Chapter 2: Fourteen Months
My attorney's name was Karen Shields.
She had handled three cases like mine in the past two years.
She told me that before she even looked at the document.
"Before I look at anything," she said, "I need you to tell me — does your husband have access to anything with your handwriting on it?
Old cards, forms, anything you signed at home?"
I thought about it.
"Everything," I said.
She went quiet for a moment.
When the forensic analyst examined the guardianship papers, he found something that made my stomach drop.
The signature wasn't traced.
It wasn't copied.
It was practiced.
Whoever forged it had written my name repeatedly until it looked natural.
That takes time.
That takes intention.
Karen set the report down and looked at me.
"This document was prepared fourteen months ago," she said.
"Seven months before the incident with Mia.
Whoever did this wasn't reacting to anything.
They were planning."
My hands went cold.
Fourteen months ago, Mia was four years old.
I asked Karen what it meant for custody.
She started to answer — then her phone buzzed.
She glanced at the screen and her expression shifted.
"Is your husband aware you came to see me today?" she asked.
"No," I said.
"Why?"
She turned the phone toward me.
It was a message.
From David's attorney.
They had filed that morning.
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What they filed — and what they were really trying to take from her — is in the full story.
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The truth is worse than the forgery.
