Chapter 4 - The Abduction under the Law
I drove through the city streets like a lunatic, my knuckles white on the steering wheel, running red lights while Victoria frantically made calls to family court judges.
"Hold on, Daniel!" Victoria yelled over the screech of my tires. "If you resist the social workers, they will arrest you, and that will give Linda exactly the leverage she needs to win permanent custody!"
"They are trying to take my daughter!" I screamed, tears blinding my vision. "Linda framed me! She made it look like I'm the dangerous one!"
When we pulled into the alleyway of my apartment complex, my worst fears were confirmed. Two police cruisers and a dark SUV marked Department of Children and Family Services were parked out front.
I threw open the car door and sprinted up the stairs to my third-floor apartment.
"Daniel, wait!" Victoria shouted, chasing after me.
Outside my door, two police officers were standing guard. Inside, I could hear Lily screaming and crying hysterically.
"Daddy! Daddy! Don't let them take me! DADDY!"
"Lily!" I shoved past the officers, bursting into my living room.
A female social worker was holding a terrified Lily, who was thrashing and kicking, her small face covered in tears. My neighbor, Sarah, was arguing heatedly with a male official in a suit.
"Sir, stay back!" the male official ordered, putting a hand on his holster. "We have a court order from Judge Miller. You are deemed an immediate threat to the safety of minor child Lily Carter."
"She’s my daughter!" I roared, stepping forward. "Look at her! She’s terrified of you! My mother lied to the judge!"
"Mr. Carter, if you step any closer, you will be arrested for obstruction of justice," the police officer behind me warned, grabbing my shoulder tightly.
"Daddy!" Lily reached out her tiny bruised arms toward me, her voice breaking into agonizing sobs. "Daddy, please! I'll be good! Don't let them take me!"
That broke me. I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face, forced to watch as the social worker wrapped a blanket around my daughter and began carrying her out the door.
"Lily... baby, listen to Daddy!" I choked out, trying to keep my voice steady despite the agony ripping through my chest. "Look at me, Lily!"
Lily stopped crying for a second, looking at me with tear-filled eyes.
"Daddy loves you so much," I promised, looking directly into her eyes. "I am going to fix this. Nobody is ever going to hurt you again. Trust Daddy, okay? Be brave."
"Daddy..." she whimpered as the social worker pushed past me and walked out into the hallway.
I laid my forehead against the cold floorboards, weeping uncontrollably as the sound of my daughter's cries faded down the hallway.
Victoria knelt beside me, placing a firm hand on my back. "Get up, Daniel."
"They took her, Victoria..." I sobbed, my voice hollow. "They took my little girl."
"Listen to me, Daniel!" Victoria said sternly, pulling me up by my shoulders and forcing me to look at her. "This is what Linda wants! She wants you to break down, to go crazy, to hit an officer, so she can lock you up and keep Lily forever! Are you going to let her win?"
I wiped the tears from my eyes, breathing heavily. The sorrow inside me slowly morphed into a dark, burning fury.
"No," I whispered.
"Good," Victoria said, pulling out her phone. "Because Judge Miller, the judge who signed that emergency order, didn't do it by accident. Judge Miller’s re-election campaign received a massive fifty-thousand-dollar donation from Arthur Carter’s construction firm last month."
I blinked, shocked. "My father bribed the judge?"
"It’s an illegal campaign contribution disguised through a shell company," Victoria smirked cold-bloodedly. "They played dirty, Daniel. Now we destroy them."
"Where did they take Lily?"
"To a emergency foster receiving center downtown," Victoria said. "And guess who just filed a petition to be her temporary foster guardian?"
"Linda."
"Exactly. The custody hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. We have twelve hours to gather enough evidence of judicial corruption, child abuse, and conspiracy to ruin Linda and Arthur Carter forever."
"What do we need to do?" I asked, my voice deadly quiet.
Victoria pulled a black flash drive from her pocket. "Your father’s construction firm keeps its financial records on a private cloud server. You used to do the architectural compliance work for him three years ago. Do you still have access codes?"
May you like
A small, dangerous smile spread across my face. "I built that server system myself."
"Then tonight, Daniel," Victoria said, "we go to war."
