“You had no right to contact my lawyer. I’ll report him to the State bar and have his license revoked for divulging privileged client information to a third party.”

“Walter’s law firm is employed by the Peabody Corporation. As such he answers to me first and foremost. Consider yourself fortunate that we haven’t cut you off completely, and that’s because in spite of everything the children love you.”

“And I love them. They are as much mine as they are hers. At the very least I want joint custody. I will not settle for anyone controlling when I can see my children.”

“The game is up Helena so you can stop pretending that you want any responsibility for those children. This whole custody battle is more about winning against and distressing Winnie than about any love you may have for Wilson and Jung Yin. You’ve proven yourself to be an unfit parent but if you prefer to drag this through the courts so be it. However, it would be in your best interest to just settle quietly because you’d be fighting a losing battle. You will have supervised visits at Winnie’s discretion or you won’t see them at all and that’s final.”

Helena is outraged but knows better than to go up against her mother especially being caught off guard and unprepared. The truth was she didn’t stand a chance in court. Walter had made that very clear which is why she’d used such underhanded tactics to prolong the proceedings. Peggy was right. She didn’t want to be tied down with the children. Engaging in the custody battle had only been for the sport of putting Winnie at her mercy. She’d exaggerated when speaking to Tina about the children’s living conditions with Winnie. They were hardly sleeping on mattresses or eating food that came out of cans but Winnie didn’t have near the wealth that Helena had. Now with Peggy’s involvement Helena could no longer use her wealth to buy the children’s affection nor to persuade any judge or jury that she was the better parent. She knew it was time to retreat and got up from the table to leave.

“We’re not finished dear. Please sit down.”

“What else is there to discuss? You’ve made it very plain that I have no choice in the matter.”