Chapter 9 - I BEGIN TO FIGHT BACK
I stood there in the dark office, the phone pressed to my ear, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm. Marcus thought he had all the power. He thought he could threaten me, threaten my daughter, and I would fold.
He was wrong.
“You killed Elena,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me. “And I have proof. That file is evidence. I’m going to take it to every authority there is. You and Vanessa are going to prison for the rest of your lives.”
Marcus laughed—a low, unpleasant sound.
“Go ahead. Take it. Who do you think they’ll believe? You—the grieving, unstable father everyone feels sorry for but no one trusts? Or me—the respected lawyer with a spotless record? I’ve already planted enough evidence to make it look like you forged those documents. Like you’re desperate and dangerous. Adrian… you have no idea how deep my influence runs.”
“Then I’ll find someone outside your influence,” I said.
“Good luck,” Marcus said. “And remember—touch that file… and Sophie pays the price.”
He hung up.
I stood there for a long moment, weighing my options. If I took the file straight to the police, Marcus could make good on his threat. If I did nothing… he would destroy me anyway. There was no winning by playing his game.
So I took the file. I photographed every single page with my phone. I made copies. I encrypted them and sent them to three different secure email addresses. Then I put the original back exactly where I found it.
If Marcus wanted to think I had backed down… let him think that. It would make him careless.
I left the office and drove straight to the safe house where Sophie was staying with a retired police officer I had found through Lila—someone Marcus wouldn’t know about. I walked in and found Sophie sitting on the floor, coloring pictures. She looked up when I entered, her face lighting up.
“Daddy!”
I knelt beside her and pulled her into a hug, breathing in the scent of her hair, holding her tight. She was all I had left. She was the reason I would not let Marcus win.
“I need you to be brave a little while longer, okay?” I told her quietly. “Someone is trying to hurt us. But I’m going to stop him. I promise.”
Sophie looked at me with her big, serious eyes.
“Is it the man on the phone? Vanessa’s friend?”
I paused. “Yes. It’s him.”
“He sounded mean,” Sophie said simply. “Like he likes to hurt people.”
“Yes,” I said. “He does. But we’re going to be smarter than him. We’re going to be brave. And we’re going to make sure he never hurts anyone ever again.”
I stood up and stepped into the next room where the retired officer, a man named Elias, was waiting.
“Elias,” I said. “I need you to keep her safe. No one comes near. No one knows she’s here. Not even the police I’ve been working with until I know they’re clean.”
Elias nodded, his expression grim.
“Consider it done. My door stays locked. My phone stays off. She’ll be safer here than anywhere else in the country.”
I thanked him. I kissed Sophie’s forehead one last time. And then I walked back out into the night.
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I didn’t have money. I didn’t have status. I didn’t have powerful friends. But I had the truth. I had proof. And I had nothing left to lose.
Marcus had spent years building a web of lies. Now I was going to tear it down. One thread at a time.
