My mother-in-law dragged me to court, accusing me of pretending to be pregnant to snatch the inheritance. Then, right there in the courtroom, she lunged forward and kicked my stomach. “See? It’s all fake!” Gasps erupted. What she didn’t realize… the man behind the judge’s bench was my father. And in that instant, her case didn’t just fall apart. Her life did haj.

I sat stoically, my back straight, my eyes fixed on the empty chair beside me where Marcus should have been. My silence only seemed to drive Agatha into a frenzy.

“She has no family! No records!” Agatha shouted, turning toward me. “She’s a nameless ghost who haunted my son’s life!”

When it was my turn to speak, I stood slowly. The room fell silent. “I loved Marcus,” I said, my voice carrying to the back of the room. “And this child is a Sterling. I don’t need to prove that to a woman who values ledgers over lives.”

“You lying bitch!” Agatha’s composure shattered. Before the bailiff could move, she lunged from the witness stand. The sheer speed of her malice caught everyone off guard. She didn’t reach for my throat. She aimed lower.

With a scream of rage, Agatha swung her heavy, pointed designer boot and kicked me square in my pregnant abdomen.