Chapter 10 - The plan to manufacture a status quo
The deeper secret was not that Dorian and Clarissa possessed a magical custody order.
They did not.
Their plan depended on something more realistic.
Creating a post-birth status quo before I understood what was happening.
Their messages, apartment lease, nursery transfer, and document history showed the sequence.
First:
Move the baby’s essential furniture to Clarissa’s house.
Second:
Reserve Clement Street for me.
Third:
Prepare a false parenting packet carrying my copied signature.
Fourth:
After delivery, tell hospital staff we had already agreed the newborn would discharge with Dorian while I recovered separately.
Would a hospital automatically obey a private parenting paper?
No.
But a polished document, presented during a stressful discharge by the baby’s legal father, could create confusion long enough to force verification.
Fifth:
If I resisted, Dorian planned to say:
“We had an agreement. She is changing her mind because she is emotional.”
Sixth:
He would immediately consult family court after birth seeking a temporary parenting schedule.
His argument would be:
The baby had already been residing with him and Clarissa.
I had voluntarily chosen Clement Street.
The newborn needed continuity.
Would a judge automatically accept that?
No.
Courts examine evidence.
But early caregiving patterns can matter.
Dorian and Clarissa wanted to manufacture those facts first.
Then present them as neutral reality.
The forgery was not the whole scheme.
It was the bridge between:
A false agreement.
And the real-world status quo they hoped to build from it.
Why?
Clarissa believed I would eventually divorce Dorian.
She wanted the child anchored to the Hale household before that happened.
Dorian believed obeying her would protect:
His inheritance.
His expected role in Clarissa’s investment company.
And his access to the lifestyle she funded.
He told her:
If Morwenna leaves with the baby, you’ll cut me off anyway.
Clarissa replied:
Then make sure she doesn’t leave with the baby.
There was the motive.
May you like
Not love.
Fear financed by inheritance.
