My son and daughter-in-law laughed when I walked into the courtroom. “Ha-ha, now we’re going to leave her with nothing,” Daniel whispered, certain the bruises they had put on my body would convince the judge I was confused, unstable, and hurting myself, but they had forgotten one important thing about me.

affairs.

Judge Mercer read that sentence twice.

Daniel shifted in his seat.

 

Vanessa whispered, “That doesn’t prove she isn’t hurting herself.”

I turned my head toward her.

She immediately looked away.

Judge Mercer heard her.

“So let’s discuss the injuries.”

I opened another folder.

“The photograph Daniel submitted of my swollen wrist was taken on March eighteenth.”

Curtis checked his papers.

“Yes.”

“At 6:42 p.m.”

He frowned.

“I don’t know the exact—”

“I do.”

I handed another sheet to the clerk.

“The original image file was copied from Daniel’s cloud account pursuant to a preservation request filed after this petition was served.”

Daniel shot upright.

“What?”

Curtis turned sharply.

“You accessed his account?”

“No.”

I looked at Judge Mercer.

“My investigator obtained material Daniel voluntarily synchronized to a family storage account that he had authorized me to administer six years ago and never removed.”

Daniel stared at