“She isn’t their mother,” I snapped, my voice shaking with rage. “Claire was their mother.”

“Legally, she is,” Vance said.

He pulled a secondary document from his breast pocket and held it out.

“During Mr. Caldwell’s stay at the clinic in Switzerland last year, he signed a postnuptial amendment.”

I felt Benjamin stiffen beside me.

“You signed it, Benjamin,” Vance continued. “Section four, paragraph two.”

“I was heavily medicated,” Benjamin whispered. “She brought those papers to my bedside.”

“Your signature was notarized,” Vance said. “It granted Vanessa full step-parent adoption rights.”

It was the biological loophole we had feared.

Because Claire was gone, and Benjamin had signed those papers, Vanessa held equal parental rights under Colorado law.

“And under the emergency clause,” I said, my eyes scanning the third page, “she is claiming the fire tonight proves the home is unsafe.”

“Exactly,” Vance said. “The children are in active danger under Mr. Caldwell’s care.”

“The fire was arson,” Pierce said. “We are investigating it.”

“Which only proves the children are targets here,” Vance countered smoothly. “They will be safer in Denver with their mother.”