Sophie's Choice
Chapter 05 - Sophie's Choice
That evening, once Grace had left with a laptop full of preliminary findings, Sophie found Daniel on the back porch, a glass of untouched scotch resting on the railing beside him.
"You should be resting," he said, without turning.
"I've rested enough for one lifetime, apparently," Sophie said, settling into the chair beside him. "I think I need to actually do something now, instead."
He glanced at her.
"What are you thinking."
"I want to formally support whatever investigation Grace builds," Sophie said. "Not just quietly disappear somewhere safe while other people fix this around me. This is my parents' company. My name is still legally attached to it, whether Vivienne's tried to make me forget that or not."
Daniel considered this for a long moment.
"That comes with risk," he said honestly. "Once she realizes you're actively involved rather than just missing, she'll likely escalate. She's already shown she's willing to use physical force and manipulation to control you."
"I know," Sophie said. "But hiding didn't protect me before. It just delayed things. I'd rather face this directly, with people who actually have my back, than keep running and hoping she eventually loses interest."
"She won't lose interest," Daniel said. "Not with this much money at stake."
"Then let's make sure I have more leverage than she does," Sophie said.
Something shifted in Daniel's expression, a kind of quiet respect Sophie hadn't expected to want as much as she suddenly did.
"All right," he said. "Then we do this properly. Together."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, the storm from the night before long since passed, leaving only clean, cool air and the distant sound of traffic somewhere beyond the property line.
"Can I ask you something," Sophie said eventually.
"Of course."
"Why does any of this matter to you, personally," she asked. "You're a private investor. You could recover your loan through legal channels regardless of what happens to me specifically. Why does this feel like more than just protecting your investment?"
Daniel was quiet for a moment, considering the question honestly rather than deflecting it.
"I watched my own mother get cornered into a bad marriage once," he said finally. "For money, for family image, all the reasons that sound reasonable until you're the one being asked to disappear into someone else's decision. I couldn't do anything about it back then. I was too young, too powerless."
He looked at Sophie directly.
"I'm not powerless now," he said simply.
Something in Sophie's chest loosened at that, an unexpected warmth she hadn't anticipated feeling this soon after everything that had happened.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For stopping the car. For all of it."
"You stepped in front of it," Daniel said, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly for the first time since she'd met him. "I just happened to be paying attention."
Sophie found herself almost smiling too, something she hadn't expected to be capable of so soon.
*Quiet moment: for the first time since climbing out that bathroom window, Sophie felt something other than fear or grief settling into the space where those emotions had been living.*
"Tomorrow," Daniel said, standing, "we start reaching out to people at the company who might know more than the paperwork alone can tell us."
"I know someone," Sophie said slowly. "Someone who's worked there since before my parents died. If anyone noticed something wrong before I did, it would be her."
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"Then let's start there," Daniel said.
He extended a hand to help her up from the chair, and Sophie took it without hesitation, something settling between them that felt less like rescuer and rescued now, and more like two people about to fight the same battle from the same side.
