“Your father-in-law was not punishing Maya because of disrespect.”

My blood went cold.

“Then why?”

He opened the folder.

Inside were photographs, bank transfers, printed messages, and one legal document with my daughter’s name on it.

The document did not look dramatic.

It was printed on expensive white paper, with the measured language of attorneys and a blank space for a judge’s signature.

That was what unsettled me most.