“Mr. Colbert, you may question the witness now,” the judge said to Aaron.
As her lawyer approached, she looked down at her hands. They were no longer clenched. Instead, they were now shaking. With tears welling in her eyes she looked back up, searching for Simon. Searching for the face that would soothe the pain that threatened to well up and consume her. How could Gary do this? After their years of marriage, how could he rake her over the coals so publicly like this?
When her eyes landed on Simon, she almost started crying. Sympathy flashed in his blue eyes and he gave her a small, encouraging smile.
Gathering her courage, she clenched her hands again to stop them from shaking and blinked her tears away. Now was not the time to lose it. Finn needed her.
After Aaron lobbed softball questions at her, they broke for a quick lunch and then returned to the courtroom.
She settled in her seat beside her lawyer while Gary went to the witness stand, ready to be questioned by his own lawyer.
“Mr. Hall, why are you trying to get full custody of your son, Finnley?” Charlene asked gently.
“I hate to speak ill of his mother, but it’s because she’s unfit,” Gary said. “She’s...she’s too selfish to have a real motherly instinct, you know? I had my doubts that she’d be a good mom at the beginning of the marriage, but I wanted to do the right thing. I had to convince her to go through with the wedding.”
Anger flared in her. The way he was twisting everything was appalling. He wasn’t lying enough to get into trouble, but there was no way she would characterize getting the jitters on their wedding day as some kind of failure in parenting.
“Do you approve of how she parents Finn?” Charlene asked Gary.
He shook his head in response. “No, I don’t. I’ve personally witnessed her bringing men into her house at all hours of the night. I know her office affair affected our son. And the way she parades her boss around, it’s like she’s trying to replace me. She says she wants to share custody, but all she’s done is cut me out of my son’s life.”
“So, when your ex-wife says you’re not present, that isn’t an accurate statement?” Charlene asked.
Gary shook his head sadly. “How can I be present when Heather keeps my son away from me? She’s the one who took Finn on a vacation across the country with her new boyfriend, when all I wanted to do was see my son. That’s what she does. She’s been trying to punish me for wanting to see my own son, so she keeps him away from me.”
Charlene frowned. “What happens when you do find a way to see Finnley?”
Gary let out a dramatic sigh. “She gets her parents to gang up on me. Gets her boyfriend to do it, too. When I showed up to that party to get Finn out of there, her boyfriend got in my face. Had a knife in his hand and everything.”
Heather’s heart sank. Shit, he was spinning this so well. He was a master at manipulation.
“Why don’t you think this can be worked out?” Charlene asked. “Why go for full custody rather than shared, since you were originally so committed to Finnley having both parents in his life?”
“Because the lengths she goes to are damaging to my son,” Gary said. “She resents the fact that Finn loves me so much. It hurts her to see how much our son adores me, so she’s been trying to punish me for it. Several weeks ago, she convinced her rich boyfriend to try to pay me off.”
“Pay you off?”
“Yup.” Gary nodded. “She wanted him to pay me two million dollars to stay out of Finn’s life. I was stunned. I turned the offer down, of course. Nothing could keep me from my son. Nothing.”
“He’s lying,” Heather hissed at lawyer.
“Lower your voice,” Aaron said softly. “You can’t say anything while he’s on the stand. Try to get a hold of yourself, Heather.”
Her anger was flaring into full-blown rage. Rage was an emotion she had almost never felt. But right now, Gary’s lies were pushing her over the edge. Hearing how easily the lies rolled off his tongue disturbed her. She had always known he had his flaws, but this was beyond anything she could have ever imagined. Somehow his lies were worse than when he had demanded money. He really would do anything to hurt her. To punish her for his belief that she had wasted years of his life.