We are family.”

I looked at Ingrid, and then back at the woman who had put those marks on her.

“Family doesn’t leave bruises on the woman I love.”

They took Torsten first, shouting about lawsuits.

Then my mother, who tried to command the room right up until the court officer began to read the charges aloud, and then went silent, her pearls slipping sideways against her throat.

At the door Torsten looked back, wild-eyed.