Chapter 15 - The Lowest Point
By noon, the story had moved beyond adultery.
It was fraud.
Possible forgery.
Corporate theft.
Surveillance.
And perhaps something worse.
But none of that hurt as much as the emergency custody hearing.
Daniel appeared by video with a new attorney.
He looked tired.
Controlled.
Concerned.
Exactly the version of himself he knew how to perform.
His lawyer argued that I was acting impulsively after discovering an affair.
He presented clips.
Me crying.
Me snapping at Daniel.
Me saying, “I can’t do this tonight.”
Me falling asleep on the couch.
Every clip had been trimmed.
Context removed.
The judge watched carefully.
Then Daniel spoke.
“I’m worried about Jennifer.”
His voice almost broke.
“She’s a wonderful mother when she’s herself.”
I wanted to reach through the screen.
David touched my arm beneath the table.
Stay calm.
That was what Daniel wanted.
A reaction.
The judge asked about the allegations involving medication.
Daniel denied everything.
The life insurance signature?
He claimed an insurance agent had handled it.
The property deed?
He blamed Marcus.
The financial transfers?
Poor judgment.
Not fraud.
His lawyer kept repeating the same phrase.
“Marital conflict being criminalized after infidelity.”
For one terrible hour, it worked.
Not completely.
But enough.
The judge declined to issue the broad order we requested.
Instead, she ordered temporary supervised visitation while investigators reviewed the evidence.
I felt sick.
Daniel smiled slightly.
Just enough for me to see it.
He thought he had won.
Outside the courthouse, reporters were already waiting.
Somebody had leaked the baptism scandal.
Questions flew at me.
“Jennifer, did you publicly accuse your husband of drugging you?”
“Is Daniel Carter the father of Chloe Bennett’s child?”
“Did you drain joint bank accounts before filing for divorce?”
That last question stopped me.
I turned.
“What?”
The reporter held up his phone.
“Mr. Carter’s attorney says nearly $70,000 disappeared from your joint accounts yesterday.”
David immediately pulled me toward the car.
“That is false.”
But I knew something was wrong.
At my parents’ house, we logged into the accounts.
Three transfers had been made overnight.
$19,000.
$24,000.
$26,500.
All initiated using my online banking credentials.
All sent to accounts I had never seen.
Rachel looked at the timestamps.
“Jennifer, where were you at 2:13 this morning?”
“In my parents’ house.”
“Were you logged into the bank?”
“No.”
Daniel had done it.
Or someone working with him had.
Then Rachel pointed at the destination name on the third transfer.
My heart stopped.
The account belonged to:
Jennifer Carter Consulting.
A company registered six months earlier.
In my name.
I had never created it.
Daniel had built his final defense.
May you like
He was making it look as though I had stolen the money myself.
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