“Ready to press charges for the assault?”

“I’m ready to expose everything they’ve done.”

Part 2

My mother called the next morning — not to ask whether Kayla was alive, but to demand my banking password.

“You embarrassed this whole family in front of sixty guests,” she hissed. “Beth’s vendors still need to be paid today.”

“You punched a pregnant woman into a pool,” I reminded her, my voice steady.

“You’re being absurdly dramatic about a little tap.”