Chapter 9 - The Conflict Left the Family
The custody case brought outsiders into every part of their lives.
Leo began therapy with a child-trauma specialist.
Rachel completed a parenting assessment and domestic-violence counseling.
David submitted his travel schedule, employment records, and military mental-health history after Chad’s attorney tried to characterize him as an aggressive former soldier.
That accusation angered David.
Then Melissa told him to stop being offended by procedure.
“You want everyone to investigate Chad carefully?”
“Yes.”
“Then you accept that they investigate you carefully too.”
David did.
His employer agreed to reduce travel for six months, but the change cost him a promotion he had spent two years pursuing.
He accepted that too.
At a temporary custody hearing, Chad’s attorney used David’s old text:
If you choose him over Leo, one day you’re going to lose both of us.
David admitted writing it.
“Was that a threat?”
“It was angry.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
David looked toward Rachel.
“At the time, yes. I wanted her to understand I would seek more custody if I believed Leo wasn’t safe.”
“Did you dislike Mr. Wilkins?”
“Yes.”
“From the beginning?”
“No.”
The attorney seemed disappointed by the answer.
David continued.
“I disliked him after my son started being afraid to go home.”
The judge kept Leo primarily with David temporarily but expanded Rachel’s unsupervised daytime visits once her new apartment passed inspection and Leo’s therapist agreed.
No overnights yet.
No Chad.
No Kimberly handling exchanges.
The criminal case also moved slowly.
Chad faced charges related to child endangerment and menacing while prosecutors reviewed whether the bat incident supported additional counts.
He was not sent to prison overnight.
He posted bond.
He kept working, though several clients canceled after learning about the case.
Then David received a call from one of Chad’s former employees.
A carpenter named Eric Wallace.
“I saw the news,” Eric said. “There’s something you need to know about Chad and kids.”
David immediately stopped him.
“Call the detective, not me.”
Eric did.
His statement introduced the first evidence that Leo had not been Chad’s only target for “discipline.”
But the more important part was where Chad learned to justify it.
May you like
From a youth program he ran three summers earlier.
And from one complaint that had quietly disappeared.
