Chapter 2

I remember that day. Our daughter had a fever, he was away on a business trip, and I sat alone in the hospital through the whole night. He came back the next morning, and when he walked into the ward he was carrying a bowl of wonton soup. He set it on the nightstand, crouched down and took my hand, and said, You've had it rough.

Back then I thought, I married the right man.

The soup was from the shop by the entrance to our complex. Pork and shrimp. I ate two, and the rest sat there and went cold. When the nurse came in to change the dressing she knocked the bowl over by accident, and the broth spilled all over the floor. He said it's fine, it's fine, I'll clean it up. I watched him crouched on the floor, soaking up the broth with tissues, picking out the shrimp, and one thought rose up in me——

Arnold Cobb was a man you could trust with your whole life.

There was another chart in the folder.

A mind map. A tree structure, unfolding layer by layer.

The center node was called "Core Variable Control." There were four first-level branches: Financial / Witnesses / Physical Evidence / Legality.

Under Financial it expanded:

Prenuptial property agreement → notarized → √

Large post-marriage expenditures on record（mortgage, car loan, nanny's wages）→ all paid under my name → √

Her bank transaction records → no single deposit over $5,000 in the past 36 months → √

Under Witnesses it expanded:

Nanny（can testify she sleeps during the day, neglects the child）→ √

Neighbors（can testify to repeated arguments）→ √

My coworkers（can testify I took leave many times for family reasons）→ √

Psychiatrist（can issue a mental-state assessment）→ √

Under Physical Evidence it expanded:

Chat logs（large volume of voice messages during her emotional episodes）→ √

Medical records（postpartum depression / attempted suicide / social withdrawal）→ √

Purchase records（compulsive behavior, repeated buying of children's items）→ √

Under Legality it expanded:

《Family Code》Article 1084 → reviewed

Supreme Court custody precedents（2019-2023）→ 12 cases compiled

Local court tendencies → consulted Lawyer Chavez

How long I sat in front of that screen, I don't remember.

I only remember the light outside going from white to gray, and from gray to a dull yellow. Down below, the music for the evening dancing started up, then the music stopped and the streetlights came on. My daughter was in her room doing homework. She came out once in the middle of it and asked, Mom, why don't you turn on the light. I said it's nothing, sweetie, go play by yourself for now. She closed the door, and I heard her inside sending voice messages to a classmate, her voice light and bright, like a little bird hopping from branch to branch.

My daughter. Eight years old. She'd lost one of her front teeth, so there was a gap when she smiled.

He had spent seven years preparing, all so he could take her out of my life.