“I just… I just want to make sure everything is in order,” I said, my voice wavering slightly as I looked at Mr. Thompson. He nodded sympathetically, but there was a glint in his eyes that suggested he wasn’t entirely convinced by Paula’s earnestness.

The papers were drawn up, and I “reluctantly” signed them, all the while knowing I had already moved my assets to an unreachable trust my husband and I had set up years ago, anticipating just such a betrayal. What they didn’t know was that the money they were so eager to control was now safely out of their reach.

The day the police knocked on the door, looking for me, was the day my family’s world turned upside down. I had left for a “vacation” they didn’t know about, with a few friends I had rekindled relationships with over the past months. The police were armed with evidence—my evidence—of their plans, their cruelty, and their intentions.