Chapter 3
The next three days blurred into a haze of painkillers, ultrasounds, and quiet footsteps.
The baby was fine.
Every time the tech put the wand to my belly, his strong heartbeat thumped through the speakers, a steady drum of hope.
My brothers never left.
Ethan slept in the chair beside my bed, waking at every small sound I made.
Ryan spent his days in the small sitting room attached to my suite, building the case against Daniel.
Alexander split his time between the estate and the hospital, making sure no one got close who wasn’t supposed to.
On the fourth day, the police came.
They wanted my statement.
I sat up in bed, the hospital gown tied tight around me, and told them everything.
The laughter.
Sophia in my robe.
The kicks.
Daniel standing there, watching.
The detective taking my statement had a daughter the same age I’d been when I left home.
Her hand shook as she wrote.
“I’m so sorry,” she said when I finished. “No one should ever have to go through that.”
That afternoon, Daniel’s lawyers showed up.
They wanted to see me.
“Let them in,” I said.
Ethan started to object.
I put my hand on his arm.
“I’m okay,” I said. “I need to do this.”
Two men in expensive suits came in, their faces slick with fake sympathy.
“Mrs. Hale,” the lead one said. “Our client is deeply sorry for the misunderstanding. He’s willing to settle. Ten million dollars. No divorce drama. You just sign a statement saying it was all a mistake, that you fell, and—”
I cut him off.
“Get out.”
The lawyer blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“Ten million dollars?” I said. “You think that’s enough? You think money can fix what he did? He stood there and watched that woman kick my son. He laughed while I called for help. You tell him I’m not settling for anything less than every single day he spends in prison.”
The lawyer’s face hardened.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said. “Our client has resources. He can make this very hard for you.”
From the corner of the room, Ryan laughed.
It was a cold, sharp sound.
“Your client has nothing,” Ryan said, standing up. “We froze every account he has. Every asset. Every stock. His board fired him this morning. His investors are suing him for fraud. He doesn’t have two pennies to rub together, let alone the money to fight us. Now get out of my sister’s room before I have you thrown off the property.”
The lawyers left fast.
I leaned back against the pillows, my hands shaking.
Ethan handed me a glass of water.
“You did good,” he said.
That evening, Sophia was brought in.
Handcuffed, flanked by two police officers.
Her hair was a mess, her expensive dress wrinkled.
She looked nothing like the confident woman who’d kicked me.
“Liv,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’m so sorry. Daniel made me do it. He said if I didn’t get rid of the baby, he’d fire me, he’d ruin my life. Please, tell them I didn’t mean it.”
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
She was young.
Stupid.
Greedy.
But she’d known exactly what she was doing.
“You knew I was seven months pregnant,” I said. “You whispered in my ear that we didn’t need the baby. You kicked me twice. Hard. You meant every second of it.”
Tears ran down her face.
“I’ll testify against him,” she said. “I’ll tell them everything. All the fraud, all the lies, everything he planned. Just please, don’t let them send me to prison.”
I thought about it.
Daniel was the monster.
Sophia was just the weapon he’d used.
But a weapon still hurt.
“Testify,” I said. “Tell the whole truth. And I’ll ask the DA for leniency. But you will pay for what you did. One way or another.”
She nodded, sobbing, as the officers led her away.
That night, I held the ultrasound photo to my chest.
May you like
The tide was turning.
And for the first time, I wasn’t scared of what came next.
