Something inside of my spirit finally cracked under the weight of her insults. “Do not speak about my child or my intentions,” I said with a voice that shook but remained audible.
Tiffany’s smug smile vanished instantly as she stepped toward me with a speed that I could not have anticipated. The slap landed across my face with a sound so sharp that it seemed to stop time for everyone in the room.
My cheek burned with a stinging heat, and I felt the metallic taste of blood inside my mouth. I instinctively moved my hand to protect my stomach before I even realized what had actually happened.
For a long moment, the entire courtroom was paralyzed by a heavy and suffocating silence. Harrison did not move to intervene, and Tiffany did not look regretful as she smoothed her dress.
Even the bailiff stood frozen near the door with an expression of pure shock on his face. Harrison finally broke the silence with a quiet laugh and muttered that this was exactly the kind of instability he had been dealing with for years.
That was the moment I stopped feeling the familiar sting of embarrassment. I felt something much worse than shame because I realized I was becoming invisible in a room full of people.
A pregnant woman had just been assaulted in open court, and my own husband was trying to use it as evidence of my mental decline. I looked down at my shaking hands and noticed the folder was vibrating against the wooden surface of the table.
Then I realized that Judge Randall Thompson was staring directly at me instead of the lawyers. Until that exact second, he had been skimming the file as if it were just another routine case on a very crowded Friday docket.
He had probably seen dozens of marriages end and hundreds of signatures placed on documents that day. But now his entire expression changed, and his face went remarkably pale as he focused on the paperwork at the top of his bench.
The room seemed to shrink as the fluorescent lights overhead hummed with a low, irritating frequency. Someone in the gallery coughed, but the sound died away quickly when the judge’s hands tightened around a specific document.
“Bailiff, I want you to seal this courtroom immediately,” the judge said with a voice that was low but incredibly firm. Harrison’s arrogant smile disappeared instantly, and my heart began to race against my chest.