Chapter 7 - Lily’s first week
Lily cared about none of it.
She cared about milk.
Sleep.
Being held.
She had a mild case of newborn jaundice that never reached treatment threshold.
Pediatrician monitored.
Feeding improved.
Weight dipped then recovered.
Normal newborn medicine.
Meanwhile I slept in ninety-minute fragments and received spreadsheets about millions.
Margaret eventually confiscated my laptop for six hours.
Not literally.
She asked my sister to hide it.
I was furious.
Then grateful.
Postpartum hormones and corporate governance are terrible roommates.
My obstetrician screened for postpartum depression and anxiety.
I told her:
“I’m anxious because my husband had an affair, his mistress assaulted me during labor, and my company may have paid her hundreds of thousands.”
She said:
“That can be true and anxiety can still need treatment.”
Fair.
I started seeing therapist Dr. Naomi Price.
Then marriage.
I filed for divorce eleven days after Lily was born.
Not because adultery automatically required it.
Because I had read Ethan’s message:
I’ll handle the marriage after the sale.
He had already made the marriage a pending task.
My filing requested:
Temporary residential schedule for Lily.
Child support determination.
Financial restraint on extraordinary personal transfers.
No request to terminate Ethan’s parental rights.
No allegation he endangered Lily physically.
Then Ethan requested substantial parenting time immediately.
Newborn.
Breastfeeding.
Family court ordered a graduated plan.
Short frequent visits initially.
Some at my residence? Too tense.
Neutral family center or Ethan’s apartment with caregiver support.
He could feed expressed milk/formula as agreed.
No Vanessa contact with Lily.
Why?
Not punishment for affair.
Pending assault case involving me during labor made contact inappropriate.
Then Ethan held Lily.
He sent no photos to Vanessa under order.
No violation.
He learned diapers.
Night waking.
Pediatric appointments.
One nurse later told me he asked:
“Am I allowed to be here?”
Sad.
Appropriate.
Then his first temporary child-support payment arrived.
No dispute.
He continued paying household bills under temporary order.
No financial abandonment.
The marriage was broken.
Parenthood did not have to be.
Then my father’s old company? None.
Focus.
Then special committee found something new.
Cole Advisory had paid Ethan personally.
$48,000.
Two transfers.
Description:
Referral reimbursement.
Ethan said:
Expense reimbursement.
For what?
A private aviation deposit and conference travel he had fronted.
Receipts:
$31,000 supported.
Remaining:
$17,000 unclear.
Then Vanessa’s company had paid for the Paris suite.
Ethan had reimbursed half?
No.
No reimbursement.
Personal benefit.
Conflict.
Not multimillion kickback.
But enough to prove undisclosed related-party entanglement.
Then a line in Cole’s ledger:
E.W. success participation — 15%
No payment yet.
My stomach went cold.
Was Ethan supposed to receive fifteen percent of Vanessa’s $1.85 million fee?
If so:
$277,500.
That would be direct kickback.
May you like
Vanessa said it meant something else.
We had to prove it.
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