Game over

The ringing in Ryan’s ears refused to subside, no matter how hard he tried to stop it. He had prepared himself for this possibility, had known that it would be the most likely outcome of this whole thing, especially considering the recent events, but still, he had held out some hope that it would not be as he had feared. He was awfully wrong. His chest felt tight, as though he was going to have a heart attack any minute now. He only vaguely heard the judge’s voice over the roaring in his head as the woman droned on and on, while Craig’s family jubilated on their side.

If only he had known, he would have pleaded hard for Anna and Noah to accept joint custody with him, or he would have even bought them off, except that he knew that they would never agree to be bought off. It galled him to admit that they actually loved their grandkids and were doing what they thought was best for the children. There was no way he would have accepted Anna and Noah’s demands that he handed the kids over t