My Husband Divorced Me While I Was Unconscious After Giving Birth to Triplets — Then My Brother Uncovered His Fraud at the Town Assembly
The news spread through Oakhaven like wildfire, not from the tavern this time, but from the official posting board outside the Town Hall. Gabriel, sensing the subtle shift in whispers, had decided to escalate his campaign.
I heard it from Cook Elara, who brought my meals to the gatehouse, her eyes wide with a mixture of pity and fear.
“He’s done it, Mrs. Vanderberg,” she murmured, wringing her apron. “A formal petition. To the council.”
My heart pounded with a slow, heavy rhythm. I braced myself.
“He wants them to declare you… unfit,” Elara whispered, looking away. “Permanently.”
The words struck me like a physical blow. Not just insane, but permanently unfit. Stripped of my remaining parental rights, banished from Oakhaven entirely.
This wasn’t just about the timber mill or the estate now. This was about my children. My two surviving babies, who lay in their cradles in the grand manor, unaware of the war being waged over their future.
Gabriel, meanwhile, walked through town with an air of determined grievance. He visited the homes of the 35 council members, one by one, shaking his head sorrowfully as he spoke of my “delusions” and “dangerous instability” that had allegedly led to Silas’s death.
“A mother’s grief, unmanaged,” he told them, his voice thick with feigned sorrow. “It has consumed her, I fear. And for the safety of my children, for the future of the Hallowell legacy, I must appeal to the wisdom of the council.”
He painted a picture of a distraught, dangerous woman, completely incapable of raising her own offspring or managing the family’s substantial assets. He made it sound like a tragic but necessary measure, for the good of all.
The council hearing was set for Friday morning. Only three days away.
Gideon came to me, his face grim. “He’s fast-tracking it, Clara. He wants to leverage the initial shock and the tragedy, before anyone has time to question his version of events too deeply.”
“My children,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat. The thought of Gabriel, the man who had locked me out while my baby froze, being given sole guardianship, filled me with a terror far greater than any physical pain.
Gideon laid a hand on my arm. “We won’t let him. I’ve been making inquiries. Quiet ones. This petition, it confirms what I suspected. He’s closing in, trying to force a swift outcome.”
He looked towards the main manor house, a determined glint in his eye. “But he doesn’t know what I’ve found. He underestimates us, Clara. He thinks your silence means defeat. He’s wrong.”
But the deadline loomed, a heavy shadow over my already broken spirit. Friday morning. I had to fight, not just for myself, but for the memory of Silas, and for the future of my twins.
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