Chapter 4 - Michael Wanted His Son Back
Michael Reed had not seen Noah in eighteen months.
His visits had become irregular after he moved to Pennsylvania.
Daniel never tried to replace him legally, but he had helped raise Noah
since the boy was three.
Emma called Michael from Karen’s presence.
He answered on the second ring.
“Emma.”
“You made the report.”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because I was sent photographs.”
“By Margaret?”
“By Rachel.”
Rachel began crying.
She admitted forwarding some images because Margaret convinced her the
children were living in dangerous conditions.
Michael saw Noah surrounded by mess, Lily crying, and messages claiming
Emma was emotionally unstable.
He panicked.
But instead of calling Emma, he filed a report.
Then Margaret contacted him directly.
“She said Daniel wanted out,” Michael explained. “She said you were
falling apart.”
Emma looked at Margaret.
“And you believed her?”
“I believed the pictures.”
Noah whispered, “They were fake.”
Michael heard him.
His voice changed.
“Noah?”
“I’m okay, Dad.”
That one sentence broke something in Michael.
He asked to come over.
Emma said no.
Not yet.
Karen completed her initial visit.
The home itself showed no immediate safety threat.
Lily’s skin was examined because of the hot sauce exposure. Emma
arranged medical evaluation immediately.
Karen documented that too.
Margaret tried to call the spaghetti incident an accident.
Noah corrected her.
“She dumped it.”
Margaret glared at him.
Emma saw it.
“So help me, Mom, if you intimidate him again, you leave now.”
Margaret looked at Karen.
Then at Rachel.
Then at Emma.
She finally picked up her coat.
Before leaving, she said:
“You’ll understand someday.”
Emma answered:
“No. I understand today.”
After Margaret left, Rachel handed Emma the blue folder.
“There’s more.”
Inside was a draft petition.
TEMPORARY EMERGENCY CUSTODY.
The proposed petition did not name Margaret as the person who would
receive the children.
It named Michael Reed.
Emma stared.
Margaret was not trying to take the children for herself.
She was trying to remove Emma from the picture and give Noah to his
biological father.
But Lily was not Michael’s daughter.
Emma searched the next page.
A second proposed guardian was listed for Lily.
Daniel Carter.
May you like
Emma stopped breathing.
If the plan succeeded, her children would be separated.
