Chapter 6
Ryan showed up at Harper's apartment the next morning with flowers, coffee, and the audacity of a man who believed himself forgiven.
Harper answered the door, took one look at him, and said, "Are you actually stupid, or is this performance art?"
She slammed the door in his face.
He knocked again. And again. Then he started calling through the door.
"Lily, I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But we're still married — we can work through this. I just want to see my son."
His son. As if he hadn't given that son away like a hand-me-down coat.
I was feeding the baby when Dominic arrived through the back entrance. He set down a folder on the kitchen table.
"Don't engage with him," he said, glancing toward the front door where Ryan's muffled voice continued. "Everything from now on goes through me."
"He wants to see the baby," I said.
"He can request supervised visitation through the court." Dominic's tone was clipped. "After what he did, he's lucky I'm not pursuing criminal charges. Yet."
I looked up. "Yet?"
"Removal of a child from a hospital without maternal consent. False medical reporting. Attempted coercion to relinquish custody." He ticked them off on his fingers. "Any prosecutor would salivate."
The knocking stopped. My phone rang instead.
Ryan's voice was different now — lower, more careful. "Lily, please. Sienna is devastated. She'd been bonding with him for five days. You can't understand what this has done to her—"
I hung up.
Then I blocked his number.
Dominic watched me with something unreadable in his eyes. "Good."
That afternoon, we filed the divorce petition and the emergency custody motion was made permanent. Ryan was served at his office — in front of his colleagues, his secretary, and his boss.
Harper told me this with undisguised glee.
But that evening, something worse arrived.
Sienna posted on social media. A long, tear-stained video about "the baby she'd been caring for" being "ripped from her arms by a woman who couldn't even hold him for his first week of life."
She never mentioned that she wasn't the mother. She never mentioned that she'd *taken* him. She framed it as a custody dispute between two women who both loved a child.
The comments poured in.
*"That poor woman. How heartless can someone be?"*
*"She's clearly the one who bonded with the baby. Biology isn't everything."*
*"Some women don't deserve to be mothers."*
Harper was shaking with rage. "She's making you the villain. She's making it look like YOU took the baby from HER."
I stared at the screen, feeling something cold settle in my stomach.
Then Sienna sent me a private message: *"The court of public opinion matters too, sweetheart. Enjoy the attention."*
I showed Dominic.
His eyes went dark. "She wants a public war?"
He straightened his cuffs.
"Then we give her one."
Harper answered the door, took one look at him, and said, "Are you actually stupid, or is this performance art?"
She slammed the door in his face.
He knocked again. And again. Then he started calling through the door.
"Lily, I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But we're still married — we can work through this. I just want to see my son."
His son. As if he hadn't given that son away like a hand-me-down coat.
I was feeding the baby when Dominic arrived through the back entrance. He set down a folder on the kitchen table.
"Don't engage with him," he said, glancing toward the front door where Ryan's muffled voice continued. "Everything from now on goes through me."
"He wants to see the baby," I said.
"He can request supervised visitation through the court." Dominic's tone was clipped. "After what he did, he's lucky I'm not pursuing criminal charges. Yet."
I looked up. "Yet?"
"Removal of a child from a hospital without maternal consent. False medical reporting. Attempted coercion to relinquish custody." He ticked them off on his fingers. "Any prosecutor would salivate."
The knocking stopped. My phone rang instead.
Ryan's voice was different now — lower, more careful. "Lily, please. Sienna is devastated. She'd been bonding with him for five days. You can't understand what this has done to her—"
I hung up.
Then I blocked his number.
Dominic watched me with something unreadable in his eyes. "Good."
That afternoon, we filed the divorce petition and the emergency custody motion was made permanent. Ryan was served at his office — in front of his colleagues, his secretary, and his boss.
Harper told me this with undisguised glee.
But that evening, something worse arrived.
Sienna posted on social media. A long, tear-stained video about "the baby she'd been caring for" being "ripped from her arms by a woman who couldn't even hold him for his first week of life."
She never mentioned that she wasn't the mother. She never mentioned that she'd *taken* him. She framed it as a custody dispute between two women who both loved a child.
The comments poured in.
*"That poor woman. How heartless can someone be?"*
*"She's clearly the one who bonded with the baby. Biology isn't everything."*
*"Some women don't deserve to be mothers."*
Harper was shaking with rage. "She's making you the villain. She's making it look like YOU took the baby from HER."
I stared at the screen, feeling something cold settle in my stomach.
Then Sienna sent me a private message: *"The court of public opinion matters too, sweetheart. Enjoy the attention."*
I showed Dominic.
His eyes went dark. "She wants a public war?"
He straightened his cuffs.
"Then we give her one."