Chapter 6 - CHAPTER 5: THE LEGAL STORM
"What kind of problem?" I asked, sitting up straighter.
Ethan sat on the edge of my bed and opened his laptop screen. "Ryan’s defense team—hired by his wealthy parents from Boston—just submitted a bail motion. They’re claiming Ryan was under the influence of severe emotional distress and toxicological manipulation caused by Vanessa."
"They're trying to put him in rehab instead of prison," I said, cold disgust washing over me.
"Worse," Ethan added grimly. "Because you two are still legally married, Ryan’s lawyers have filed an emergency petition for temporary joint custody of the baby once she’s born. They're arguing that since you were injured in a domestic dispute, your ability to provide a stable home environment is 'compromised.'"
I let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "He almost killed her with a wooden club! He cracked my ribs! Gabriel and Lucas were witnesses!"
"Vanessa wiped the house security servers before Gabriel entered," Ethan explained. "The physical evidence consists of your medical reports, the shattered front door, and the statements from you, Gabriel, and Lucas. Ryan’s lawyers are claiming Gabriel knocked the club out of Ryan’s hands before any assault occurred, and that your injuries happened when Gabriel smashed through the door and sent debris flying into the kitchen."
My breath hitched. "They’re blaming Gabriel for my injuries?!"
"They're trying to," Gabriel said, his voice dropping into that terrifyingly calm register. "They think because my military records are classified and I was declared deceased five years ago, I won't risk testifying in a open courtroom."
Gabriel stood up from his chair, pulling a leather-bound military ID and a sealed federal badge from his pocket.
"They picked the wrong ghost to fight," Gabriel said flatly.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Ten minutes ago, the Federal Prosecutor’s office unsealed my active intelligence status," Gabriel revealed. "I am no longer a dead soldier, Sophia. I am a sworn federal witness in an international syndicate investigation. Tomorrow morning, I am walking into that bail hearing."
Ethan grinned, a dark, satisfying smile spreading across his face. "And I just bought eighty percent of the mortgage debt on Ryan’s parents' Boston estate. If they spend one more dollar on Ryan's legal defense team, I will foreclose on their house by Friday."
I looked at my brothers and Gabriel—three unstoppable forces who had raised an impenetrable wall around me and my daughter.
"Take me with you tomorrow," I said firmly.
May you like
Ethan looked concerned. "Sophia, you need rest—"
"I am an emergency room nurse, Ethan," I interrupted, setting my jaw. "I have faced trauma every day of my professional life. I am not hiding in a bedroom while my coward of a husband tries to lie his way out of a courtroom. I’m going."
