Chapter 27 - The Breach
The failure of the mediation session pushed Ryan over the edge of his carefully constructed sanity. The realization that Emily was not going to quietly submit, and that his financial ruin was about to be exposed in a public courtroom, shattered his self-control.
It happened three nights later. A heavy, oppressive thunderstorm was rolling over our town. I was upstairs in the nursery, gently rocking Lily to sleep, when the sudden, violent crunch of tires on gravel echoed from our driveway.
I walked to the window and peered through the blinds. Parked aggressively across our driveway, its headlights illuminating our front door, was Ryan’s black SUV.
"Mark!" I shouted down the hallway, my heart hammering in my throat. "He's here!"
Downstairs, the front door rattled violently as someone tried the handle.
"Emily, open the damn door!" Ryan roared from the porch, his voice slurred and completely unhinged over the sound of the pouring rain. "You can't keep her from me! I'm her father!"
Emily burst out of her bedroom, her face pale but her eyes fierce. "He’s violating the protective order."
"Call 911 right now," Mark commanded, grabbing a heavy wooden baseball bat from his closet. Mark marched downstairs, stopping right in front of the locked front door.
"Ryan, you have exactly ten seconds to get off my property before I break your legs!" Mark yelled through the heavy wood.
"You think you scare me, old man?!" Ryan screamed back, pounding his fists against the reinforced glass of the doorpane. "I'm coming in there, and I'm taking my wife and my kid home!"
I stood at the top of the stairs, holding my cell phone as the emergency dispatcher answered. "I have a violent individual violating a temporary restraining order at my residence. He is attempting to break down the door. Send units immediately."
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"They're on their way," the dispatcher promised.
Downstairs, Ryan kicked the doorframe, splintering the exterior wood. He was entirely out of his mind, fueled by rage and desperation. He thought he was untouchable. He was about to find out how wrong he was.
