Chapter 1 - The Mother Standing Outside
Marcus raised his hand inches from Claire’s face, forcing her backward until she struck the cream sofa and slid onto the oak floor.
“Marcus, stay away from me!”
She protected her pregnant belly and reached toward the black phone near the coffee table.
“I’m calling my mother.”
Marcus covered the phone with his palm and pushed it away.
“You are not telling anyone. Your mother may command a courtroom, but inside this house, you answer to me.”
The doorbell rang.
Claire looked toward the walnut doors as three hard knocks followed.
Marcus leaned down.
“You stay right there, or I will make sure every judge in Colorado hears what an unstable burden you have become.”
While he turned, Claire pulled herself upright and rushed around the coffee table.
“Mom!”
She opened the door.
Judge Eleanor Reed stood outside in a charcoal suit, saw Claire’s tears and immediately placed herself between her daughter and Marcus.
“Claire, step behind me.”
Marcus forced a smile.
“This is a private marital disagreement.”
Eleanor’s eyes hardened.
“A pregnant woman on the floor with her phone taken away is not a disagreement. It is evidence.”
Then she noticed a legal folder beneath Marcus’s belt.
He tried to hide it.
May you like
Eleanor pulled out the top page.
It was an emergency guardianship petition declaring Claire mentally incompetent—and it already described an incident that had happened only seconds earlier.
