Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN CALIFORNIAHis name was Lucas Reed.
Melissa dated him before me.
I knew that.
What I didn’t know was that they had resumed contact eighteen months earlier.
Not necessarily a physical affair at first.
Messages.
Calls.
Complaints about our marriage.
Then plans.
Lucas owned a marketing company in San Diego.
He had no children.
He told Melissa:
“You should have started over years ago.”
She wrote:
“I can’t leave without Lucy.”
He answered:
“Then bring her.”
Simple.
As if my daughter were luggage.
Later:
“What about Ethan?”
Melissa:
“He’ll fight.”
Lucas:
“Then make sure he can’t.”
That was when the custody strategy began.
Dr. Vale apparently entered months later.
Lucas funded part of Melissa’s legal preparation.
Not because he wanted my money.
He wanted my wife.
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And he accepted a plan that required turning my daughter against me.
That told me enough about him.
