My mother wanted to disappear, but I wouldn’t let Garrick decide the shape of her life.

“You’re not running,” I told her. “You’re relocating safely while the court removes him.”

“What if the court is too slow?”

“Then we make sure the criminal case moves faster.”

The independent medical report documented three fractured ribs, a healing wrist injury, and a pattern of trauma nothing like everyday accidents. Her attorney secured an emergency protective order.

Garrick violated it within six hours, calling her twenty-three times from a rotation of prepaid burner phones.