Chapter 14 - The Last Chance
Peter agreed to meet only in his attorney’s office, with the receptionist two doors down and the door left open. Reena arrived looking smaller than she ever had at the hospital or in court, but smaller was not the same as sorry.
She sat across from him and folded her hands. “If you tell the judge I need treatment instead of separation, I can still be in their lives.”
Peter waited.
“Say what you came to say,” he told her.
She looked at the floor. “I didn’t mean for it to become that.”
“That isn’t the truth.”
Her head snapped up.
“The truth,” Peter said, “is that Aaron tried to give those kids somewhere safe. You made him believe I refused. Then you spent three years making sure nobody could undo that.”
Reena’s composure cracked. “And what happens to me if I say that in court?”
Peter thought of Drew hiding food and Lily sleeping with both hands closed. “Maybe the first honest thing that’s happened to them.”
She started crying then, but even through the tears she never said I hurt them. She said, “I’ll lose everything.”
Peter understood his final choice in that moment. He could push for revenge, or he could push for a boundary that centered the children instead of his rage.
“I’m asking for no unsupervised contact,” he said. “Therapy for them. Treatment for you if the court allows it. And I’m not lying for you.”
Reena stood. “Then do what you want.”
She left without another word.
May you like
At the hearing the next morning, Peter took his seat behind his attorney. Across the aisle, Reena sat beside hers, rigid and dry-eyed.
When the judge called the case, there was no longer any way to stop what came next.
