“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.

Did you think I was too frail for the truth?”I asked softly.

“I thought my life in the profession already put our family in too much danger,” Dad admitted.

When you were kids we got some real threats from some real bad people so your mum and I decided to keep my work completely out of our home.

“But you’re using your old career right now,” I pointed out.

“No,” Dad said, correcting me gently.

“I’m using my legal knowledge and fatherly duty to protect my daughter.