Blood is Not Everything

{Chapter 4}

3rd Person POV

*2 MONTHS LATER*

It was finally time for the custody battle between Carolina and Louis to make its way to court. Camera men are in the courtroom as well. Before either side could start making their case the judge had something to say first, “Before we start this case I want to make some things clear to everyone in attendance. There will be no cussing or yelling in my courtroom between the two parties and everything needing to be said to me will go through your lawyers unless I specifically ask for your input. Are we clear on the ground rules of my courtroom?” Everyone from both sides nodded in agreement.

“Good. Now let's go over what both sides are here to request. Mr. Louis Tomlinson you are here trying to get sole custody of Davi Lucca Tomlinson. Is that correct?” The judge asked, looking towards Louis’ table. “Yes, your honor.” Louis’ lawyer answered. “Mrs. Carolina de Silva Santos, you're looking to not only keep sole custody of Davi Lucca Tomlinson but to also terminate Mr. Tomlinson’s parental rights to the boy. Is that true?” The judge questioned. “Yes, your honor. That is correct.” Carolina’s lawyer answered. “Now that’s settled. We will start with opening statements starting with the plaintiff.” The judge said, looking over to Louis’ table.

“Mrs. Silva Santos has been purposefully keeping my client’s son from him by constantly threatening him with going to court to get an outrageous amount of child support, on top of what he already paid, and if Mr. Tomlinson doesn’t give her large amounts of money multiple times a month then she keeps his son from him. My client has been trying to play nice with the mother of his child for years but now after 2 years of not seeing his son he has decided to bring his fight to court. She has been able to keep Davi away for years at a time. So with Mr. Tomlinson getting sole custody she will not be able to take away the rest of his son’s childhood from him.” Louis’ lawyer claims before sitting down. The judge then motions for Carolina’s lawyer to give her opening statement.

“Mr. Tomlinson has never been engaged in Davi’s life from the beginning. Even though he was made aware of Davi’s due date a month before and the week before the date arrived, he decided to stay in England partying in a pub then leaving with two females instead of being in Brazil for his son’s birth, which we can prove by multiple dated media reports. Mr. Tomlinson has never supported Davi financially and my client has never asked him to either, which we can prove with bank statements and text messages. We can prove that Mr. Tomlinson had only asked to see Davi to take a picture for his social media for many of Davi’s younger years. We can prove that Mr. Tomlinson had asked for specific times to have Davi when he was 7 and that my client agreed to his terms but he constantly canceled or pushed Davi off onto his family, most of the time within a day of starting his requested parenting time. The reason his requested parenting time was stopped when Davi was 9 was because of Davi himself not just asking but crying and saying he did not want to go, admitting that Louis was never around and that Louis has a short temper at times and still didn’t do anything with him. Davi has Carolina, a great mother, and Neymar, a great father, in his life as well as plenty of friends, plays 2 sports, and is one of the top students in his entire school. Why should his life be turned upside down and be forced to live with someone he doesn’t want to even visit just because of a video on the internet of Davi calling his stepdad ‘dad’? Davi deserves to be with the people that actually love him and that he loves too.” Carolina’s lawyer finished and sat down.

After a minute the judge finally spoke, “You have proof of everything you just claimed?” he asked Carolina’s lawyer. “Yes, your honor. We have proof of everything including pictures, text messages, bank statements, plane tickets, and media reports.” Carolina’s lawyer states. “Please hand them over.” the judge requested. Carolina’s lawyer did as asked and took the folder of information up to the judge before returning to her seat. “Do you have any proof of your claims?” the judge asked, looking over at Louis and his lawyer. “Sadly, Mr. Tomlinson’s phone with the proof that you need broke yesterday.” Louis’ lawyer said. “So, 24 hours before court and you still did not have your evidence ready even though it was your client who filed for this to come to court over 2 months ago?” the judge asked, not at all pleased with the unprofessionalism. Louis’ lawyer didn’t know what to say, deciding the best thing to do was stay quiet.