CHAPTER 82: MIKAELA WANTS HER DADDY

"Where’s Daddy?" asked Mikaela, as Annette set a plate of avocado toast in front of her.

"He was called away at that new job of his. He’ll be back later," said Annette, sitting down opposite her.

"On a Sunday?" asked Mikaela, skeptically.

"Well, that’s how some jobs are," said Ruth, who had come over after setting up the police protection detail.

Mikaela bit into the toast, and made a face.

"Can I have some butter instead?" she asked.

"No you cannot. Avocado is healthy, and butter is not," said Annette firmly.

"But Daddy lets me have butter," whined Mikaela.

"Well, Daddy is not here right now, and I’m in charge. So no butter!" snapped Annette.

Ruth laid a warning hand on Annette’s arm.

"Annette, you can’t just snap at her like that. It can be used as leverage against you in court," she whispered.

"Nobody else is here!" whispered Annette back.

Ruth opened her mouth to say something, but the doorbell rang.

"I’ll get it," said Ruth, standing up.

Annette and Mikaela heard muffled voices, and then Ruth came back in, looking flustered.

"Sweetie, can you go to your room for a bit? I need to talk to your mom about some grown-up stuff," said Ruth to Mikaela.

Mikaela pouted but eventually nodded and left the room.

"Ivan has counter-served. He wants full custody of Mikaela, and that’s the only thing he wants," said Ruth, sitting down.

"Over my dead body!" snarled Annette.

Ruth’s face turned pale as she saw the name of the attorney on the document.

"Annette, I need you to listen very carefully. Ivan’s managed to get Stefan Stanislaus to represent him. That guy is a shark. You have to be extremely careful with how you behave around Mikaela. If you so much as raise your voice at her, he’ll paint you as crazy, and worst-case, you’ll lose custody," said Ruth.

"What? I’m supposed to pamper Mikaela? That’s as bad as letting Ivan have her!" snarled Annette.

"No, but you have to be very careful. You also need to document everything. Every interaction you have with Mikaela, every time you feed her, clothe her, take her to the doctor, everything. If you can get a nanny or babysitter to help out, that would be even better," said Ruth.

"Nobody is going to dictate how I raise my daughter!" snarled Annette.

"Hey! I’m just trying to help you! If you want to fight Ivan, you have to be smart about it," said Ruth.

"You said this was a slam dunk. Now you’re telling me that I have to walk on eggshells?" snarled Annette.

"No, I’m just saying you have to be careful, that’s all. Look, I have to go. I’ll set up a meeting with Stefan, and we can hammer out an agreement," said Ruth, standing up.

"Fine, but I’m not letting Ivan get anywhere near Mikaela," said Annette.

----

"Stefan," greeted Ruth tightly, as she and Annette entered the negotiating room.

"Hello Ruth, Mrs Zakhrov. Please, have a seat," said Stefan, motioning to the chairs.

"Thank you," said Ruth, and she and Annette sat down opposite Stefan and Ivan.

"Let’s cut to the chase. Ivan wants full custody of Mikaela. Nothing more, nothing less. Annette can keep the house, car, and all other assets, and can even expect a healthy alimony package, but Mikaela stays with Ivan," said Stefan.

"Yeah, not happening. Annette fears that Ivan is a toxic father and a danger to Mikaela. He’s already shown that he’s a bad influence by allowing Mikaela to eat unhealthy food, and excessively indulging her," said Ruth.

"You have evidence of this?" asked Stefan.

"I’ve got witnesses who can testify that Ivan has been feeding Mikaela food cooked on a kerosene stove, and that he is passive-aggressive by deliberately undermining Annette’s authority," said Ruth.

Stefan tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Would you be willing to settle for joint custody? Annette gets Monday to Friday, and Ivan gets weekends and holidays," he offered.

"Absolutely not! He’s not coming anywhere near Mikaela!" snapped Annette.

Stefan raised an eyebrow.

"Look. You’ve already locked Ivan out of the house and sicked a restraining order on him as if he’s a violent criminal. Mikaela is only six years old. She’s probably already confused and crying for her father. Come on Annette. Joint custody will help at least until the divorce is finalized," said Stefan.

"No. Ivan has already spoiled her enough by treating her like a princess. I will not let him do that anymore," said Annette firmly.

Stefan sighed wearily.

"Fine, what do you want then?" he asked.

"Full custody. Alimony and child support. No visitation rights, and I get to keep the house and car," demanded Annette.

Stefan shook his head.

"All right. We’ll see you in court then," he said, standing up.

"Fine," said Annette, standing up as well.

"Well? That went about as well as expected," said Stefan, after Ruth and Annette had left.

"Have we got any chance of winning?" asked Ivan.

"It’s a long shot. The stuff your PI has managed to uncover is good, but not slam-dunk good. Right now, it just looks like Annette is being stressed out. We need more evidence of actual neglect or abuse," said Stefan.

"For all her faults, Annette loves Mikaela. I’m not sure if she’d slip up that badly," said Ivan.

"Yeah well, that’s the kind of thing that makes judges side with the moms. A stressed out mom gets a free pass. A dad who loses his cool on the other hand, gets thrown to the wolves," said Stefan.

Ivan took a deep breath.

"All right, let’s prepare for the worst and say that we lose. What kind of alimony and child support are we looking at?" he asked.

"Given your income, and the fact that Annette is the primary caregiver, you’re looking at around $150,000 a year," said Stefan.

"That’s most of my income from MIT," said Ivan, grimacing.

"Yeah? Be happy that Aaron has managed to keep your Sirius Software income intact. Most guys in your position drown in alimony and child support," said Stefan.

----

"All right, Annette. I need to know what I’m working with. I need your entire marriage history. Just the facts. And don’t you dare lie to me, or leave anything out. I can’t help you if you do that," said Ruth, as Annette drove them back to the house.

"Fine, but I’m warning you, it’s not pretty," said Annette, sitting down on a couch.

"Just the facts, please," said Ruth.

"All right. I met Ivan when I was 20. He was 25, and had just graduated from MIT with a PhD in computer science. I was still an undergrad at the time, studying literature. It was our parents, not us, who got along like a house on fire. They set us up on a blind date, but we kind of hit it off. We got married after I graduated, and then we had our first child, Aaron. Soon after that, Ivan got a tenure at MIT, and I got a job as an English teacher at Boston Public School. We were happy for a while, but then Aaron began to show signs of prodigious intelligence. Ivan pulled him out of public school, and began to homeschool him. At first, I was okay with it, but then Ivan conspired with Aaron to buy a big and loud car. That was the beginning of the end. I wanted Aaron to have a normal childhood, but Ivan kept indulging him with age-inappropriate things, like teaching him how to drive when he was only twelve, taking him for a suit fitting and then a grotesque play when he was thirteen, and even encouraging him to flirt and date older girls and women! Not only that, but Aaron developed an unhealthy fascination for women in high heels, black leather, fast cars, and BDSM. It finally became too much for me, when Aaron was caught developing a violent video game, and expelled from school. I was pregnant with Mikaela at the time, and I disowned him. Ivan agreed to stay with me and raise Mikaela, but now I fear that the cycle is repeating itself. Mikaela is only six, and already Ivan is spoiling her rotten by calling her his ’princess’, buying her whatever she wants, and even feeding her meat after I specifically told him that we will be switching to a vegan diet. I can’t take it anymore. I won’t lose Mikaela to him," said Annette, her voice breaking.

"Don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can to help you," said Ruth, putting a comforting hand on Annette’s shoulder.

"Thank you," said Annette, wiping her eyes.

----

"OK, Ivan. This is the discovery phase. We need to get everything on the table. Tell me everything about the relationship between you and Annette, and between you, Mikaela, and Aaron," said Stefan, as he and Ivan sat down in his office.

"All right. Annette and I met when she was 20, and I was 25. We got married after she graduated, and then we had Aaron. I got a tenure at MIT, and she got a job as an English teacher. We were happy for a while, but then Aaron began to show signs of prodigious intelligence. I pulled him out of public school, and began to homeschool him. At first, Annette was okay with it, but then, cracks started to form. Aaron was way too perceptive for his age, and offered to use his programming skills to help us buy a car. I told him that I’ll handle it, but he still insisted. I then had to tell him that it was illegal for him to work, and lied to him that I would save up for a car that I always wanted, a BMW M5. Annette found out that we were discussing buying a car, and flipped out. She said that if we had to get one, it needed to be environmentally friendly, and had grounded Aaron and forced him to delete a picture of a car he had set as his computer wallpaper. That pissed me off, and I decided to buy a BMW M5 anyway. Annette was furious when she found out, and we had a huge fight. Aaron unfortunately saw that fight and internalized it, developing a Stoic personality. Things only got worse from there. Annette started to interpret almost everything Aaron and I did through a suspicious and negative lens. She saw Aaron’s normal adolescent fascination with things like high heels, fast cars and black leather as unhealthy obsessions, and his interactions with other girls and women as inappropriate flirting. Aaron made friends with a Daisy Eddington in his class, which opened yet another can of worms. Daisy was facing systemic abuse and bullying at home, and Aaron’s support and friendship was a lifeline for her. However, that brought us into conflict with Senator Sarah Clarke, who was the employer of Daisy’s parents. She targeted me by having the IRS audit me, and then had me investigated by CPS. They didn’t find anything, but it caused a lot of stress for Annette. Then, Daisy’s parents managed to escape from Senator Clarke’s influence, and fled to England, but Senator Clarke retaliated by hacking into Aaron’s private GitHub repository, and farmed moral outrage over the video game he was developing. That led to Aaron being expelled from school, and Annette completely disowning him. At the time, I decided to stay with Annette who was pregnant with Mikaela, but now I can’t take it anymore. I already failed my son when he needed me the most. I won’t fail Mikaela too," said Ivan, his voice breaking.

"Damn. That’s quite a story," said Stefan, after a long pause.

"You can say that again," said Ivan, wiping his eyes.

"OK, I’ve got what I need. I’ll get to work on the case," said Stefan.

----

"Where’s Daddy?" demanded Mikaela, later in the evening, as Annette was setting the table for dinner.

"He’s working late at that new job of his. He’ll be back later," said Annette, trying to avoid a confrontation.

"Did you have a fight?" asked Mikaela, shrewdly.

"No, of course not," said Annette, a little too quickly.

"Just give him a kiss and make up," said Mikaela, matter-of-factly.

"No!" snapped Annette.

"Why not?" asked Mikaela, surprised.

"Because I said so! Now go to bed!" snapped Annette.

Mikaela’s face crumpled, and she ran to her room, crying.

Annette sighed, and went to check on her. She tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Sweetie, can I come in?" she asked gently.

"Sweetie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just been a bad day," she said, not hearing a response.

"I want Daddy!" came Mikaela’s screamed reply.

"Sweetie, please. I’m sorry. I love you," said Annette, trying to keep her voice calm.

"I want Daddy!" screamed Mikaela again.

A vein throbbed in Annette’s forehead, as she fumbled for her phone to call Ivan.

"Ivan, I need you to talk to Mikaela and tell her that you won’t be seeing her anymore," she said, moving away from the door.

"You want me to tell her what?" asked Ivan, incredulously.

"Just do it! This is all your fault anyway!" snapped Annette.

"Why?" asked Ivan.

"Daddy! Come home!" came Mikaela’s scream before Annette could reply.

"That’s why! She’s gone and locked herself in her room!" snapped Annette.

"How about I come over?" asked Ivan.

"No! Do it over the phone!" snapped Annette.

"Fine, put me on video, and tell her I’m calling," said Ivan.

Annette moved back to the door, and put Ivan on video call.

"Mikaela, I’ve got Daddy on the phone. Do you want to talk to him?" she asked gently.

There was a long pause, and then the door opened, and Mikaela poked her head out, still sniffling.

"Hi Princess," said Ivan, tears in his eyes.

"Daddy? Where are you? Why are you not coming home?" asked Mikaela, her voice trembling.

"I’m sorry princess, but Mommy is still very mad with me. She’s even got the cops outside to stop me from coming home," said Ivan, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Why? What did you do?" asked Mikaela, confused.

"Nothing bad, I promise. It’s just that Mommy and I are having a big fight, and so I can’t come home right now," said Ivan.

"Just kiss and make up!" said Mikaela in frustration.

"I wish I could, princess. But right now, I need you to be very brave for me, okay? Mommy is very stressed out, and I don’t want to make things worse for her," said Ivan.

"Okay," said Mikaela, sniffling.

"I love you, princess. I’ll call you again soon, okay?" said Ivan.

"I love you too, Daddy," said Mikaela, before Annette ended the call.

"All right, sweetie, let’s get you to bed," said Annette, trying to take Mikaela’s hand, but Mikaela pulled away.

"Go kiss and make up!" said Mikaela, slamming her bedroom door in Annette’s face.