Chapter 6 - The Desperate Plea and the CPS Trap
Janice slammed her driver-side door open and sprinted up the concrete stairs to my apartment, her high heels clicking wildly against the steps. Vanessa followed right behind her, completely frantic, her face blotchy from crying.
Janice began beating on my door with her knuckles, her voice rising into an unhinged, hysterical shriek.
“Gabriela! Open this damned door right now! You are ruining my life! You are destroying my business!”
I unlocked the deadbolt, pulled the door open, and stood firmly on the threshold, blocking the entry with my body.
Janice looked completely unrecognizable. Her immaculate hair was disheveled, her designer mascara was smeared down her cheeks, and her phone was vibrating uncontrollably in her hand with calls from angry clients.
“Have you lost your mind?!” Janice screamed, holding her phone inches from my face. “My business website is down! People are posting protest signs outside my storefront in Upper Arlington! Piper’s private school principal called me an hour ago saying parents are complaining about our family! Tell whoever posted that video to take it down immediately!”
“I didn't post the video, Janice,” I said, looking at her with total detachment. “The supermarket employees watched what you did to a five-year-old child and decided the world needed to see who you really are.”
“Gabriela, please!” Vanessa wept, stepping forward, trying to grab my wrist with her manicured hands. “We are family! You cannot let internet strangers destroy your sister’s career and your father’s forty-year reputation over a stupid plastic doll!”
“A stupid plastic doll?” I asked, my voice deadly quiet. “You snatched a toy bought with four months of saved coins out of my child’s hands. You called her a mistake. And then you robbed my bank account in the dark.”
“I was going to give that money back!” Vanessa lied desperately, her hands shaking. “I was just keeping it safe from your terrible spending habits!”
“You’ve been keeping my grandmother’s $150,000 trust safe for six years too, haven't you, Mom?” I asked smoothly.
Vanessa’s entire body went rigid. The color drained from her face so fast she looked like a corpse. She stumbled back two steps, clutching her leather purse to her chest.
“What… what did you just say?” Vanessa choked out.
“My attorney filed an emergency ex-parte petition in Franklin County Probate Court three hours ago,” I revealed, watching her eyes widen in absolute terror. “Judge Thorne signed an emergency asset freeze. Every single bank account, credit line, and investment portfolio under your name is officially locked.”
Janice turned to her mother in total, horrified confusion. “Mom?! What trust?! What is she talking about?!”
Before Vanessa could formulate another lie, two women dressed in professional business suits walked up the apartment stairs, carrying clipboards and official state lanyards.
“Gabriela Miller?” the lead woman asked, stepping past Janice.
“Yes,” I replied.
“My name is Sarah Jenkins from the Franklin County Children Services Department,” she said, displaying her official state badge. “We received an emergency hotline report alleging severe child neglect, unsanitary living conditions, and maternal mental instability regarding your daughter, Willow.”
Janice’s frantic expression instantly shifted into a cruel, triumphant sneer. She stepped forward, pointing her finger at me.
“I made that call!” Janice proclaimed proudly to the social worker. “Look at this tiny, pathetic apartment! She can’t afford to give her child a proper life! She lives in poverty, she’s emotionally unstable, and she’s putting my daughter’s cousin in danger!”
Ms. Jenkins looked down at her clipboard, then looked at Janice’s expensive clothes, and finally looked at me with a calm, neutral gaze.
May you like
“Ms. Miller,” Ms. Jenkins asked me gently. “May we step inside your home to conduct a mandatory child welfare assessment?”
“Please, come right in,” I said, stepping aside and opening the door wide.
