I’d always known they despised me. I’d suspected the inheritance scheme they were building to lock me out of my child’s future. But hearing my own mother-in-law casually wish for the death of my unborn baby — treating a human life as a business obstacle to be cleared — turned the pain in my stomach into something ancient and merciless.

Daniel, still pinned, twisted his neck to stare at his mother in horror. “Mom? You said that?”

Elaine’s lips trembled. Tears ruined her mascara. “I was only trying to protect our family, Danny.”

A few feet away, Celeste took two slow, calculated steps back, distancing herself from the man she’d been clinging to.

Daniel noticed. “Celeste? Where are you going? Tell them I didn’t know!”

She raised her hands in surrender, her eyes darting between the agents. “I didn’t know anything about any of this. I’m just an employee.”