Chapter 4 - The Custody Order
Elena pulled Sophia behind her.
The sudden movement made her injured ankle buckle.
I caught her before she fell.
Victoria’s attorney, Conrad Mills, entered the corridor holding the order as though it were a weapon.
“Grant, you need to surrender the child.”
I read the first page.
The order claimed Elena suffered from severe psychosis.
It described me as an absent father with a documented history of violent behavior.
It stated that Sophia faced immediate danger in our custody.
The issuing judge was Harold Weaver.
A longtime guest at Victoria’s charity galas.
“Where is the underlying medical report?” I asked.
Conrad adjusted his glasses.
“That is confidential.”
“I am her father.”
“And you have been outside the country for eleven months.”
“I returned today.”
“You assaulted your mother and brother within an hour.”
The officers looked uncomfortable.
They had been told a decorated hotel owner attacked his elderly mother during a gala.
They had not been told why.
I handed one officer my phone.
“Before you touch my daughter, look at these photographs.”
He saw Sophia beside the garbage cart.
The locked laundry room.
The mattress.
Elena’s bruises.
The dry food container.
His expression changed.
Conrad stepped forward.
“Those images lack context.”
Elena laughed weakly.
“There is no context that makes a locked basement a home.”
The second officer examined the custody order.
“This was signed yesterday.”
I looked at Conrad.
“They prepared it before I returned.”
“Your mother was concerned about your arrival.”
“She did not know I was coming.”
Silence followed.
Only my chief assistant in Singapore knew my exact travel schedule.
Someone had informed Victoria.
I looked at Marcus.
He avoided my gaze.
The first officer handed back my phone.
“We are not removing the child without speaking to a supervisor.”
Conrad’s face hardened.
“You are defying a court order.”
“We are verifying its scope.”
Sophia stepped from behind Elena.
“Can I show you where Grandma locks us?”
The officer crouched.
“You do not have to show me anything if you are scared.”
Sophia took his hand.
She led him to the laundry-room door.
Near the bottom, someone had scratched lines into the paint.
One line for each night.
There were one hundred and forty-three.
The officer stood slowly.
He called his supervisor.
Conrad moved toward the elevator.
Thomas blocked him.
“You should remain available.”
“You have no authority to detain me.”
“No.”
“But police may want to know why your law firm drafted custody papers using a diagnosis from a doctor who never examined Elena.”
Conrad looked at him.
“You do not know that.”
Elena removed another document from the envelope.
The psychiatric report carried Dr. Malcolm Voss’s signature.
The date listed a consultation at the Sterling Medical Center.
On that date, Elena had been inside the hotel basement.
Security footage proved it.
Dr. Voss had never seen her.
The officers separated Marcus and Conrad.
An ambulance was called for Elena.
As paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher, Sophia held her hand.
I walked beside them.
Then my phone rang.
My Singapore chief assistant sounded terrified.
“Mr. Sterling, I need to tell you something.”
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“Your mother knew you were coming because she ordered the company jet tracked.”
“And she said if you reached the hotel, Marcus was supposed to move your wife before you found her.”
