He Forced Me To Abort Now He Begs Me Back Chapter 23
On the day of the trial, I left Aurora with my lawyer and her husband.
Before I left, she had just finished a bottle and was lying in her crib, waving a tiny hand at me.
“I’ll be back soon,” I whispered.
In court, Evan’s lawyer worked hard to portray him as a devoted father shut out of his daughter’s life, a man who only wanted the chance to make up for his past mistakes.
When it was my lawyer’s turn to question him, she stuck to the facts.
“Did you publicly announce that Ms. Bennett would be terminating her pregnancy before she had explicitly agreed to do so?”
After a few seconds of silence, Evan said, “Yes.”
“At that time, were you aware that your ex-wife, Natalie Price, had withdrawn from the donor evaluation for her own family-planning reasons?”
“Yes.”
“Did you freeze your joint marital accounts and demand that Ms. Bennett sign a false public statement in order to regain access to them?”
“Yes.”
“Did you threaten that if she failed to cooperate, you would ensure she left the marriage with nothing?”
“I was angry.”
“So the answer is yes?”
“Yes.”
One piece of evidence after another appeared on the screen.
The text screenshots, the bank notices, the phone recording, Natalie’s public clarification, the OurFamilyWizard logs.
There were no surprise secrets.
Just all the things they had once been so certain I wouldn’t dare to keep.
At the end, my lawyer played the recording from the settlement conference.
“She was only twelve weeks along then!”
Evan sat in the witness chair with his eyes closed.
His lawyer raised no further objections.
Diane’s sworn statement was placed before the judge, alongside her threatening text and the transcript of her deposition. She had claimed she never interfered, yet the recording clearly documented her role in preparing the false statement she intended to force me to sign.
The court recessed for forty minutes.
When everyone stood again for the ruling, the courtroom was silent.
Aurora’s primary residence was awarded to me.
Final decision-making authority over medical care, education, religion, and safety was granted to me alone.
Evan would have two hours of professionally supervised visitation each week. After six months, he could petition the court to review the order only if he had successfully completed parenting classes and psychological counseling, and received a positive recommendation from the supervising agency.
Diane was barred from all visitation and exchange sites and was prohibited from having unsupervised contact with Aurora.
All communication was to continue through OurFamilyWizard.
At the end, the judge looked directly at Evan.
“A child is not a tool for repairing a marriage, a reputation, or a guilty conscience. Parental rights come with duties, and those duties begin with a fundamental respect for the child’s life and safety.”
Evan lowered his head.
When I walked out of the courthouse, he didn’t try to stop me.
At the bottom of the steps, my lawyer was waiting, holding Aurora.
The moment she saw me, she asked, “How did it go?”
I took my daughter into my arms.
Aurora snuggled against me, her little hand gripping my collar.
“It’s over.”
My lawyer smiled.
I lowered my head and kissed Aurora’s forehead.
This lawsuit was never about making her mine alone.
It was about making sure she would never again be part of anyone’s bargain.