My Composure After Divorce Became His Greatest Torment Chapter 25
In the second news cycle, the narrative flipped completely.
The media didn’t publish my medical information. They asked a single question:
Why was a woman with no legal or familial relationship to a pregnant patient allowed to dictate her surgery date, her feeding method, and plan for the relinquishment of her parental rights?
Caroline’s old cancer recovery profile resurfaced.
In that interview, she had spoken of how losing her ability to have children had taught her to respect every woman’s bodily autonomy.
And yet, years later, her own email demanded control over another woman’s womb.
The two public records, side by side, were more damning than any insult.
The people who had seen her wearing the emerald brooch at the Newport gala finally understood what her performance of “care” had really meant.
Caroline called me from a new number. I didn’t answer.
She sent a voice message, first cursing me for destroying her parents’ last hope, then sobbing and begging me to have Tessa kill the story.
I forwarded the audio to my lawyer.
I sent no other reply.
Citing the prior warning letter, the record of continued harassment, and this latest act of public defamation, my lawyer filed for a no-contact order.
At the hearing, Caroline wore the same white suit she had worn to the divorce negotiation.
Only this time, Nathan was not by her side.
Her lawyer argued that the emails were merely “the emotional overreaction of a woman desperate for a child,” not a genuine threat.
My lawyer didn’t argue.
She simply projected Caroline’s email demanding my medical password onto the courtroom screen, followed by the custody draft.
Next came the warning letter that had been sent to the Prescott Group’s legal department.
It had explicitly stated that Caroline Ames had no authority to contact me on behalf of Nathan, the Prescott family, or any related party.
She had been formally warned where the boundary was.
And she had crossed it. Again and again.
The judge asked Caroline, “Why did you continue to contact Ms. Ward after receiving this warning?”
Her eyes red, Caroline turned to the gallery.
Nathan sat in the back row, looking exhausted.
“Because Nathan promised he would give me a family!” she cried, her voice sharp as she suddenly stood.
“He was the one who let me believe Elise would carry the baby to term! He was the one who let me deal with his assistant and his driver because he said he couldn’t face her himself!”
“Now everyone is blaming me, but which of those agreements, those legal files, those custody drafts didn’t come from his office?”
The courtroom fell silent.
Nathan closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he didn’t try to defend himself.
“She’s telling the truth.”
Emboldened, Caroline immediately grabbed his sleeve.
But Nathan’s next words were, “I allowed her to cross boundaries, and I avoided my own responsibility. Elise never blackmailed anyone. I gave her that settlement of my own accord, and the termination of her pregnancy was her lawful right.”
Caroline’s hand froze.
“What about me?”
Nathan looked at her, his eyes empty of everything but fatigue.
“I owed your mother a debt. But Elise should never have been the one to pay it for me.”
Caroline raised a hand to slap him, but a bailiff stepped between them.
She finally understood. Nathan’s belated moment of clarity wouldn’t save me, but it wouldn’t cover for her, either.
She broke down, her sobs echoing through the courtroom.
But this time, no one offered her an emerald brooch.