Tossed Out with My Daughter, I Fought Back のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

My mother-in-law, Karen Marsh, had never been particularly fond of me. Even before the wedding, she'd disapproved of how much time I spent working. And when my wife and I had our daughter, Elsie Quinn, she seemed to take it out on her, too.Still, I'd hoped she could put her feelings aside for one day. It was her 60th birthday, after all. Surely we could get through the celebration without any drama. Apparently, I'd been expecting too much.My heart broke when I saw Elsie crying. She hardly ever cried. Once, she'd scraped her knee pretty badly at preschool, but she'd just bitten her lip and held back her tears.And she'd worked so hard on that drawing. For three nights straight, she'd skipped her favorite TV shows to sit at her little desk, carefully going over every detail until she was happy with it.She'd told me how her cousin, Milo Hopper, had given Karen a drawing once, and Karen had absolutely loved it. She'd gone around telling everyone what a sweet, thoughtful boy he was a

I smiled, walked over, picked her up, and settled her into a seat by the window.A server handed us the menus. Elsie opened hers, her eyes widening. "Daddy, it's so pretty here! Is it really, really expensive?""Not at all." I tapped her nose playfully. "You deserve the very best, sweetheart."Throughout our marriage, Tamsin had always insisted that we shouldn't spoil Elsie or let her develop expensive habits. She never wanted me spending too much money on our daughter. But seeing how happy Elsie was that night, I knew that every penny was worth it.My phone wouldn't stop buzzing throughout dinner."Trent, what did you do? My card's getting declined!"Mom ordered the king crab platter. It's 288.80 dollars. Hurry up and fix the card!"The server's standing right here! Can you please not screw this up?"Trent, I'm warning you. It's Mom's birthday. Don't you dare pull anything!"Whatever. I put it on my buy-now-pay-later account. You can pay me back later."I dismissed every mes

Tamsin smiled and reached for the papers. She asked, "What's this?""Divorce papers," I replied.The smiles vanished from their faces.Karen snatched the papers out of my hand and squinted at the first few lines. "You want a divorce? Trent, what are you playing at?"She shoved the papers in my face. "Oh, don't start with me! I've seen this kind of drama before! We told you to take Elsie to Popeyes, and now you want a divorce? Are you seriously making that big a deal out of it?"I said nothing."Have you lost your mind?" Tamsin stared at me in disbelief. "You want a divorce over a stupid dinner? Trent, what the hell is wrong with you?"Marlowe jumped in. "Exactly! Trent, seriously, what have we ever done to you? You've had it pretty good with our family! You've already ruined Mom's 60th birthday, and now you want a divorce? Wait, are you having an affair?"Karen immediately turned to me, giving me a suspicious once-over. "Trent, you'd better tell me the truth. Are you seeing som

After six years of spending my money, Karen had gotten so used to it that she didn't even think twice anymore. She genuinely believed she was entitled to every penny.Karen smacked Tamsin hard on the arm. "Say something, for God's sake! Are you just going to stand there while your husband tries to take everything from you?"Tamsin looked at me, a mixture of emotions crossing her face."Trent," she said, her voice hoarse. "Can we please talk about this? Elsie's still so young. She needs her mother. Have you thought about what this will do to her?"I stared at her. So she'd finally remembered Elsie. Not because she cared, but because she thought she could use our daughter to get her way."Getting divorced doesn't mean Elsie has to grow up without a mother," I said. "That's up to you and whether you're willing to be a decent mom. A decent mom wouldn't throw away her daughter's drawing right in front of her."And she sure as hell wouldn't spend her husband's money supporting her whol

Two police officers sat across from me in the interview room.Officer Kurt Mercer brought up some dashcam footage. "We took this from your car. It clearly shows the car clipping the scooter and driving off without stopping. Now, look at this."He pulled up a screenshot and zoomed in. It showed the view from the driver's seat, but the angle was too high. All that was visible above the steering wheel was part of an arm and half a shoulder.Whoever was driving had on a dark jacket. There was no way to tell who it was."The dashcam doesn't show the driver's face," Kurt said. "That's why we need to find out who was driving at the time."He studied me for a moment. "Trent, did you drive your Mercedes at all after five yesterday afternoon?""No.""Is there anyone who can back that up?""Would my daughter's kindergarten teacher count? I picked Elsie up at 4:30 pm yesterday, then took a cab straight to the restaurant." I paused. "I can show you the cab receipt and give you the license p