MasukAmelia's POV
The documents sat on Eleanor's glass coffee table like a bomb waiting to explode.
Emergency Petition for Full Custody. Maxwell Anderson vs. Amelia Anderson.
I picked up the first page with hands that would not stop shaking. The words blurred and refocused as I tried to make sense of what I was reading.
"The respondent has demonstrated a pattern of neglect toward the min
Lily's POVEverything felt heavy.My arms weighed a thousand pounds and my eyes did not want to open. I tried to move my fingers but they tingled like when my foot fell asleep after sitting too long. Voices floated somewhere above me, soft and blurry like I was underwater.Slowly, the world came into focus.White ceiling. Beeping machines. The sharp clean smell of hospital that I knew too well. My throat hurt and my tummy felt weird and empty. I turned my head just a little bit and saw Mommy sleeping in the chair next to my bed, still holding my hand.She looked tired. Really tired. Her face was pale and her eyes had dark circles under them even though they were closed. Her hair was messy and she wore the same clothes from yesterday, all wrinkled and creased.I looked to the other side.Daddy was there too, his
Sophia's POVThe walls closed in.I saw it in their faces. Maxwell looked at me like I was something rotten he had scraped off his shoe. Amelia's eyes burned with pure hatred. Margaret, the woman who had once smiled at me over lunch and told me I would make a perfect daughter in law, now stared at me with ice-cold disgust.This was not how it was supposed to end.I was supposed to be Mrs. Maxwell Anderson. I was supposed to wear designer clothes and attend charity galas and be photographed for society magazines. I was supposed to wake up next to him every morning and raise Lily as my own daughter and finally, finally be someone who mattered.Instead, I was cornered like a wounded animal with blood running down my throat and police officers surrounding me with their hands on their weapons."Ma'am, drop the blade. Last warning."Officer Santos moved closer. Her voice was calm but her eyes were sharp and watchful. She thought I was dangerous. They all did.Maybe they were right.The scal
Maxwell's POVTime stopped moving.Sophia stood against the wall with a scalpel pressed to her throat and blood running down her neck in a thin red line. Her eyes were wide and wet and completely wild. This was not the composed professional woman I had worked with for months. This was someone I did not recognize at all."Everyone stay back," Officer Santos said quietly. Her hand hovered near her weapon but she did not draw it. "Ma'am, we are going to get you help. Just put down the blade and we can talk.""I do not want to talk to you." Sophia's voice was high and trembling. "I want to talk to Maxwell. Only Maxwell."The officer looked at me."Sir, are you willing to speak with her?"I nodded even though every instinct told me to walk away. To go to Lily and leave this mess behind. But Sophia had her finger on that phone screen and I knew she was unhinged enough to hit send. Whatever was in those videos could destroy everything I had spent months trying to rebuild."I am here, Sophia.
Amelia's POVThe hallway was chaos when I burst through the stairwell door.Doctors and nurses crowded around Lily's bed through the window and I could see my baby's small body jerking in ways that made my stomach turn inside out."Lily!"I ran toward the door but a security guard stepped in front of me."Ma'am, you need to stay back. The medical team needs space to work.""That is my daughter! Get out of my way!"Dr. Patel was shouting orders inside the room. Numbers and medication names I did not understand. Her voice was sharp and urgent and wrong. Dr. Patel never sounded like that. She was always calm and measured and in control."We need the toxicology screen now! And get me two milligrams of atropine. Her heart rate is dropping too fast."Toxicology screen. That meant poison. That meant someone had done this to my baby on purpose.I tried to push past the guard but Maxwell was suddenly there grabbing my shoulders."Amelia, let them work. If we get in the way we will only make it
Israelite's POV Maxwell's voice came through my phone raw and breaking."Sophia is at the hospital threatening Lily. She has lost her mind and I am twenty minutes away. Please, Israelite, I know I have no right to ask but you are closer. Please get to my daughter."I was already grabbing my keys."I'm on my way. Call hospital security right now and tell them to lock down the pediatric ward.""I tried. They said they need specific threat details before they can remove an authorized visitor. Sophia was added to the approved list months ago."I ran for the elevator and cursed when it took too long. The stairs were faster."Then I will give them specific threat details when I get there. Just keep driving."I ended the call and immediately dialed Amelia while taking the stairs two at a time. She answered on the first ring."Israelite? I'm at a fitting with Eleanor. The gala dress needed final alterations.""Get to the hospital right now. Sophia is there with Lily and she is making threats
Maxwell's POVThe file in my hands felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.Psychiatric Evaluation and Treatment Plan. Patient: Sophia Marie Carter.I stood in the middle of Sophia's apartment surrounded by evidence of her deception and forced myself to read every word on the page in front of me.Diagnosis: Narcissistic Personality Disorder with Antisocial Features.The clinical language tried to soften what it was really saying but I understood enough. The woman I had been sleeping with for four years, the woman I had destroyed my marriage for, was a textbook sociopath.My hands shook as I flipped to the psychiatrist's notes."Patient demonstrates classic pattern of manipulation and control in relationships. Shows no genuine empathy for others but has learned to mimic appropriate emotional responses. Views peop







