When vengeance strikes in the form of a bullet out for the princess's blood, Princess Aleia VonAuclair must flee the heart of her country in order to protect the people she loves and take back the pieces of her soul she'd lost to the girl she once l...
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Edrian
"Court is in session for the case of Anthony Rousseau versus Arina Rousseau," Donald, the judge, announced and slammed his gavel onto the desk. "Can both parties bring forth their respective documents of requesting claims?"
Mom's lawyer, Marcus, stood and walked towards Donald seated atop the elevated court bench, an envelope in his hand. Dad's lawyer followed suit and they both handed Donald their representing documents.
Divorce hearings usually didn't occur before a state jury so Donald Harrison, the judge appointed to my parent's divorce case held the fate of my family in his hands.
It was like a game of fucking pinball. You never knew where it would land.
"Can the representative for Ms. Rousseau state her claims?"
Marcus returned to stand in front of his seat and straightened the lapels of his jacket. I looked straight ahead at the judge, and never once at my dad. I might do something stupid if I saw his face and Mom really needed this win. I wouldn't be the reason she lost Mila and Tyler.
My jaw clenched at the thought.
"My client, Ms. Arina Rousseau, would like to claim full child custody, ownership of the Water Valley house she currently resides in, child support for their two underaged children under grant of full child custody and compensation for emotional distress."
I heard Dad scoff from where he sat on the other side of the court. My hands balled into fists, especially when I remembered our pleasant phone call last night where he basically threatened to pull child custody if I didn't agree to his terms.
Truthfully, I'd almost agreed. I wasn't stupid enough to think there were zero chances he'd bribed the judge or that the judge would stand on some kind of moral high ground if he did, but somehow, Mom had overheard the conversation and yanked the phone from my ear before I could say anything else. She'd gone on a whole rampage on him, but it all went along the lines of, fuck that.
So here I was, jaw locked, and shoulders coiled tight as I could do nothing but watch as a may-or-may-not-have-been-bribed judge decided Mila and Tyler's fate.
Donald's gaze flickered over to Dad, but when he noticed me watching him, he cleared his throat and looked away. He picked up the documents.
"Now, Mr. Rousseau."
He gestured a hand to Dad's lawyer, who then stood up. Mom's knee began bouncing and I reached a hand over to hold hers. She squeezed it into a vice, but I didn't even flinch. I never let go.
"My client, Mr. Anthony Rousseau, would like to claim full child custody, ownership of all assets listed under the joint lease, and agreement to an issuance of ten percent spousal support."
Donald nodded and scanned through the documents in his hand for what felt like fucking hours. Adrenaline fired my nerves into a fight or flight response and God, did I want to fucking choose fight.
