That I’d just been formally erased from my own family?

That the termination letter in my inbox was only the beginning?

That every fear I’d ever carried about being worthless had just been confirmed in front of everyone who mattered?

The applause finally died down. Josephine hugged our father.

Then the silver-haired man appeared beside my chair.

Up close, I could see he was older than I’d first thought. Early sixties, maybe, with deep-set eyes and the careful posture of a man who’d spent his life in courtrooms.