Your Honor, why would a custody agreement contain that?”
The judge’s eyes moved to Julian.
“We would submit,” Ruth continued, “that the true purpose of this ambush was never custody. It was to silence my client — a trained forensic accountant — who had uncovered evidence of financial fraud within the Vance company. They tried to buy her children’s custody and her silence in a single document.
That document is void. And its existence is now evidence in a separate matter that I believe opposing counsel’s clients are already aware of.”
Eleanor’s composure cracked for the first time.
Because at the back of the courtroom sat two people she recognized — investigators from the financial crimes unit, there to observe, because the fraud case I’d handed them had grown into something with its own momentum.
The judge restored my full custody within the hour. The surrender was void; it had never had force; my sons were mine and always had been.
