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.

Gabriel waited beyond the curtain.

My phone was almost dead, but before handing it over for charging I found a message from Martin.

You know how clumsy you get.

Don’t make this worse.

If you cooperate, Mom says you’ll see Lily soon.

I stared at the words until they stopped looking like language.

He had almost killed me, and he was negotiating access to our child as if she were a piece of furniture.

I showed the nurse.