“He lies when the truth makes him look small,” I said.
She whirled back toward me. “You can’t take our home with a newborn!”
“The trust offered temporary accommodation for ninety days. You rejected it because it lacked a private elevator.”
Daniel’s attorney whispered urgently into his ear, but Daniel pushed him aside. “You’re punishing my son.”
“No. I am protecting him from parents who use him as a weapon.”
The safeguarding officer confirmed that Vanessa’s threat to keep the baby from me, along with the dangerous shove while she held him, had been officially recorded. Their child was not being removed, but parenting evaluations and follow-up visits had been ordered.
The detective then placed two warrants on the table. Daniel and Vanessa were arrested for attempting to steal intellectual property, falsifying expense claims, and conspiring through the shell company registered to her brother.
As the officers moved closer, Daniel looked directly at me.
“I’m your son.”
“I know,” I said. “That is why I gave you chances no employee would have received. It is also why your betrayal hurt more.”
Vanessa began screaming that the entire plan had belonged to Daniel. Daniel shouted back that she had pressured him into it. Their marriage disintegrated into accusations before the elevator doors shut.
