The Report
PART 5: "The Report"
Patricia filed the CPS report on Thursday morning.
She did it from her phone, sitting in the master bedroom, while Rosa was downstairs making the girls' breakfast and Emiliano was pretending to be in Europe.
The report was four paragraphs long. It accused Rosa of "inappropriate physical contact" with Martina during bath time, "emotional manipulation" of both girls, and "creating an unhealthy dependency" that was "damaging the children's ability to bond with their future stepmother."
Patricia didn't sign her real name. She used a pseudonym and listed herself as a "concerned family friend."
She knew the system. She'd used it before — in Phoenix, against the nanny who protected Sophie. In Chicago, against Gloria Reyes. The playbook was the same every time: accuse the protector, remove the protector, isolate the children.
It worked in Phoenix. It worked in Chicago.
Patricia had no reason to believe it wouldn't work again.
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Emiliano found out about the report forty-five minutes after it was filed.
Not from CPS. From Carlos, whose security monitoring included a keyword alert system that flagged any official communication mentioning the Duarte household. The CPS report triggered the alert.
Carlos brought the report to the pool house.
Emiliano read it.
His first reaction was not anger. It was ice. The cold, calculating stillness of a man who has spent twenty years in business negotiations and who knows that the most effective response to an attack is not an immediate counterattack but a precise, devastating response delivered at exactly the right moment.
"She's trying to get Rosa removed before I come back," Emiliano said.
"Yes, sir."
"When will CPS respond?"
"Within seventy-two hours. They're required to investigate any report involving a minor."
"Then we have seventy-two hours."
Emiliano called Marcus Holt — his attorney, the same man who handled his prenuptial negotiations with Patricia and who charged a thousand dollars an hour because men who charge a thousand dollars an hour don't lose.
"Marcus, my fiancée filed a false CPS report against my housekeeper."
"How do you know it's false?"
"Because I have six months of camera footage showing my fiancée abusing my daughters and my housekeeper protecting them."
Silence.
"Send me everything."
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Marcus Holt worked for forty-eight hours.
He reviewed the camera footage — all six months of it, compressed into a highlight reel that showed, in chronological order, the escalation of Patricia's behavior. The first comment about Martina's eating. The first time she grabbed Daniela's arm. The first time she threw the rabbit. The first time she threatened boarding school.
He reviewed Rosa's notebook. One hundred and seventy-three entries, cross-referenced with the camera timestamps.
He reviewed Vera Santos's background investigation on Patricia Vega — the name changes, the previous marriages, the NDAs, Sophie in Phoenix, the Torres boys in Chicago.
He prepared a filing.
Not a response to the CPS report. An offensive filing. A petition to the family court requesting an emergency protective order against Patricia, the immediate revocation of her access to the Duarte residence, and a referral to the district attorney for charges of child abuse, filing a false report, and fraud.
"This is a nuclear option," Marcus told Emiliano. "Once we file, Patricia's lawyers will fight back. She'll claim the cameras were illegal surveillance. She'll claim Rosa coached the girls. She'll claim you're retaliating because of the CPS report."
"Let her claim whatever she wants. I have six months of video showing her terrorizing my daughters."
"The video is strong. The notebook is strong. Vera's background investigation is devastating. But you need one more thing."
"What?"
"The girls. A family court judge needs to hear from the children. Not the cameras. Not the notebook. The children themselves."
Emiliano looked at the pool house ceiling.
His daughters. Nine and six. Sitting in front of a judge, describing the things Patricia did to them. The things they'd been hiding for months because Patricia told them that telling would mean boarding school.
"They're scared, Marcus."
"I know. That's why they need to talk to someone who isn't you, isn't Patricia, and isn't Rosa. A child psychologist. Someone neutral. Someone the court will trust."
"Set it up."
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May you like
Keep reading Part 6 — because when the child psychologist meets Daniela and Martina, Daniela doesn't talk about Patricia first. She talks about her mother. About something Andrea told her before she died. And what Andrea said changes the way Emiliano understands everything — including why Rosa made the promise she made.
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