for work. She’s in a jail cell right now, and I have the forensic medical reports and video evidence to ensure she stays there."
May you like
Arthur’s voice instantly lost all sleepiness, replaced by a cold, legal steel. "Say no more. I will have the paperwork drawn up by 6:00 AM. We will be in front of a family court judge before the docket opens at eight. I’ll handle the restraining orders personally. Sawyer... I am so sorry."
"Don't be sorry, Arthur," Sawyer said, looking at his sleeping daughter. "Just make sure she can never touch my child again."
