PART 6 – “MY EX-MOTHER-IN-LAW CLAIMED SHE WOULD TAKE CARE OF THE CHILDREN — BUT A MESSAGE ON HER CELL PHONE REVEALED THE TRUTH!”

Katerina Papadopoulou was sixty-four years old.

A woman who loved expensive handbags, jewelry, and family photos that showed a perfect life.

In the eyes of others she was a respectable grandmother.

In mine, she was the woman who had never stopped belittling me.

“My son deserves a woman who is at home,” he told me.

“It’s not normal for children to grow up with their mother working nights.”

And yet, when I needed help to cover a shift, it was rarely available.

He always had something more important.

A date.

An excursion.

A table with friends.

When the police called her to explain, she claimed that she had agreed to come through the apartment.

“Dimitris told me the children would be safe,” he said.

“When would you go?” they asked her.

“The next morning.”

“And you went?”

“No. I was feeling unwell.”

“Did you inform your son?”

“Of course”.

But messages found later painted a different picture.

Katerina had written to Dimitris:

“I won’t take care of the children so you can live your life. Find another solution.”

And he had replied:

“Don’t worry. In a few days it will all be over.”

When I read this sentence, I felt like I was freezing.

In a few days it will all be over.

What exactly was he waiting for to end?

My lawyer warned me not to try to contact them.

“Anna, we need to let the authorities do their job.”

“I can’t wait any longer.”

“I know.”

“Every day I discover something worse.”

Sophia took a breath.

“There’s something else you need to remember. You don’t have to prove the whole case yourself. There are evidence, witnesses, and procedures.”

I looked at my hands.

“I just want them to never come near my children again.”

“We will ask for the necessary protective measures.”

A few days later, Eleni returned home.

Doctors had allowed her to leave with instructions for rest, monitoring, and support.

The first night she didn’t want to sleep alone.

“Mom, can I stay in your bed?”

“Naturally”.

Lie down next to me.

She was holding her teddy bear.

“Mama;”

“Yes;”

“If you leave for work again, will you come back?”

The question broke me.

“I will always make sure you are with someone who looks out for you, my love.”

“And you won’t forget us?”

I hugged her.

“When”.

“Dad forgot about us.”

I didn’t know what to say.

I wanted to tell her that her father was a man who had done something unthinkable.

I wanted to tell her that she wasn’t worth a single one of her tears.

But it was her father.

And Helen was still a child.

“What he did was very serious and very wrong,” I told her. “But it wasn’t because you or your siblings don’t deserve love.”

She remained silent.

Then he asked me:

“Can I be little again?”

I closed my eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to take care of the babies by myself anymore.”

I hugged her tightly.

“It won’t be necessary.”

The twins’ return was gradual.

Peter was discharged first.

Nikolas needed more days of monitoring.

When I finally held him in my arms at home, I felt like I had been given a second chance.

The little one rested his head on my shoulder.

Helen approached.

“Mom, can I kiss him?”

“Naturally”.

She kissed him on the forehead.

“I told you mom would come,” she whispered to him.

I turned my face away so he wouldn’t see my tears.

That afternoon the phone rang.

It was police officer Konstantinou.

“Mrs. Papadopoulou, we have a new development.”

My heart started beating fast.

“What happened;”

“We examined more evidence from Dimitris’s cell phone.”

“And;”

“We found a draft letter to social services.”

“What did it say?”

“That you had left the children unattended, that he was trying to protect them and that he was requesting immediate intervention.”

I felt angry.

“But he left them!”

“We know it.”

“Why did he want to do that?”

The policeman took a deep breath.

“We believe he wanted to create evidence that he would use in a custody battle. But the seriousness of the abandonment far outweighs such a battle.”

“And his mother?”

“What he knew and when is being examined.”

I hung up the phone.

I looked at my children.

Eleni was painting at the table.

Peter was playing with a wooden car.

Nicholas was sleeping in his crib.

Three children I could have lost.

For a moment I felt anger wash over me.

Then I made a decision.

I wouldn’t let this anger destroy me.

I would turn him into a force to protect them.

The next morning, my lawyer called me into her office.

There was an envelope on the table.

“Anna, I need to show you something.”

“What is it?”

“A document found among Dimitris’ financial records.”

I opened it.

My name was on the first page.

And underneath, a phrase I never expected to read.

“Proposed sole parental custody agreement in exchange for waiver of financial claims.”

I looked up.

“What does this mean;”

Sophia looked at me seriously.

“It means that Dimitris had considered using the children as a means of pressure to secure financial benefits from your divorce.”

And then I remembered something I had almost forgotten.

An account.

An old investment.

And the money my father left me before he died.

CONTINUED IN PART 7…