### The Courtroom – Day One
The courthouse was a grand, imposing building that smelled of floor wax and stale anxiety. I walked in wearing a tailored navy suit, my hair pulled back, radiating a calm I didn’t entirely feel. Maria walked beside me, her briefcase swinging like a weapon.
Inside Courtroom 4B, Judge Henderson presided. He was an older man, known for his no-nonsense approach and utter disdain for perjury.
Diego was already seated at the plaintiff’s table. He looked different. The arrogant, slicked-back corporate climber was gone. He wore a suit that was slightly too large, his face gaunt, his eyes darting around the room with a manic energy. Beside him sat Arthur Vance, a man who looked like he sweated hair gel.
And sitting in the gallery, right behind Diego, was the last person I expected to see.
Paola.
She looked a shadow of her former glamorous self. Her designer clothes had been replaced by a modest, off-the-rack dress. She wasn’t pregnant anymore—whether by choice or by nature, I didn’t know—but the hatred in her eyes when she looked at me was palpable.
Why was she here? Why was the mistress who had cursed him out at the clinic sitting behind him like a supportive spouse?
“They’ve made a deal,” Maria whispered to me, noticing my gaze. “Mutual destruction makes strange bedfellows. Keep your eyes forward.”
The trial began. Vance stood up and delivered an opening statement that painted me as a manipulative, hysterical gold-digger. He claimed I had faked the timeline of my pregnancy, forged medical documents, and driven Diego to a mental breakdown, resulting in the loss of his career.
When it was Maria’s turn, she didn’t pace. She stood perfectly still at her podium.
“Your Honor,” Maria said, her voice ringing clear. “The plaintiff has presented you with a fantasy. Over the next two days, the defense will not only prove that every single allegation is a fabrication, but we will demonstrate a level of malice, fraud, and conspiracy on the part of Mr. Diego Reyes that borders on criminal.”
Judge Henderson raised an eyebrow. “Strong words, Counselor. You better be prepared to back them up.”
“I have the receipts, Your Honor,” Maria replied softly.
Diego’s first witness was his mother, Elena.
She took the stand trembling, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Under Vance’s gentle questioning, she spun a heartbreaking tale. She claimed I was prone to violent outbursts. She claimed she had visited the house and found Sofia crying in a soiled crib while I was supposedly “passed out from pills.”
It was a total, absolute lie. I gripped the edge of the table, biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper.
“Your witness,” Vance said smugly, sitting down.
Maria stood up. She didn’t carry any notes.
“Mrs. Reyes,” Maria began, walking toward the witness stand. “You claim you visited my client’s home on the afternoon of October 14th and found her incapacitated, is that correct?”
“Yes,” Elena sniffled. “It was horrible.”
“And you remember this date clearly?”
“Very clearly. I was so worried for my granddaughter.”
Maria turned to the judge. “Your Honor, I would like to submit Defense Exhibit D into evidence. It is a timestamped security log from the gated community where my client resides, alongside geo-location data from Mrs. Reyes’s own cellular provider.”
Vance jumped up. “Objection! We haven’t had time to review this data!”
“It was submitted in discovery three weeks ago, Mr. Vance,” Maria snapped. “Perhaps if you read your files instead of writing fiction, you’d be prepared.”
Judge Henderson sighed. “Overruled. Proceed, Ms. Vargas.”
“Mrs. Reyes,” Maria said, handing the document to the bailiff. “According to the security logs, your vehicle has not entered my client’s neighborhood since the day you came to collect your son’s clothing over a year ago. Furthermore, cellular tower data places your phone at a casino in a neighboring state on the exact afternoon you claim you were saving your granddaughter.”
Elena’s face drained of color. She looked at Diego, panicked. “I… I might have the date wrong.”
“You have the entire universe wrong, Mrs. Reyes,” Maria said coldly. “Are you aware that committing perjury in a family court proceeding to unlawfully remove a child from her mother carries a potential jail sentence?”
Elena burst into tears. “Diego told me to say it! He said if I didn’t help him, he’d never let me see the baby!”
The courtroom erupted into whispers. The judge banged his gavel.
“Order!” Judge Henderson barked, glaring at Diego. “Mrs. Reyes, step down. Mr. Vance, if you suborn one more perjured testimony in my courtroom, I will have your license suspended by Friday.”
Diego looked like he was going to vomit. But the trial wasn’t over.
Because Vance, desperate to salvage his case, called his next witness.
“The plaintiff calls Paola Blackwood to the stand.”
