Chapter 6 - The File Melissa Forgot to Delete
Melissa had accidentally backed up her recordings to our shared family cloud account.
Among them was a video filmed the night before I returned.
My mother sat at my kitchen table holding a photocopy of Andrew’s trust summary.
Melissa stood beside her.
“If Natalie loses temporary custody, does the trustee change automatically?” Melissa asked.
“No,” Evelyn replied. “But the court may appoint someone to help manage Lily’s interests.”
“You.”
“Who else?”
Melissa laughed.
“And once you’re attached to the trust?”
“We can challenge the restrictions later.”
They were not merely trying to punish me.
They intended to use my daughter as the doorway to her father’s money.
When the recording ended, Evelyn stood so suddenly her chair scraped across the floor.
“That was private!”
The judge ordered her to sit.
Melissa began blaming our mother.
“You said this was legal!”
Evelyn turned on her.
“You made the call sound worse!”
Their polished unity collapsed in less than a minute. Both women began shouting over each other until the judge threatened to remove them from the courtroom.
The emergency petition was denied immediately.
The judge also issued a temporary order preventing either woman from contacting Lily, entering my apartment, or representing themselves as her caregiver. The recordings were referred for investigation because the petition contained statements contradicted by their own videos.
Outside the courtroom, Evelyn screamed my name.
“You are taking my granddaughter away from me!”
I stopped beside Rachel.
“No. You terrified her to get closer to her money.”
Melissa cried that she would lose her job if the recordings became public.
May you like
Neither of them asked how Lily was doing.
That told me everything.
