Chapter 5: The Morning the Lawyer Called
Marcus didn't sleep.
He sat at the kitchen table after Ruth left, Nia asleep down the hall, Caleb and Ava quiet in their rooms.
He had Vanessa's phone in front of him — locked now, the screen dark — and his own phone beside it, the CPS officer's callback number written on a notepad in his own handwriting.
He called his lawyer at seven in the morning.
Derek picked up on the second ring.
"Marcus.
I saw your name and figured it wasn't good news."
"It's not." Marcus laid it out the same way he had for Ruth — factual, in order.
The suitcase.
The video.
The CPS call.
The recording.
Vanessa's exit.
Her last words at the door.
Derek was quiet for a moment.
"She filed with CPS under her own name?"
"Yes."
"And you have a recording of her admitting the plan in front of witnesses."
"Yes."
"Send me everything.
The phone — don't touch it, don't unlock it, take it to a phone repair shop and ask them to do a data extraction with a receipt.
I want a documented chain of custody." A pause.
"Marcus, she handed you the case."
"I know."
"The CPS visit is actually helpful.
When the officer comes, you show them the recording, the message thread, the timeline.
They document it.
That becomes part of the official record." Another pause.
"Has she contacted you this morning?"
Marcus looked at his own phone.
Three messages.
All from Vanessa's personal number, sent between midnight and two in the morning.
He read them to Derek.
The first: *I need you to call off the CPS visit.
Tell them it was a misunderstanding.
I'll say I made a mistake.*
The second: *Marcus I'm serious.
If this goes further it hurts everyone including the kids.
Think about Caleb and Ava.*
The third: *I know things about your finances that you don't want anyone looking at.
Don't push me on this.*
Derek was quiet for three full seconds.
"Forward those to me right now."
Marcus sent them.
"She's threatening me."
"She's panicking," Derek said.
"Which means she knows what she did.
Screenshot those messages before you forward them.
Timestamp everything." His voice shifted into something more careful.
"Marcus.
What does she know about your finances?"
"Nothing that isn't clean.
But she has access to the joint account.
And she knows my business partner's name."
"Pull your records today.
Everything from the last eighteen months.
I want to see it before she does anything with it." A pause.
"Is Nia safe right now?"
"She's asleep.
Ruth offered to take her for a few days.
I'm thinking about it."
"Do it," Derek said.
"Not because Nia is in danger.
Because when this escalates — and it will — you want Nia somewhere calm and stable.
Ruth's presence is also protective.
She's the one Vanessa tried to weaponize.
Having Ruth visibly on your side matters."
Marcus looked down the hallway.
The door to Nia's room was still closed.
"She asked me last night if I was going to make her leave."
"What did you tell her?"
"That she wasn't going anywhere."
"Then keep that promise by keeping her out of the crossfire." Derek's voice was steady.
"Come in this afternoon.
Bring everything."
Marcus ended the call.
He sat for a moment with both phones in front of him.
Then Nia appeared in the kitchen doorway in her pajamas, the teddy bear under one arm, her hair uncombed.
"Is Vanessa coming back?"
Marcus pulled out the chair beside him.
She climbed up and leaned against his arm.
"I don't know yet," he said.
"But whatever happens, you're staying here.
With me."
She was quiet for a moment.
"Grandma Ruth said she wants me to visit."
"Would you like that?"
Nia thought about it.
"Can I bring Bear?"
"You can bring Bear."
She nodded, satisfied.
She leaned her head against his shoulder.
Marcus looked at the messages on his phone.
At the notepad.
At the locked screen of Vanessa's phone.
May you like
He had one afternoon to build a wall around his daughter before Vanessa remembered she still had options.
And from the tone of that third message, she had already started counting them.
