Chapter 14 - THE HEARING
Dominic wore navy blue to family court.
The same suit he wore when he wanted investors to trust him.
I wore a simple black dress and shoes without heels because my incision still hurt.
Leo stayed nearby with a licensed caregiver.
Dad did not sit beside me.
That was intentional.
Dominic’s claim was that my father controlled everything.
So Dad sat in the back.
Quiet.
Just my father.
Not a general.
Dominic’s attorney opened carefully.
He did not call me crazy.
Good lawyers rarely use ugly words when polite ones will do.
He said I was “under significant postpartum stress.”
He said I had “abruptly removed the infant from the marital residence.”
Rebecca stood.
“Your Honor, Mrs. Brooks did not remove the infant from the marital residence. Mr. Vale left his five-day-postpartum wife and newborn outside a hospital and drove away in her separately owned vehicle.”
The judge looked over her glasses.
“Is that disputed?”
Dominic’s attorney paused.
“Context is disputed.”
“Did he drive away?”
“Yes.”
“Did she have transportation?”
“She had access to public transportation.”
The judge stared at him.
I almost admired the courage.
Rebecca continued.
“We also have messages from Mr. Vale instructing my client to clean the apartment for potential investors while she was still returning from surgical discharge.”
The messages appeared.
Dominic looked straight ahead.
Then the financial evidence.
The transfers.
The questioned signatures.
The tracking device found on Natalie’s vehicle.
The attempt to enter Natalie’s apartment.
Dominic’s attorney objected repeatedly.
Some objections were sustained.
Some weren’t.
Then came the photographs of me crying.
Rebecca held one up.
“Mr. Vale argues that this image indicates emotional instability.”
Dominic’s attorney shifted.
“My client had concerns.”
Rebecca walked closer.
“This photograph was taken approximately three hours after Ms. Brooks left the hospital following major abdominal surgery, while holding her newborn, after learning that substantial sums may have been removed from her accounts.”
She turned toward the judge.
“If crying under those circumstances is evidence of parental instability, the standard would disqualify half the parents in New York.”
The judge’s mouth twitched.
Then Dominic testified.
That was where things went wrong for him.
“Why did you give your wife twelve dollars?” Rebecca asked.
“I believed it was enough for transportation.”
“Why didn’t you arrange a car?”
“My mother had a reservation.”
Silence.
Rebecca waited.
Dominic realized how it sounded.
“We were running late.”
“Your mother’s lunch reservation was more important than your wife’s safe transportation after surgery?”
“No.”
“But you left.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It was a mistake.”
“Did you tell a nurse Mrs. Brooks was exaggerating?”
“I don’t remember.”
The nurse had provided a statement.
Rebecca knew that.
“So your testimony is that you don’t remember?”
“Yes.”
“Did you text Mrs. Brooks that your mother wanted her SUV the next day?”
Dominic’s shoulders dropped slightly.
“Yes.”
“Did you also tell her to clean the apartment before you returned?”
“Yes.”
“And at the time, she was five days postpartum?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca sat down.
No shouting.
No dramatic speech.
She didn’t need one.
The judge issued temporary orders.
Leo would reside primarily with me while medical and custody evaluations continued.
Dominic received structured parenting time appropriate for a newborn.
No unsupervised removal from the city.
No harassment.
No disposal of assets.
No direct confrontation outside approved communication channels.
It wasn’t revenge.
It was structure.
I felt something inside me loosen.
Then, as we walked into the hallway, Dominic approached with his attorney.
He looked wrecked.
“Audrey.”
Rebecca stepped between us.
Dominic raised his hands.
“I just want to say something.”
I waited.
“I lost the company.”
I said nothing.
“Briar called the debt.”
Still nothing.
“My investors are gone.”
“I’m sorry for the employees.”
His face twisted.
“What about me?”
I looked at him.
“What about you?”
His eyes filled with anger.
“You get your rich father, your trust, the apartment, the baby—everything.”
And finally, completely, I understood him.
This had never been about love versus money.
To Dominic, everything was ownership.
The company.
The SUV.
The apartment.
Leo.
Me.
I stepped closer.
“You still think I won something from you.”
He stared at me.
“You didn’t give me any of those things, Dominic.”
Then a detective walked toward us.
“Dominic Vale?”
Dominic turned.
“Yes?”
“We need to speak with you regarding documents submitted to Briar Capital.”
His face drained.
But the detective wasn’t finished.
“And one more matter.”
“What matter?”
“A wire transfer made this morning.”
Rebecca looked sharply at him.
“What transfer?”
The detective answered.
“Eight hundred thousand dollars.”
My stomach dropped.
“From where?”
He looked at me.
May you like
“From an account in your son Leo’s name.”
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