That afternoon I met with attorney Priya Desai, who had experience in family cases involving financial control.

Priya did not promise me custody or a quick divorce.

She explained what documents the court would need and what temporary orders might protect us while the criminal proceedings continued.

“Your daughter’s safety is the immediate issue,” she said.

“The legal system has several processes that happen on different schedules.

We’ll keep them organized.”

I appreciated the absence of grand declarations.

Since the airport, people had told me repeatedly that Mark would lose everything, that the insurance company would expose him, that a jury would never forgive him.