That’s when she understood the credit card wasn’t the real problem. They were setting her up to take far more from her life.

PART 3

The protective-measures hearing was held three days later in a family court near downtown Miami. Skylar arrived in a light silk scarf to cover part of the burn, the yellow folder pressed tightly to her chest, Megan walking beside her like a sister.

She hadn’t slept well. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the cup spinning through the air and heard Derek’s voice saying, “Let’s see if this teaches you a lesson.”

Derek arrived twenty minutes late in a sharp gray suit, accompanied by his mother, Mrs. Greer, and Suzanne. They swept into the courtroom as if they were the ones who’d been wronged.

Mrs. Greer looked Skylar up and down with a mix of deep reproach and contempt.

“Just look how far you’ve fallen, Skylar,” she murmured as she passed. “This is why marriages don’t last anymore. Women don’t know how to forgive a man.”