I exhaled slowly. “What do you recommend?”
Steven answered immediately. “Freeze whatever can be frozen. Challenge the settlement based on hidden assets. Secure long-term support for the children. And document every hostile communication from him or his family.”
I almost laughed at the last part. “That file will be thicker than a Bible by morning.”
Steven did not smile. “Then we’ll build a case out of it.”
Over the next week, life split into two separate worlds.
In Surrey, there were school visits, warm baths, quiet dinners, and the slow, miraculous process of my children relaxing. Aiden started sleeping through the night again. Chloe stopped asking whether Daddy was angry. I walked through the gardens in the early mornings and remembered that I used to enjoy silence.
In New York, according to Steven, David’s world was becoming almost unrecognizable.
Allison disappeared from social media and from David’s apartment. Linda stopped answering calls from her friends after gossip about the clinic spread through three country clubs and a charity board before sunset. Megan tried to contain the damage to the family’s reputation and failed spectacularly.
David, meanwhile, shifted from rage into desperation.
First he emailed:
We need to talk.
Then:
You had no right to take the children out of the country without discussing it.
Then:
I know you set this up. What did you tell the clinic?
And finally:
Please let me speak to Aiden and Chloe.
I let Steven handle the legal responses and arranged one monitored video call.
David appeared on the screen looking ten years older than the man I had divorced. His tie was crooked. His eyes were bloodshot. He smiled too quickly when the children appeared.
“Hey, buddy. Hey, princess.”
Aiden shifted awkwardly. Chloe hid half her face behind my arm.
David swallowed hard. “How are you guys?”
“We’re okay,” Aiden answered.
“That’s good. That’s good.” David forced another smile. “You like England?”
Chloe nodded. “There’s a dog.”
For a brief second, David actually looked relieved. Then he noticed me at the edge of the frame and the relief disappeared.
“Catherine, can we talk privately?”
“No.”
His jaw tightened. “You can’t keep doing this.”
“I’m not stopping you from speaking to your children. I’m stopping you from controlling me.”
“That’s not fair.”
I nearly laughed. “Fair?”
