I made my own list the next morning.
Not because Damian asked for one. Because if he got to hand me a stapled packet of demands dressed up as protection, I got to hand him one right back. Fair was fair.
I sat at the kitchen island with a legal pad I'd stolen from his study, coffee decaf and sad beside me, and wrote at the top in block letters: BRIELLE'S TERMS.
Underneath it, I wrote:
1. No more surprise terms. Anything that affects my child gets discussed BEFORE it's printed on nice paper.
2. I keep my last name on everything until I decide otherwise. Not the trust. Me.
3. If your mother wants to threaten my child's future in a legal document again, she does it to my face.
4. Rule Two stays in place. (I don't actually believe that one anymore, but it's staying on the list out of pri
