Carter turned sharply in his chair, his face pale, his eyes fixed on me.

“Evelyn,” he said, his voice low and urgent.

He took a step toward the wooden gate, but the bailiff moved slightly, placing himself between us.

“Evelyn, let’s talk about this,” Carter said, his hands raised in a gesture of appeal.

“We can settle this outside of the court.”

“Think about June.”

“She needs her father.”

I looked at him, noting the small crease between his eyebrows, the slight tremor in his hand.

He looked like the man I had married, yet he looked entirely different.

“June is safe, Carter,” I said, my voice quiet.

“She is with my sister.”

“And she will never have to wonder where her mother’s inheritance went.”

Vivian stood up, her movements stiff but deliberate.

She smoothed the front of her gray wool suit.

“This is a circus, Evelyn,” Vivian said, her voice carrying across the quiet courtroom.

“You are destroying the family name for nothing.”

“The Hartwell name has stood in Newport for three generations.”

“You are a guest in our world.”