After Eight Years, She Left Me at the Altar for Her First Love novel · Chapter 30 of 48
Chapter 30: The Hearing
On Friday morning the courtroom was packed to the back wall.
Reporters filled the benches, and Dane sat in the front row with his right hand in a cast.
Judith Wainright sat at the petitioner's table in navy, with her lawyer on her left and Greta two rows behind.
Troy sat across the aisle with Celia and Molly, and his hands were flat on his knees.
"All rise," the clerk said.
The judge was a gray woman with a hard mouth and no patience.
"This is a hearing on the temporary placement of the minor, Hazel Falk. Ms. Wainright's counsel, begin."
Judith's lawyer stood and buttoned his jacket.
"Your Honor, we will show the court three things. A man who uses his hands. A man who enters a baby's room at night. And a household that cannot be called safe."
He lifted a remote.
The screen behind the judge lit up with the parking lot.
Troy watched himself bend a steel baton and throw a man backward.
The clip was short, and then it cut to the hood of a car, dented.
It skipped the stun gun.
It skipped the men who had come with orders to take him by force.
"Objection," Celia's lawyer said. "That is edited."
"It is a clip, Your Honor."
"It starts after the first strike."
"Noted," the judge said. "Continue."
The next clip was the nursery stairwell, the green night-light, Troy's shoulders going up the stairs.
Then the gate, and Greta's two slaps, and Molly's hand.
The courtroom murmured.
Molly sat very still, and her face was pale.
"Your Honor," the lawyer said, "I call the respondent's father-in-law."
Keep reading free with an account. Start After Eight Years, She Left Me at the Altar for Her First Love from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 29 · All chapters · Chapter 31 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend