Vanessa let out a sharp laugh. “Fair?” She looked me up and down. “You trapped him with that pregnancy. You should be thanking him he hasn’t cut you off completely.”
“Don’t talk about my child like that,” I said.
Her eyes went cold. Before I could react, she stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face. The sound cracked through the courtroom. My head snapped sideways. I tasted blood.
For a heartbeat, everything froze.
Then the whispers started.
Adrian didn’t stop her. He didn’t look shocked. He looked faintly amused.
“Maybe now you’ll listen,” he murmured.
My hand instinctively moved to my stomach as tears blurred my vision. I looked around for someone—anyone—with authority. The bailiff was by the doors. My attorney was absent. The judge hadn’t entered yet.
“Cry louder,” Vanessa sneered. “Maybe the judge will pity you.”
That was when I lifted my eyes toward the bench, ready—finally—to say what I had swallowed for years. Ready to admit the man I married was dangerous.
And the judge stared back at me like the air had been knocked from his lungs.
Judge Daniel Harper.