Chapter 9 - THE FOLDER NAMED MIA

By midnight, Mia's cheek had been photographed by a doctor, her torn strap had been sealed in a bag, and Claire had answered more questions than she could remember.

Mia finally fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Claire carried her inside.

At the front door, Claire stopped him. "You're not coming in unless Mia wants you here."

He nodded. "I understand."

She looked at him. "Do you?"

He had no answer.

Inside, Mia woke enough to ask, "Can Dad sit with me until I fall asleep?"

Claire let him.

Twenty minutes later, Daniel came downstairs with red eyes.

"She asked me why I let Vanessa be mean to her."

Claire leaned against the kitchen counter. "What did you tell her?"

"That I didn't know."

"Did you not know, or did you not want to know?"

The question landed hard.

Daniel looked away. "There were little things."

"What little things?"

"She said Mia was spoiled. Too sensitive. She complained that Mia called you too much when she was with us."

"And what did you do?"

"I told Vanessa to be patient."

Claire laughed once, bitterly. "Patient."

"I was wrong."

"That sentence does not fix anything."

"I know."

He hesitated, then pulled out his phone. "Vanessa and I shared a cloud drive for wedding planning."

"Check it."

He logged in.

Folders appeared: VENUE. GUEST LIST. FLOWERS. TAXES.

Then one folder called FAMILY.

Inside it was another.

MIA.

Daniel opened it.

Claire stopped breathing.

There were dozens of photos of Mia smiling at Daniel's house.

There were screenshots of Claire's texts.

There were notes labeled "Behavior Incidents."

There was even a spreadsheet rating Mia's "defiance" from one to five.

And at the bottom was a document titled: POST-HEARING TRANSITION PLAN.

Daniel clicked.

The first line read:

"Once Claire's parenting time is reduced, contact between mother and child should be supervised for the first ninety days."

Claire stared at him.

Daniel whispered, "She was planning to take you away from her."

Then the screen refreshed.

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The folder vanished.

Someone had just deleted it remotely.