Chapter 5 - Permanent Intake.
The words permanent intake seemed to hang in the bright wedding suite like smoke.
I looked at Rebecca while the admissions coordinator continued speaking.
"Our driver is scheduled for the east service gate at four o'clock."
"Cancel it."
There was a pause on the line.
"I'm sorry?"
"I am Lily Hale's father, and I am telling you there is no authorization for anyone to take my daughter anywhere."
The coordinator's tone changed immediately.
"Mr. Hale, our file contains signed parental consent."
"The signature was forged."
Rebecca whispered my name as a warning.
I ignored her.
"Who submitted the documents?"
The coordinator hesitated.
"I may need our legal department to speak with you."
"Was it Rebecca Vaughn?"
Another pause.
"Ms. Vaughn is listed as the submitting guardian."
"She is not Lily's guardian."
The woman on the phone stopped sounding cheerful.
"Then we have a serious problem."
I asked her to freeze the file, cancel transportation, and send copies of every document to my email.
She agreed and ended the call.
Rebecca stared at me with a combination of anger and disbelief.
"You just made this worse."
"For you, maybe."
She stepped closer.
"You think I woke up one morning and decided to get rid of Lily because I'm cruel?"
"At this point, I don't know what you're capable of."
Her eyes flashed.
"I was trying to save us."
"There is no us that requires me to lose my daughter."
Rebecca's face went still.
That was when Hannah's phone buzzed.
She looked down and frowned.
"Ethan, check your email."
The admissions coordinator had already sent the documents.
There were eleven attachments.
I opened the first one.
My forged signature appeared on three separate forms.
The second attachment was an evaluation supposedly completed by a family therapist I had never met.
It described Lily as manipulative, oppositional, dangerously attached to her father, and hostile toward Rebecca.
My daughter could not even sleep without checking whether I had locked the front door.
She apologized when other children bumped into her.
The language on the evaluation was monstrous in its certainty.
"Who is Dr. Warren Pike?"
Rebecca looked away.
Hannah searched the name on her phone.
"He's a licensed family therapist in Franklin."
Marisol suddenly spoke.
"Rebecca took Lily somewhere in May."
I turned to her.
"What?"
"She told me it was a dentist appointment."
Rebecca's voice rose.
"Marisol, enough."
The nanny shook her head.
"Lily came back crying and said a man kept asking if she hated living with her father."
My knees nearly gave out.
I had been in Atlanta that day meeting a client.
Rebecca had texted me a photograph of Lily holding a new toothbrush and told me the dental cleaning went well.
I looked down at the evaluation again.
At the bottom was a recommendation for immediate residential placement.
Then I opened the third attachment.
It was labeled financial responsibility agreement.
The tuition for Havenridge was almost eighteen thousand dollars a month.
The payment method listed was not Rebecca's account.
It was the Lily Claire Hale Family Trust.
My late wife's name was printed across the page.
I stopped breathing.
Only three people knew the exact legal name of that trust.
May you like
I was one of them.
Rebecca was not supposed to be another.
