Chapter 4 - The Legal Weapon
The next forty-eight hours were a blur of legal warfare. Nathan’s attorneys filed motion after motion, painting me in the local media as an ambitious, neglectful mother who was projecting her clinical anxieties onto a perfect household.
Tabloid headlines in Bellhaven read: Local Hospital Chief Accuses High-Profile Husband of Abuse Amidst Daughter’s Mysterious Fall.
I was forced into a temporary administrative leave by the hospital board. Even my oldest colleagues looked at me with a mix of pity and suspicion. Nathan’s PR machine was working flawlessly, turning the public consensus against me.
On Thursday morning, I sat across from my family lawyer, Diane Vance—Marcus's sister and the sharpest family law attorney in the state.
"He's filed for temporary sole custody of Lily the moment she’s discharged," Diane said, tossing a thick stack of papers onto her desk. "He’s claiming your administrative leave proves you're unfit and unstable. He’s also trying to freeze your joint assets so you can't pay for top-tier legal defense."
"He can take every dime I have," I said, leaning forward. "But he will never, ever touch Lily again. What about the belt buckle evidence?"
"The police executed a search warrant on the house yesterday," Diane said grimly. "The belt was gone. Nathan claimed he lost it at a golf club last week. He had a receipt for a new, identical belt bought two days ago—without the chipped corner."
My heart dropped. "He destroyed it."
"Of course he did. He’s a professional fixer, Claire. He knows how to erase a crime scene. Right now, it's your word against his, backed up by medical charts that his lawyers are arguing could have been caused by an actual fall down the basement stairs, just as he claimed."
"And the rib fractures?"
"They're arguing Lily was bullied at school or was engaging in reckless behavior that she hid from both of you. Without Lily’s own testimony, we don’t have a smoking gun."
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"She’s still unconscious," I whispered, burying my face in my hands. "She can't speak for herself."
"Then we have to find another way," Diane said, her eyes flashing with determination. "Nathan Mercer thinks he’s invisible because he controls the narrative. But narratives are built on lies, Claire. And lies always leave a trail."
