The gray-haired man looked down at the document Evelyn had handed him.
“Petition for temporary guardianship of Lily Harper,” he read.
For a second, I thought I had misunderstood him.
Then Evelyn saw me.
The color drained from her face so quickly that even Lily noticed.
“Daddy?”
My daughter’s chair scraped backward.
I walked into the conference room and held out my hand to her.
“Come here, sweetheart.”
She crossed the room immediately.
Evelyn recovered fast.
She always did.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
I ignored her and looked at the man behind the table.
“Who are you?”
He stood slowly.
“Martin Hale.
I’m an attorney.”
“What kind?”
His eyes moved from Evelyn to me.
“Family law.”
Of course.
The leather folder lay open between us.
I could see my name on several pages, along with Sarah’s and Lily’s.
There were photographs clipped to one section, copies of my travel schedule in another, and printed emails I immediately recognized as messages between Sarah and me about school pickups, business trips, and late meetings.
Someone had gathered pieces of our life and arranged them to tell a story.
A story in which I was never home.
A story in which Sarah worked too much.
A story in which Evelyn Crane was the only stable adult our daughter had.
I put one arm around Lily.
“Did my wife authorize this?” I asked.
Hale hesitated.
Evelyn answered for him.
“Sarah doesn’t understand what is happening to her own child.”
I looked at her.
“What exactly do you think is happening?”
“She is being raised by employees.”
Lily flinched.
Evelyn pointed toward me.
“You fly across the country whenever someone waves a contract under your nose.
Sarah spends twelve hours a day at her office.
You have drivers, cooks, housekeepers, assistants.
Everyone except parents.”
I had heard versions of that accusation before.
Never in a lawyer’s conference room.
Never with my frightened daughter standing beside me.
Hale cleared his throat.
“Mr.
Harper, perhaps we should slow this down.”
“No,” I said.
“I’d like to understand exactly what my mother-in-law has been doing with my daughter while telling her to keep secrets from me.”
Evelyn’s expression hardened.
“I was protecting her.”
Lily pressed closer against my side.
I looked down.
“What did Grandma tell you would happen here?”
