“Unjustly separated?!” He yelled, turning to face the bailiff. “How is a mother who abandoned her child in the dead of the night now claiming to have been unjustly separated from her?!” He spat, turning a cold glare to Juliet.

Two years! Why now? What did she stand to gain by showing up now? And to think she was claiming to have been unjustly separated from Elizabeth!

“You can't do this!” He yelled, his voice sounding desperate in his own ears.

“Where's my daughter, Ethan?” Juliet stared at him, as if uninterested in what he had to say.

He opened his mouth to address her —to tell her she could burn in Hades for he cared, but she wasn't taking Elizabeth with her. But before he could say another word, he heard his name:

“Ethan?”

At the sound of his name from the doorway, his breath ceased and his heart dropped. Turning slowly to face the voice that beckoned him, his gaze immediately came to rest on Gretchen who stood there dressed in the most amazing wedding dress he had ever seen. She was so lovely, the very sight of her took his breath away.

Tears filled his eyes —it was supposed to be their wedding day; it was supposed to be the best day of both their lives. But he knew that everybody had gotten dressed for a wedding that was most likely never going to happen.

Gretchen's eyes traveled slowly from the unsolicited visitors to the shattered mirror behind Ethan, to Ethan himself.

Something in Gretchen's arms moved, drawing his attention; Elizabeth.

“Juliet...” He breathed, turning desperate eyes to the woman who was about to ruin his life for the second time in two years. Taking Elizabeth would destroy Gretchen but something in Ethan knew, as he stared at Juliet, that Juliet's sole purpose was to do exactly that; destroy Gretchen.

With a sly twinkle in her eyes, Juliet moved from the right hand side of the bailiff who had come to implement the Judge's judgment, to Gretchen.

Gretchen's arms seemed to tighten around Elizabeth whose head rested comfortably on her shoulder. While he was almost certain Gretchen hadn't heard the conversation earlier, he knew something in her told her that Elizabeth was about to be taken away.

He watched helplessly as Juliet reached forward and tried to retrieve Elizabeth from Gretchen.

Shaking her head furiously, Gretchen stepped back, her face paling.

“Miss, you are advised to hand the child over to her mother.” The bailiff said sternly.

She shook her head again, her eyelids bulging as she held Elizabeth tightly against her chest.

“Right now!” The bailiff barked and Ethan fought the urge to knock him out cold.

Juliet reached for Elizabeth again but Gretchen took another step back, tears now falling from her eyes as she shook her head. Her lips were moving, and while Ethan couldn't hear a word she was saying, he read her lips and could make out the words 'I can't' as she took another step back.