Daniel said nothing.
Robert continued.
“The company card paid for a two-person dinner in Paris while you claimed to be attending a supplier meeting.
The supplier confirmed no meeting occurred.”
“You called them?”
“The auditors did.”
Daniel’s confidence began to unravel.
He crouched beside the scattered documents and pulled pages toward him, searching for some flaw.
“This is all Claire’s version.
She’s emotional.
She just had babies.
She’s exhausted.”
Robert’s eyes sharpened.
“Be very careful.”
“I’m saying she isn’t thinking clearly.”
“The hospital records are not emotional.
The bank transfers are not exhausted.
Your videos are not postpartum.”
Daniel stood again.
“She should have called an ambulance sooner.”
The room went completely still.
Robert’s face changed.
Until that moment, his anger had remained disciplined.
Now something raw appeared beneath it.
“She called you before she drove to the hospital,” he said.
“You told her she was overreacting.”
“I didn’t force her to wait.”
“You stole the money she needed to buy the medicine recommended by the pediatrician.”
“She had other options.”
“She had stitches, two newborns, no sleep, no available funds, and a husband drinking champagne with his mistress.”
Daniel pointed toward the door.
“Get out.”
Robert looked around the empty house.
“You have forty-eight hours to remove your personal belongings.
After that, the locks change.”
“You’re choosing her over your own son.”
“I am choosing two infants over the man who abandoned them.”
Daniel’s phone rang again.
This time Vanessa’s name remained on the screen long enough for the call to go to voicemail.
A message appeared immediately afterward.
Daniel glanced down, and his expression darkened.
Robert did not need to read it to understand.
Vanessa had likely discovered that the villa charges were being challenged, the company card was frozen, or Daniel’s promises about wealth and independence were not entirely true.
The luxury she had enjoyed belonged to accounts Daniel did not control.
Daniel shoved the phone into his pocket.
“This won’t hold up,” he said.
“No judge is going to keep a father from his children because he took one trip.”
Robert nodded toward the folder.
“Then attend the hearing and explain the trip.”
Daniel did attend.
Ten days later, he entered a Multnomah County courtroom wearing a tailored navy suit and the expression of a man convinced charm could repair evidence.
Claire sat beside Marissa at the opposite table.
It was the first time she had seen Daniel since he left.
She wore a simple gray dress.
Her hair was pulled back.
She looked thinner, but she did not look broken.
