Chapter 6 - The Trap
Two weeks passed in a blur of legal motions, temporary restraining orders, and endless depositions.
I had moved out of the cabin and into a small, rented two-bedroom apartment near Leo's school. With a temporary protection order in place, Daniel was legally forbidden from coming within 500 feet of me or contacting me directly.
For a few days, I thought the law might actually hold him back. I was wrong.
It was a rainy Thursday evening. I had just picked up Leo from his soccer practice and pulled into the parking lot of our new apartment complex. The area was lit by tall streetlights, casting long, orange reflections across the wet asphalt.
"Mom, can we get pizza tonight?" Leo asked from the backseat, unbuckling his seatbelt.
"Sure, buddy," I smiled, reaching into the backseat to grab his gym bag. "Pepperoni?"
"Yeah!"
I opened my driver's side door and stepped out into the cool rain. As I reached back in to help Leo with his coat, a dark sedan parked three spaces down suddenly turned on its high beams.
The blinding white light washed over us.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I turned, shading my eyes with my hand. Through the glare of the headlights, I saw the driver's door of the dark sedan swing open.
A man stepped out into the rain. He wasn't wearing a coat. His tie was loose, his hair soaked, and his posture slouched in a way I had never seen before.
It was Daniel.
"Sarah," he called out. His voice was ragged, slurred. He had been drinking.
"Daniel, stop right there!" I yelled back, stepping between him and Leo's side of the car. "You're violating the restraining order! Get back in your car!"
"I just want to talk to my son!" he shouted, stumbling slightly on the slick pavement as he took three long steps toward us. "You can't keep him from me! You ruined my life! Everyone at the firm is talking! They canceled my promotion, Sarah! Because of your goddamn lies!"
"Get back, Daniel!" I reached into my coat pocket, my thumb frantically swiping across my phone screen to dial 911.
"Dad?" Leo's small voice squeaked from behind the open car door. He was terrified, trembling in his oversized soccer jersey.
"Leo, stay in the car!" I snapped, keeping my eyes fixed on Daniel as he closed the distance. He was ten feet away now. His face was red, his eyes wild with the desperate rage of a man who had lost complete control of his narrative.
"You think you won?" Daniel spat, his breath heavy with whiskey as he lunged forward, reaching for my arm. "You think you can just walk away from me and take everything I worked for?"
He grabbed my coat sleeve.
"Let go of her!" a loud voice roared from the shadows near the dumpster.
Before Daniel could pull me toward him, a heavy hand slammed into his chest, shoving him backward off his feet. Daniel hit the wet pavement hard, skidding across the asphalt.
It wasn't Michael this time.
It was Deputy Marcus—Michael's friend—and two uniformed police cruisers swung into the parking lot with their blue and red lights flashing, blinding the rain.
Daniel lay on the ground, gasping for air, looking up in shock as the officers pinned his arms behind his back and snapped the handcuffs into place.
He looked at me through the rain, his control entirely shattered.
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"You set me up!" he screamed as they pulled him to his feet. "You set me up!"
"No, Daniel," I said softly, holding a crying Leo tightly against my chest. "You did this to yourself."
