Chapter 6
Two weeks before the trial, Sophia’s lawyer called.
She wanted to meet.
Alone.
“Absolutely not,” Ethan said. “She’s dangerous.”
“I’ll go with Ryan,” I said. “In a public place. Cops nearby. She has nothing to gain by hurting me now. Daniel’s done. She knows it. She just wants to save herself.”
Ethan hesitated, then nodded.
We met at a small café downtown, a police officer sitting at the next table.
Sophia was already there, dressed in a plain sweater and jeans, no makeup.
She looked ten years older than she had a month before.
“Thank you for coming,” she said, when we sat down.
Ryan sat beside me, his body language tight, ready to move if she tried anything.
“What do you want?” I said.
She took a deep breath.
“I made a deal with the DA,” she said. “Full immunity on the assault charges, in exchange for my testimony against Daniel. I have to plead guilty to perjury and conspiracy. Five years probation. A thousand hours of community service. And I have to pay you two million dollars in restitution.”
I nodded.
I’d known the deal was in the works.
“I’m not here to ask you to like it,” she said. “I’m here to tell you the rest. The stuff I didn’t tell the DA yet. The stuff that will make sure Daniel never gets out.”
She slid a small USB drive across the table.
“What’s on it?” Ryan said.
“Recordings,” she said. “Daniel didn’t know I was taping him. For the last year. He talks about the fraud. About how he was going to fake a paternity test to say the baby wasn’t his, so he wouldn’t have to pay child support. He talks about… about hiring someone to make you disappear if the baby didn’t die that day.”
My blood ran cold.
I’d known Daniel was evil.
I hadn’t known he was that evil.
“Why are you giving this to us?” I said.
She looked down at her hands.
“I was stupid,” she said. “I was twenty-two when I started working for him. He told me he loved me. That he’d leave you. That we’d have a life together. I believed him. And then I watched him stand there while I kicked you. I saw the look on his face. He didn’t care about me. He didn’t care about the baby. He only cared about himself. I don’t want to be that person anymore. I want to do one good thing before I have to live with the rest of this forever.”
She stood up to leave.
“Sophia,” I said.
She stopped.
“Thank you,” I said.
She nodded, then walked out.
Ryan picked up the USB drive, turning it over in his hand.
“This changes everything,” he said.
That night, we listened to the recordings.
Daniel’s voice, cold and calm, talking about how easy it would be to make me “vanish in a boating accident.”
Laughing about how he’d fooled everyone.
Bragging about the millions he’d stolen.
I sat there, holding my belly, as Ethan held me.
I didn’t cry.
I didn’t shake.
I just felt a cold, hard resolve settle in my chest.
This was it.
This was the proof we needed.
Daniel wasn’t just going to prison for assault.
He was going away for conspiracy to commit murder.
For fraud.
For every terrible thing he’d ever done.
The next day, Ryan turned the USB drive over to the DA.
The charges against Daniel were upgraded.
No bail.
No deal.
He was going to trial for his life.
That night, I felt the baby kick.
Hard.
Like he knew.
Like he was ready to fight too.
May you like
I put my hand on my belly, smiling through my tears.
“We’ve got him, baby,” I whispered. “We’ve got him.”
