The Demand

Family court in Santa Clara County had beige walls and the smell of industrial carpet cleaner. June Chen-Lund sat beside Priya Sharma at the petitioner's table, her spine straight against the wooden chair, her hands folded in her lap. The judge was a woman in her sixties with short gray hair and a manner that suggested she had seen every version of this particular tragedy before.

Erik sat at the respondent's table with his attorney, a square-jawed man in an expensive suit who had already objected three times before the hearing officially began. Erik's mother, Ingrid Lund, occupied the front row of the gallery, her posture rigid, her mouth pressed into a thin line. She had flown in from Minneapolis the night before. June knew this because Erik had texted her about it at 11:47 p.m., followed by three more messages about how June was "spiraling" and needed to "think about what this does to Mom."