Witness statement provided by Charles Bright…
Requesting immediate temporary custody pending investigation…
The words blur together, but one name sticks out and guts me.
Charles Bright.
“My father,” I whisper, the pages trembling in my hands. “My own father is helping them destroy me.”
“Tiff—”
“That’s why he threatened you yesterday. He knew this was coming.”
“Tiff—” Jamie tries to calm me, but no one can. Not now.
“He's going to testify against me.” My voice cracks.
I can't comprehend. Can't even breathe.
“All because you’re here.” I don't mean to say it out loud, but the accusation hangs in the air between us.
Jamie flinches like I've slapped him across the face. “Tiff—”
“Your father is doing this to punish you.” My voice is rising now, and I'm dimly aware I need to keep it down so Ella doesn't hear. “He's going after Ella to hurt you, and my father—God, my father is helping him, and I—”
I can't finish. Can't breathe.
Four years. Four years of building a life, of proving I could do this, of finally feeling safe.
Gone. Destroyed in five minutes by men in suits with manila envelopes.
“They're not taking her.” Jamie's hands are on my shoulders, grounding me. “Tiff, look at me. They're not taking her.”
“You can't promise that!” I shove the papers at his chest. “Look at this! They're claiming I'm an unfit mother. They have my own father willing to testify against me. What am I supposed to say to that? That the man who kicked his pregnant daughter out suddenly cares about her welfare?”
“That's exactly what you say,” Jamie says firmly. “Any judge will see through that.”
“Will they?” I laugh, but it sounds broken. “Or will they see exactly what your father wants them to see? A struggling single mother with no job, no home of her own, living off the charity of her cousin. And now with a boyfriend who—” I stop, staring at him, and shake my head. “They're going to use you against me too, aren't they? The unstable boyfriend with no job who abandoned his own family.”
Jamie's jaw tightens. “I didn't abandon—”
“It doesn't matter what's true!” Tears are burning my eyes now. “What matters is what they can prove in court. What matters is they have unlimited resources and I have—what? My cousin’s house and a GED I haven't even finished yet?”
Jamie opens his mouth, then closes it, because what can he say? We both know I'm right.
I sink onto the stairs, the papers scattering around me. “This is my fault,” I whisper. “I let myself believe it could work. I let you in. I let Ella get attached. And now—”
“Stop.” Jamie crouches in front of me, forcing me to meet his eyes. “This is not your fault. This is my father being a vindictive bastard and yours being—” His voice hardens. “Being exactly the kind of man who'd sell out his own daughter.”
“But they're winning.” My voice breaks. “They're already winning, and we haven't even started yet.”
From the living room, I hear Ella singing along to her cartoons, completely oblivious to the fact that her entire world might be about to shatter.
“No, they aren’t. I’m going to fix this. I promise,” Jamie says, his hands squeezing my arms, but how can he be so sure? He hasn’t been through the fight we have, and his father wants to eliminate me as an issue.
I need to call Zach. And Honey. And our lawyer.
But first, I need to figure out how to keep breathing.