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Chapter 7N
Harris flipped open Sophie’s diary, his fingers trembling as he turned the pages. The words inside hit him like a punch to the gut.
She had written about him. About how much she loved him. How much she trusted him.!!
[Dad loves me the most. Whenever something goes wrong, he’s the first person I turn to. He always makes me feel safe.]M
[Mom made me upset again today. But Dad came home with a little cake. It was so good. I feel better now.IN
[As long as I have Dad, that’s enough.JN
Harris let out a shaky breath, but the tears had already started falling. He couldn’t stop them, couldn’t stop the crushing weight in his chest.
Regret poured over him, drowning him. He had destroyed his family. His daughter’s future. Her life. And for what?
A strangled sob escaped him as he clutched the diary to his chest. He rocked back and forth, his body shaking, his mind screaming for a way to undo everything.
But there was no fixing this. Then his phone rang, the sharp sound slicing through the silence. Harris flinched, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. He glanced at the screen.
Wilma. His stomach twisted. The second he answered, her voice exploded through the line. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?! Yulian finally won the championship, and you’re just gonna sit there while everything falls apart?!“}
Harris exhaled, rubbing his face. His voice was drained, hollow. “What else is there to do? This is our karma.”
Saying it out loud made his chest tighten. His throat burned. Wilma scoffed. “Oh, so now you’re blaming me? Yulian is your son too!“N
That was it. Something inside him snapped.
“And Sophie was my daughter!” Harris shouted, his voice raw and broken. “Do you think I wanted this to happen?! I never-” He choked on his own words. “I never thought she would actually die.”
Silence. For the first time, Wilma didn’t have a comeback. For a brief moment, he thought he heard something shift in her tone- hesitation, maybe even guilt.
But then she sighed, her voice turning cold again.
“Well, what’s done is done. Sitting around crying won’t fix anything. If we don’t act now, Yulian is finished.” She paused before adding, “And listen to me, this isn’t your fault. It’s that bitch Karlie’s. She’s the reason Sophie did this. She should be the one to pay.“}]
Harris squeezed his eyes shut, exhaustion pressing down on him. Sophie’s death had already been ruled an accident. The world was moving on. And in the end, he did what he always did.
He gave in. For Wilma. For Yulian. He even helped push the story, making sure everyone believed the lie, that I had driven Sophie to her death.N
***8
Harris leaned in, his hands gripping the edge of the desk as he locked eyes with Dante Zavala, the program director. His voice was tight, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.
“Mr. Zavala, all you need to do is prove that the recording was fake. That’s it. If you don’t, I’ll pull every single sponsorship from this program, and your career? Consider it over.” He let the threat settle before delivering the final blow. “So you will help me. You will pin everything on Karlie.”
Dante exhaled sharply, his fingers drumming against the table as he weighed his options. His brows furrowed, tension clear in his expression.
“Harris, this isn’t as easy as you think,” he said, voice laced with hesitation. “The police already have the recording. It’s real. There’s no undoing that. If we try to fight this and it backfires, we’re done. The whole program goes down with us.”
Harris didn’t hesitate. He shot up from his chair, slamming his hands onto the desk. His face was inches from Dante’s, his eyes burning with desperation and rage.
“Did I not make myself clear?” His voice was sharp, his breath unsteady, “Only Karlie goes down. We survive. I don’t have a choice, and neither do you.“!!
The room went silent, the weight of his words suffocating.N
Dante swallowed hard, rubbing a hand down his face. The moral dilemma was obvious, but in the end, money and power always
won.}
And just like that, the wheels were set in motion. With the right connections and enough pressure from sponsors, the story was rewritten. The truth
