Chapter 4 - SOPHIA’S FIVE MINUTES
Sophia entered Serena’s office like someone stepping onto thin ice. Her red coat was expensive, but the left cuff was frayed. Her manicure was chipped. The sister Serena remembered had once treated imperfections as emergencies; this woman looked as though sleep itself had become a luxury.
Serena closed the door but did not offer a hug. “You have five minutes.” Sophia flinched. “You sound like Dad.” “No. Dad gives people orders. I’m giving you a boundary.” That landed. Sophia sat across from the desk, glancing at the files arranged beside Serena’s laptop. She recognized the crash photographs instantly.
Her face tightened. “So you know.” “I know Evelyn Miller can’t walk because someone hit her car and left.” Sophia looked away. “I know your McLaren was there. I know Dad arranged the repair. I know Mom tried to buy Evelyn’s silence. And I know Lucas Mercer was with you.” Sophia’s head snapped up.
“You found Lucas?” “I found his name.” Fear moved across Sophia’s face so quickly Serena almost missed it. “That’s not the same thing.” “What are you afraid of?” Sophia laughed once, but there was no humor in it. “You really don’t know.” “Then tell me.” For several seconds, Sophia only breathed.
Then she leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I was drunk.” Serena felt anger rise but kept her expression still. “I drank too much at the party. I knew I shouldn’t drive. Lucas said he’d take the keys.” “But he didn’t.” “He did.” The room went silent. Serena stared at her sister.
Sophia’s eyes filled. “Lucas was driving when we hit Evelyn.” Serena stood so quickly the chair rolled backward. “The traffic footage—” “Shows my car. Not me driving.” “Witnesses saw a blond woman in a red dress.” “I got out after the crash.” Serena’s mind raced back through Marcus’s evidence. “Why did you run?”
“I didn’t want to.” Sophia’s voice broke. “I was screaming at Lucas to call 911. He said we’d both go to prison because we were drunk and there were drugs in the car. I tried to take his phone. He grabbed me.” She pushed up the sleeve of her coat.
A faint yellow bruise remained near her wrist. “Dad arrived after Lucas called him. Dad told me Evelyn was alive and an ambulance was coming. He said the only thing I could do was get into the SUV and keep my mouth shut.” Serena stared at her. “Did you see an ambulance?” “No.”
“Did you call one yourself?” Sophia’s chin trembled. “No.” The answer mattered. Even if Lucas had been driving, Sophia had left an injured woman on the roadside. “You still abandoned her.” “I know.” “Do you?” Sophia suddenly stood. “Do you think I sleep? Do you think I don’t hear the impact every night?
I see her car spinning. I hear metal. I see her face through the broken window.” Serena’s voice dropped. “Then why are Mom and Dad trying to buy her silence?” “Because Lucas changed the story.” Sophia wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “He told Dad I was driving.
Dad believed him at first. Then Grant Mercer got involved. He has security footage from the parking garage, Serena. It shows Lucas getting into the driver’s seat.” Serena’s pulse quickened. “Where is it?” “I don’t know. Grant took the original from the restaurant manager before police requested it.
Dad has a copy, or had one. He started using it to pressure Grant.” Now the million dollars made even more sense. “What does Dad want from Grant?” Sophia looked at the floor. “Protection.” “For you?” “For himself.” Serena felt the shape of something larger forming. Sophia continued. “Dad’s companies are collapsing.
He owes investors money. Grant helped him move assets into trusts years ago, including accounts connected to your identity. Dad has records that could destroy Grant. Grant has records that could destroy Dad.” “And Evelyn is trapped between them.” “Yes.” Serena walked to the window, fighting the urge to scream.
Nineteen years earlier, Sophia had watched Serena leave with a trash bag and done nothing. Now Sophia sat in the same room asking to be believed because she, too, had become disposable to their parents. The symmetry felt cruel. “Why come to me?” “Because Dad plans to make me confess.” Serena turned.
Sophia’s face was wet with tears. “He said if I take responsibility, Grant will make sure I get probation. Dad says it’s the only way to keep the company, the houses, everything from being investigated.” “You’re thirty-three years old. He can’t make you confess.” “You don’t understand.” Serena’s expression hardened.
“Don’t tell me I don’t understand Howard Hayes.” Sophia looked ashamed. “You’re right.” The clock on the wall ticked. Serena folded her arms. “If Lucas was driving, we can prove it. But I need more than your word.” “I have a recording.” Serena went still.
Sophia reached into her handbag and pulled out a small flash drive. “Last week Dad met Grant in the library at the house. I left my phone recording behind a bookcase.” “What’s on it?” “Dad threatening him.” Sophia placed the drive on the desk but kept two fingers over it. “There’s something else.”
Serena waited. “Dad admits using your identity.” The air seemed to compress. Sophia looked at her with a mixture of fear and guilt. “He says, ‘I buried Serena once and I can bury you too.’ Grant asks what he means. Dad says he made debt look like hers for years and nobody stopped him.”
Serena could hear her own heartbeat. Nineteen years of denial. Lawyers who claimed there was insufficient proof. Creditors who told her the signatures looked similar. Nights when she wondered whether she would ever escape a crime committed against her by the people who were supposed to protect her.
All of it might be captured in one careless sentence. “Give me the drive.” Sophia did. Serena plugged it into an isolated laptop. The audio began with rustling, footsteps, then Howard’s unmistakable voice. “You fix this, Grant. I buried Serena once and I can bury you too.” A man answered sharply. “Don’t threaten me.”
“You remember those accounts. You remember the signatures. We made a crippled kid carry eight hundred grand and nobody looked twice.” Serena stopped the recording. For several seconds, she could not breathe. Sophia whispered, “I’m sorry.” Serena looked at her. “For what?” “For all of it.” “That’s a large category.” Sophia accepted the blow.
“I was fourteen when they threw you out. I could have stood up.” “Yes.” “I didn’t.” “No.” “I spent years telling myself I was a kid. But I knew it was wrong.” Serena’s eyes stung. Sophia continued. “I also knew the vacations and dresses came from money Dad didn’t have.
I just never asked where it came from because I liked what I was getting.” That confession mattered more than an excuse would have. Serena picked up the flash drive. “If you want my help, you tell the truth to police. All of it. Your drinking. Leaving the scene. Dad. Lucas. The cover-up.”
Sophia stared at her. “I could still go to prison.” “Yes.” “You’d let that happen?” Serena’s voice stayed calm. “I won’t save you from consequences. I will help stop them from making you responsible for crimes you didn’t commit.” Sophia breathed shakily. “And Evelyn?” “You apologize if she agrees to hear it.
May you like
You don’t ask forgiveness. You don’t offer money in exchange for silence.” Sophia nodded. The five minutes had become almost an hour. As she stood to leave, Sophia paused by the door. “Serena?” “Yes?” “When you walked out of the house that night, I watched from the upstairs window.”
Serena felt old pain open quietly. Sophia’s face crumpled. “I almost ran after you.” Serena held her gaze. “But you didn’t.” “No.” Serena opened the door. “Then decide what you do now.”
