Chapter 10 - A Mother’s DebtSophia slept in the guest room.
Daniel did not ask her to return.
That was the first intelligent thing he had done in days.
At breakfast, Liam noticed.
“Are you getting divorced?”
Sophia almost dropped her coffee.
“No.”
Daniel answered at the same time.
“I don’t know.”
Sophia looked at him.
Daniel nodded once.
He deserved that.
Liam’s face tightened.
“Because of me?”
“No,” Sophia said instantly.
“Because I pushed you?”
“No.”
“But you started fighting after.”
Sophia moved to the chair beside him.
“Your father and I made mistakes long before the pool.”
“Did he hurt you?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Sophia chose her words carefully.
“He kept something important from me.”
Liam frowned.
“So Dad lies too.”
Daniel looked at his son.
“Yes.”
Liam had expected an argument.
Instead, his father said:
“I did.”
The boy stared.
Daniel continued.
“I thought keeping a secret would protect our family. It didn’t.”
Liam looked at Sophia.
“Is that what you did too?”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Then everyone lies.”
“That’s one way to see it.”
“What’s the other way?”
Sophia thought about it.
“Sometimes people are afraid. They make the wrong choice for a reason that once felt right.”
Liam looked down at his cereal.
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
“No.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Their son had just summarized the last five years.
Later, Liam followed Sophia into the laundry room.
“Mom?”
It was the first time he had called her that since the party.
She turned slowly.
“What?”
“Does your face hurt?”
The question almost broke her.
“Not usually.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
“A lot?”
She nodded.
Liam stared at the floor.
“Because of the car?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
“Because of me?”
Sophia went still.
“Why would you think that?”
“The note said monsters save you so they can own you.”
Sophia’s breath stopped.
“What note?”
Liam began crying before he even reached his pocket.
He handed it to her.
She read the sentence.
Her hands shook.
“Who gave you this?”
“I don’t know.”
“When?”
“A month ago.”
“Before the photographs?”
He nodded.
Sophia knelt.
“Listen to me carefully.”
Liam would not look at her.
“No one gets to own you because they helped you.”
He looked up.
“Not me. Not Dad. Not Grandma. Nobody.”
“But did you save me?”
Sophia’s throat closed.
This was the question.
The whole truth was one word away.
She wanted to say yes.
She also wanted Daniel beside her.
Not because he deserved control of the story.
Because Liam deserved both parents present when his childhood changed.
Sophia touched his hand.
“I’m going to answer that.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“You always say soon.”
“You’re right.”
She nodded.
“Tonight.”
Liam stared at her.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
The front doorbell rang.
Emma called from the foyer.
“Mrs. Carter?”
Sophia stood.
A courier waited with a legal envelope.
Inside was a letter from Eleanor’s attorney.
The Carter Foundation board had called an emergency meeting.
Agenda:
Removal of Sophia Carter from the audit committee for “conduct damaging to the Foundation and Carter family reputation.”
The meeting was scheduled for that evening.
Sophia read it.
Then smiled without humor.
May you like
Eleanor had just made a mistake.
She had given Sophia a room full of people to tell the truth to.
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