“Come get your worthless daughter and take her back,” my mother-in-law shouted my father as I lay broken at the bottom of the stairs after my husband shoved me down. “Your family will answer for it if she has even a scratch,” was the sole warning Dad offered her. They had no notion who my father really was, so they made fun of him.

PART ONE

My husband shoved me down the steps and as I lay broken at the bottom my mother-in-law called my father and said ‘Come take your worthless daughter back’.

Dad replied with a sharp warning ‘If she has even one scratch on her, your family will answer for every bit of it’.

They laughed right at him because they had no idea who my father really was.

Two hours later I was in a hospital triage bay, cracked ribs, dark bruises spreading across my skin, one terrifying thought consuming my mind.

Daughter.

My husband’s family had lots of money, political connections and a well-rehearsed story for the police.

I had nothing but my wounds.

My mother-in-law said I had simply missed my step on the top stair and fell down on my own.

She even managed to cry some fake tears while telling that story to the investigating officers.

Then I found out they were already trying to use what happened to me to steal full custody of my little girl.

At that moment, the hospital bed curtain suddenly flew open.

I expected to see a doctor or a nurse come into my room.

Instead a silver-haired man in a dark charcoal three-piece suit carried in an old leather briefcase.

“You’re Mrs.

Callahan?”“ he said beside my bed.

“Yes I am,” I whispered, looking at him confusedly.

“Gabriel Fletcher,” he introduced himself smoothly.