When Harrison leaned over and told me I would regret this, the judge leaned forward with a look of cold fury. “Mr. Prescott, you just threatened a witness in my presence after I have seen evidence of your abuse,” he said.
Harrison tried to claim that I was his wife and that he had rights, but the judge corrected him immediately. “She is a citizen under the protection of this court, and you are currently a liability,” the judge replied.
I looked at my manila folder and realized it was no longer a symbol of my failure or my shame. It was the physical proof that I had survived his shadow long enough to finally see the light.
Vivian was escorted out of the room by a deputy, and she didn’t even look back at the man she had tried so hard to steal. Harrison remained in his seat, looking like a man who had just realized the world no longer belonged to him.
When the session was finally adjourned, Simon helped me stand up and asked if I needed to see a doctor right away. I hesitated for a moment but then looked down at my stomach and realized that my health mattered more than my pride.
“Yes, I would like to be checked out,” I said. In the hallway, the courthouse looked exactly the same as it had when I arrived, but I felt like a completely different person.
Megan arrived a short time later and hugged me so hard that I finally let out the tears I had been holding back all day. At the hospital, the staff was kind and the room was quiet while they monitored the baby’s heart rate for a few hours.
I turned my phone off because I didn’t want to see the dozens of messages from Harrison’s family or his business associates. For the first time in a very long time, I did not owe a single person an explanation for my existence.
