My baby’s birthday party fell apart when my sister-in-law sla:mmed a k:n:i:f:e into the cake and yelled, “Forty-seven times—you took what was mine!” My husband told me to leave, thinking it would bre:ak me. But I already had the proof to expose them all.

“Out of my own house?”

Carmen stepped forward.

“This house belonged to my son before you trapped him.”

I looked at Daniel. He said nothing. That silence hurt more than anything Marisol had said. Then he finally spoke.

“Maybe tonight you should stay somewhere else. Let things calm down.”

“With our daughter?”

His jaw tightened.

“Isla stays here. She needs stability.”

For one second, the whole room seemed to tilt. Then I smiled—not because I was weak, but because Daniel had just said those words in front of fifteen witnesses, under three security cameras he had forgotten I installed after his cousin once “borrowed” my jewelry. I kissed Isla’s damp curls.

“No,” I said quietly. “She comes with me.”