Chapter 12 - Cole's Return
Cole Rivers was back on the streets.
I found out through a terrifying phone call from Detective Harris.
"He made bail on an unrelated charge," Harris explained, his voice tight.
"We’re keeping an eye on him, but you need to be careful, Sarah." Panic seized me.
The man who had broken into my father's house, the man Michael had hired to silence me, was free.
I immediately picked Tyler up from school and rushed him home.
I locked every door and window, pulled the blinds, and sat in the dark, watching the street.
Emily arrived an hour later, breathless.
"I saw the news," she said.
We held each other, the reality of the danger sinking in.
We couldn't live like this.
We couldn't be prisoners in our own home.
I decided to take matters into my own hands.
I couldn't rely on the police to protect us every second.
I started carrying a pepper spray.
I took a self-defense class.
I even considered buying a gun, remembering how my father had protected us with his shotgun.
The thought of my father brought a fresh wave of pain.
I missed him fiercely, but the betrayal was still too raw.
I needed him, but I couldn't forgive him.
Not yet.
A few days later, the harassment escalated.
Dead flowers were left on my doorstep.
My car tires were slashed in the middle of the night.
The police increased their patrols, but Cole was always one step ahead.
He was playing a psychological game, wearing me down, trying to make me snap.
Lena advised me to document everything, to build a case for harassment and witness intimidation.
But documentation wouldn't stop a bullet.
I felt completely isolated, entirely alone in a war I didn't want to fight.
Then, one evening, I saw a familiar car parked down the street.
It was Dad.
He was watching the house, just as he had watched Tyler’s soccer practice.
He was acting as a silent guardian.
A wave of conflicting emotions washed over me.
Anger.
Relief.
Sadness.
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I didn't go out to talk to him.
I just watched him watching us, a silent standoff between a broken daughter and a flawed father.
