“Leave me,” Richard had said over the baby’s cries, “and I’ll end you.”
Julia had frozen on those shards of glass, taking him literally; counting subpoenas, motions, and affidavits on the kitchen table, she now understands.
You can’t afford more lawyers; the pedo is getting custody of your baby. Her tears stop.
Julia refuses to sleep, cross-referencing library textbooks day and night.
In court, Julia bewitches. She cites statutes like spells, objecting, arguing, and refuting Richard’s lawyers with quiet grace. Julia doesn’t just walk away with her baby; she walks away with knowledge she’ll use to defend other women.
