I never told my mother-in-law I was a judge. To her, I was just a kept woman on unemployment. Hours after my C-section, she burst into my room with adoption papers, mocking me: “You don’t deserve a VIP room. Give one of the twins to my infertile daughter; you can’t handle two.” I hugged my babies and pressed the panic button. When the police arrived, she screamed that I was crazy. They proceeded to restrain me… until the chief recognized me…

He was out of breath, his tie askew, like a man who had run from the parking lot.

“Mom? Elena?” He stopped, taking in the scene. His mother was handcuffed. His wife was staring at him with eyes so cold they could freeze hell.

“Mark! Tell them!” Mrs. Sterling shouted, struggling against Mike. “Tell them to let me go! She’s lying! She’s crazy! She says she’s a judge!”

Mark looked at me. “Elena, honey… what’s going on? Why was Mom arrested? Did you two get into a fight?”

“She tried to take Leo away, Mark,” I said. “She said you agreed to give him to Karen. She slapped me.”

Mark paled. He looked down at his shoes. “I… I didn’t agree. I just… I didn’t say no. Mom was just… you know how she is. She thought it would help. I thought… maybe we could talk about it later.”

“Talking about giving our son away?” I asked. “Like he’s a puppy?”

“Karen is so sad, Elena,” Mark pleaded. “And Mom… she didn’t mean to hurt you. She’s just intense. Please. You’re the judge. You can make this go away. Just tell Mike it was a misunderstanding. Don’t ruin the family over this.”

“A misunderstanding?” I laughed, but there was no humor. “She slapped me, Mark. She nearly ripped out my IV lines. She terrorized our son. And you want me to abuse my power to save her?”

“She’s my mother!” Mark shouted. “Family comes first!”

“No,” I said. “My children come first. And the law comes first.”