I Was Literally Dragged From My Barista Job To Witness My Secret Child’s Birth. The Mother Targeted Me While I Was Blackout Drunk Because Her Boyfriend Is Infertile. How Is This Legal?

looking up from his clipboard

“What happened to you isn’t legal The assault the false imprisonment none of it.”

We left the ER with paperwork documenting my injuries and drove straight to the police station.

It was almost 8 at night by then and I was exhausted but my mom insisted we do it right away.

The officer at the desk looked bored until I started explaining what happened.

Then he looked skeptical.

He kept interrupting to ask questions.

“Why didn’t you just leave the hospital?”

He asked for the third time.

I tried to explain how trapped I felt with Lana’s whole family surrounding me in an unfamiliar building.

How her dad was blocking the door and her mom had my arm.

How Paul had punched me and I was scared of getting hit again.

The officer wrote it all down but I could tell he didn’t really get it.

He probably thought I should have just pushed past them or called security or something.

He took my statement and the ER paperwork and said someone would follow up.

I didn’t believe him but at least it was on record now.

My mom wouldn’t let me go back to my apartment.

“What if they show up there?”

she said

and I realized she was right.

Lana’s family knew where I worked so they probably knew where I lived too.

We drove to her place and she set me up on the couch with blankets and pillows.

I lay there in the dark after she went to bed but I couldn’t sleep.

My brain kept trying to remember that party 6 months ago.

I remembered going with some guys from the gym.

I remembered the house was big with a pool in the back.

I remembered doing shots in the kitchen then nothing just blank empty space where memories should be.

I tried so hard to picture Lana’s face before today.

Tried to remember talking to her or dancing or anything.

But there was nothing there just black.

I must have passed out or blacked out and someone got me home somehow.

I never knew anything happened with anyone.

Never knew there was a Lana and now there was a baby.

My brain couldn’t make it make sense.

I called work the next morning before my shift was supposed to start.

Eddie answered on the second ring.

“Hey man are you okay?”

he asked

before I could say anything.

“I saw that woman drag you out yesterday What the hell was that about?”

I explained the whole thing.

The hospital the baby Lana admitting she did it on purpose Paul punching me running away.

Eddie was quiet for a minute after I finished.

“That’s insane,”

he finally said.

“Like actually insane You were literally kidnapped from work.”

“I know,”

I said

“I filed a police report and everything.”

“Good,”

Eddie said

“I’ll back you up I saw the whole thing She came around the counter and grabbed you and you were trying to get away I’ll give a witness statement if you need one and don’t worry about work Take whatever time you need.”

I thanked him and hung up feeling slightly less alone.

I spent the rest of the morning on my mom’s couch with my laptop researching family law attorneys in the area.

Every website I clicked on made me feel more hopeless.

Consultation fees were $200 $300.

Some didn’t even list prices which meant they were definitely too expensive.

The retainer fees were even worse $3,000 $5,000.

One place wanted $10,000 upfront.

I made barely above minimum wage as a barista.

I had maybe $800 in my savings account.

Most of these lawyers cost more for one meeting than I made in a week.

I kept searching anyway writing down names and numbers trying to find someone I could maybe afford.

My mom came in and sat next to me.

“How bad is it?”

she asked

looking at the screen.

I showed her the numbers.

She was quiet for a minute.

“I have some money saved up,”

she said

“For a new car but this is more important.”

I didn’t want to take her money but I also knew I couldn’t fight this alone.

I nodded and she picked up her phone right there pulling up a list of family law attorneys she’d already researched.

She started calling them one by one asking about consultations and availability.

The first two couldn’t see me for over a week but the third had an opening tomorrow morning.

She booked it and then called two more places setting up meetings for the day after.

I sat there watching her take charge of this mess feeling like a kid again instead of a grown man with a job and his own apartment.

That night I barely slept running through what I’d say to these lawyers over and over in my head.

The next morning my mom drove me to the first consultation in a glass office building downtown.

The waiting room had leather chairs and a water feature that made annoying trickling sounds.

A secretary led us back to meet the attorney an older guy in an expensive suit who looked bored before I even started talking.

I explained everything from the beginning while he checked his phone twice.

When I got to the part about being blackout drunk and not remembering anything he held up his hand.

He told me I should just work out a payment plan with Lana because fighting this would cost more than child support.

I mentioned that she admitted to doing this on purpose and he shrugged saying that didn’t matter once a baby existed.

My mom asked about reproductive coercion and he actually laughed saying that wasn’t a real legal concept for men.

We left after 15 minutes and I felt sick like maybe everyone would see it that way.

The second consultation the next day was in a smaller office across town.

This attorney was a woman around 40 who at least listened to the whole story without interrupting.

She took notes and asked good questions about the timeline and what Lana had said at the hospital.

When I finished she leaned back and admitted she didn’t have much experience with cases like mine.

She’d mostly handled divorces and custody disputes between married couples.

She said I needed someone who specialized in reproductive rights and men’s issues.

Then wrote down a name on her business card.

“Quentyn Fowler two towns over.”

She said he’d argued cases about reproductive fraud before and would understand what I was dealing with.

My mom called his office from the parking lot and got an appointment for that afternoon.

We drove 40 minutes to a residential area where his office turned out to be a converted house with a small sign out front.

Inside looked nothing like the fancy places we’d been.