Chapter 19 - The Petition That Survived Them
Peter Sloan’s office had prepared the guardianship documents, but someone else filed them after his arrest.
The petitioner was Northline Asset Partners.
A corporation asking for custody of a child made no sense.
Until Ortiz found the attached affidavit.
It was signed by a court-appointed child advocate.
Or appeared to be.
The signature was forged.
The petition was not meant to win.
It was meant to create confusion, force hearings, and keep us under pressure while Voss’s financial case moved forward.
One final act of sabotage.
The judge dismissed it in eleven minutes.
Then she referred the filing for criminal investigation.
That evening, we returned to our house together for the first time.
Emma ran upstairs to show Claire the drawings she had saved for seven months.
I stayed in the kitchen.
On the counter sat a small evidence envelope Ortiz had delivered.
Inside was the broken padlock from the freezer door.
Emma had asked if she could keep it.
At first, I thought that was strange.
Then Claire came downstairs and touched the cracked metal.
“No,” she said softly. “Let’s keep it.”
“Why?”
May you like
She looked toward the stairs where Emma was laughing.
“So we never forget who broke the door.”
