Chapter 14: Turning the Tables
261 words
Elena drove like a maniac, her cheap rental car straining as she sped toward the suburbs. The restraining order Kendra was drafting honestly wouldn't stop a man like Thorne, not fast enough.
She skidded to a halt in front of the modest house where her ex-husband lived. Sophie was sitting on the porch steps, backpack at her feet. Elena hadn't seen her daughter in six months, not since the surgery went wrong. She had been too ashamed.
"Mom?" Sophie stood up, squinting. She was sixteen now, towering and beautiful.
Elena rushed up the walk, ignoring the urge to hide her face. "We have to go inside. Now."
Inside, the reunion was awkward, sharp edges everywhere. Sophie stared at Elena's scars. "It's... it's really bad, isn't it?"
"Thorne did this," Elena said, her voice cracking. "And he's trying to hurt you to stop me." She pulled out the laptop. "I have the file, but it's locked."
Sophie, a digitally native genius compared to her mother, sat down at the computer. "Let me see." Her fingers flew across the keys. "Mom, the encryption key isn't lost. It's buried in the metadata of the file header. He didn't wipe it; he just hid it."
"Can you open it?"
"Already did." Sophie hit enter. The video played—clear, crisp, and damning.
Elena sobbed with relief, hugging her daughter. But Sophie stiffened in her arms. She was looking out the window.
"Mom," Sophie whispered. "That black sedan across the street. It's been idling there since I got home."
Elena looked. It was Thorne’s car.
End of Chapter 14
