Chapter 6
The digital clock on the nursery nightstand glowed with a soft blue light, reading 3:14 AM. The room was bathed in shadows, illuminated only by the gentle green indicator light of the oxygen concentrator humming softly in the corner. Lily lay curled on her side in her custom toddler bed, the clear mask secured comfortably over her nose and mouth. Every rise and fall of her small chest was steady, a rhythm of survival that David watched with unblinking intensity from the wooden rocking chair beside her.
He hadn't slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Elena’s chilling smile as she dangled the oxygen tubing just out of reach, and he heard the terrifying silence of his daughter's suffocating gasps. The guilt was a physical weight pressing down on his chest, making it difficult to breathe even in a room full of oxygen. He had been so blind, so consumed by grief after losing his first wife, Clara, that he had welcomed a viper into their sanctuary.
A soft knock at the door broke the heavy silence. Sarah stepped into the room, holding a steaming mug of black coffee. She set it quietly on the side table before pulling up a small stool near David.
"You need caffeine, Mr. Vance, not another hour of self-torture," Sarah murmured softly, her tone professional yet deeply empathetic. "The police called a few minutes ago. Elena’s legal representation is already trying to secure her release on bail, arguing that her injuries from your strike compromise her presumption of innocence."
David’s jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath his stubbled cheek. "She broke into my home, attacked my defenseless daughter, and they're talking about bail? On what grounds?"
"Her lawyer is painting her as the victim of an abusive, volatile husband who flew into a rage over a routine family disagreement," Sarah explained, her expression grim. "They're claiming the video was edited out of context by a disgruntled employee—meaning me."
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David looked at Sarah, feeling a sudden surge of gratitude for the young woman who had remained calm under pressure when everyone else was paralyzed by shock. "They won't get far. You backed up the raw, unedited footage to three separate secure cloud vaults with cryptographic timestamps. And now we have the financial embezzlement records pointing straight to her offshore accounts."
"True," Sarah agreed, folding her hands in her lap. "But we need to move fast. If she makes bail before we freeze those international accounts, the money will vanish into overseas tax havens, and she'll flee the jurisdiction."
