Chapter 8 - The Stripping of the Name
The aftermath was absolute.
Arthur Ellis Sr. was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison. Margaret Ellis received seven years without parole for felony assault on a judicial officer and extortion. Natalie Ellis was cited for criminal contempt and lost her license to practice law for her involvement in the falsified court orders.
And then there was Andrew.
He stood before the family court judge a week later for our final divorce and custody hearing. Broken, broke, and facing a six-month sentence for his low-level involvement in his father’s money laundering scheme, he looked like a shell of the man I had married.
“Your Honor,” Andrew’s court-appointed attorney pleaded, “my client requests supervised visitation rights with his infant children once his sentence is served.”
I stood up at the petitioner’s table beside my lawyer.
“Your Honor,” I addressed the judge. “Andrew Ellis actively assisted in an attempt to separate twin infants from their mother hours after birth. He showed total disregard for their health, safety, and well-being in order to appease his family’s illegal demands. He has contributed nothing financially, emotionally, or morally to their lives.”
I handed a folder to the bailiff.
“I am requesting full legal and physical custody, a permanent restraining order, and the complete termination of his parental rights. Furthermore, I am legally changing my children’s surnames to Monroe.”
Andrew buried his face in his hands, weeping openly. “Katherine… please… they are my blood!”
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“You traded your blood the night you stood in that hospital corridor and let your family treat our children like property,” I said, looking down at him with neither hatred nor affection—only complete indifference. “You are a stranger to them now.”
The judge signed the decree without hesitation.
