“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.

“Why didn’t I go to the police station?” I said.

“Because your husband got out of his car, came to the driver’s side window and showed you a video on his phone.” Laura said softly.

My chest tightened.

“What video?”

“A video of his mother standing in your daughter’s room while Maya was asleep,” Laura replied, her eyes watering.

Dad let out a sharp, angry puff of air, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

The terrible memory came rushing back in every detail.