The judge scanned the documents, her eyes widening with every page. “Mr. Harrington… according to these ledgers, you are the sole owner of the company that holds all of her debt.”

“I am,” Caleb confirmed.

He finally turned to look his mother in the eye. The air seemed to drop ten degrees.

“I bought your debt to keep you out of federal prison, Mother,” Caleb said, without a trace of warmth. “I protected you because you were blood. But you couldn’t stand that I chose a life outside your control.

So you targeted my wife. You humiliated her, you tried to destroy her honorable career, and you forged my signature to erase our marriage.”

Celeste was trembling now, her eyes darting around the room as she grasped the size of the trap she’d walked into.