Chapter 6 - Daniel Wanted Primary Custody Before He Ever Filed for Divorce
Daniel’s intake form from the law firm appeared later.
Question:
Desired custody arrangement?
His answer:
Primary physical custody to father; substantial but structured contact with mother until emotional stability can be established.
Claire read it twice.
Structured contact.
With her own son.
Dated eleven days before the dinner.
Another question:
Basis for concern?
Daniel wrote:
Increasing emotional volatility, hostility toward paternal family, unpredictable reactions in child’s presence.
Nothing about Daniel’s slap.
It had not happened yet.
Nothing about the table.
That had not happened yet either.
Which meant Daniel was already constructing the argument.
The formal dinner gave him what he believed would become the centerpiece.
A room of witnesses.
Claire striking Margaret.
Claire overturning furniture.
Claire leaving with Noah.
If the story began at the correct second, Daniel looked frightened and reasonable.
If it began two minutes earlier—
Daniel hit his wife first.
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That distinction became the entire case.
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