My husband pushed me down the stairs, and as I lay shattered at the bottom, my mother-in-law called my father and said, “Come get your worthless daughter and take her back.” Dad gave her only one warning: “If she has so much as a scratch, your family will answer for it.” They laughed at him because they had absolutely no idea who my father truly was.

“We’ll arrange for the detective to seek her account.

You don’t need to put her at risk.”

At noon, Martin sent another message.

The lawyers say you can end this peacefully.

Just sign the temporary custody agreement and we will stop talking about what happened.

The word peacefully made me laugh, then wince.

A family that called a fall down the stairs a misunderstanding had no business defining peace.

An hour later, a hospital administrator visited.