Chapter 9 - MICHAEL'S STORY
Michael’s attorney argued the abandonment was shorter and less deliberate than prosecutors claimed.
He expected to return.
The apartment was heated.
The children had beds.
He left some food and diapers.
He remained reachable by phone, though often ignored calls.
These facts mattered.
Then prosecutors presented the counterweight.
Two infants required regular feeding.
Formula supply was visibly low.
Lily was ten.
No confirmed adult caregiver.
Michael lied to Emily and Jenna in opposite directions.
He instructed Lily not to disclose his absence.
He spent family funds during the period.
He stayed at a hotel with Tara.
The case became child endangerment and neglect.
Not kidnapping.
Not attempted murder.
Then Michael requested contact with Lily.
She refused initially.
The court respected therapeutic guidance.
Later, she agreed to one supervised meeting.
Michael cried when he saw her.
“I’m sorry.”
Lily stared.
“Why did you leave?”
“I was overwhelmed.”
“So was I.”
Michael stopped.
Ten-year-old sentence.
Unbeatable.
Then he said:
“I thought you could handle one night.”
“It was three.”
“I know.”
“You said tomorrow.”
He looked down.
“I know.”
Lily asked:
“Did you know the formula was almost gone?”
Silence.
Then:
“I thought there was another can.”
Lily shook her head.
“There wasn’t.”
That answer would follow him longer than any sentence.
Not because he intended starvation.
Because he had not checked.
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He left three children based on assumptions.
Then told the oldest child to protect the assumption from discovery.
