Chapter 8 - Ava told the child interviewer why she got into the suitcase
Victoria had not physically forced Ava into the suitcase initially.
That made her legal defense more complicated.
It did not make the situation innocent.
Ava explained what happened during a professionally conducted child interview.
Victoria told her they were playing an airport game.
Ava was supposed to hide.
Daddy was waiting on the airplane.
If Grandpa saw her, “bad people” might stop Daddy from keeping her.
Ava climbed in.
Then Victoria closed the suitcase.
At first, Ava laughed.
Then she asked to come out.
Victoria told her to wait.
Ava began crying.
Victoria said:
“Stop crying. You’re going where I damn well say.”
That was the moment Robert heard.
The interviewer asked what “bad people” meant.
Ava said:
“Aunt Claire’s lawyers.”
A four-year-old did not invent that phrase.
Someone had put adult litigation directly into her world.
She also said Victoria told her:
“If we leave before Friday, nobody can make Daddy give you away.”
That sentence devastated Daniel.
He listened to the report through his attorney.
Victoria had taken his own fear and delivered it to Ava in child-sized language.
Daniel believed he was protecting his daughter from a custody fight.
Ava believed adults might literally give her away.
The child therapist later told him:
“You cannot make children feel secure by making them afraid of everyone outside your side.”
Daniel understood.
That was exactly what had happened.
Victoria turned Claire into an enemy.
Robert into an enemy.
Natalie’s lawyer into an enemy.
The family court into an enemy.
Anyone who might slow Victoria down became part of a story about people trying to take Ava.
And because Daniel was grieving and frightened, he entered the story too.
Not as mastermind.
As participant.
That distinction would matter legally.
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It mattered even more emotionally.
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