Chapter 6 - The Emergency Eviction
Vanessa snatched her wrist back, rubbing her skin with a furious glare. She adjusted her sundress, her face twisting into an ugly sneer.
"You think you can just throw me out like trash, Arthur? Good luck!" she hissed, stepping close to my face. "My name is on the secondary title of this house. I have rights to marital property under state law. If you lock me out, I'll call the police, file a domestic disturbance injunction, and slap you with a restraining order that will keep you away from Ethan for months while the courts sort it out!"
"Try it," I replied, holding up my phone with the active recording session flashing red. "Show that injunction to the family court judge after he listens to this audio file alongside a forensic psychological evaluation of a six-year-old child subjected to forced emotional abuse. See how fast your 'marital property rights' hold up against federal fraud and child endangerment charges."
The color drained from Vanessa’s face. She knew as well as I did that a skilled litigator could dismantle her claims in ten minutes flat.
Without waiting for her to respond, I walked over to the front hallway, picked up her designer shopping bag, and tossed it out onto the front porch.
"Get out," I said, pointing toward the open front door.
"You're making a terrible mistake, Arthur!" Vanessa shrieked, marching toward the door with her head held high, though her voice trembled with uncontrolled rage. "You'll regret this! You'll be begging me to come back once you realize how helpless you are with that traumatized boy!"
She slammed the front door so hard the entryway windows rattled in their frames.
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I stood in the silence of the hallway for a long, heavy moment. Then, my knees buckled slightly, and I leaned against the wall, exhaling a breath I felt like I had been holding for months.
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