Chapter Fourteen: Who sent this
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Chapter Fourteen
Sarah walked slowly to the door. Her hands weren't shaking yet but something in her chest had already tightened, the way it always did when something was about to go wrong. She gripped the handle and pulled it open.
The world stilled.
Her mouth hung open.
Standing at her doorstep was David Ray. Her father. The man who had looked her in the eye at the worst moment of her life and chosen everyone else over her. He was standing here, at her apartment, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like years hadn't passed. Like nothing had happened between them.
When she finally found herself she managed to speak.
"Why... are you here? Mr. Ray?"
David's lips curled into something that wasn't quite a smile. He looked her over slowly, the way he always had-like he was taking stock of something he owned.
"Well, well. Look who we have here." He tilted his head. "Can't I come to check on my daughter? I've been calling and sending messages but you refused to reply to any of it." There was a hint of anger underneath the casual tone, barely hidden.
Sarah felt her jaw tighten. "Well, for your information, I stopped being your daughter years ago. You disowned me. And now you dare call me your daughter?"
Her voice was shaking. She hated that it was shaking.
"Can I at least come inside? Let's settle this. All of it."
"No." The word came out flat and hard. "You're not welcome here.
Leave before I call the cops."
David raised an eyebrow. "You will call the cops on your father?
After everything I did for you?"
Sarah let out a laugh-bitter, sharp, with no warmth in it at all.
"Excuse you. Did you just say after everything you did for me?"
She shook her head. "You threw it when I needed you the most. You chose those manipulative people over me, you called my
claude.al/chat/c95458b0-984d-4425-be5b-3
children names, and now you dare stand here and say after everything you did for me?" Her voice cracked on the last word but she held her ground. "You did nothing. Nothing but cause damage and walk away."
David went quiet for a moment. She could see him recalculating behind his eyes.
"Well," he said slowly, "If you won't let me in, I'll just go back and let your sister who has been looking for you know exactly where you live."
The threat landed clean and deliberate.
Sarah's grip tightened on the doorframe. Every part of her wanted to slam the door in his face. But the thought of Emma knowing where she lived-Emma, who had already sent someone to follow her children today was enough to stop her cold. She had the kids to think about. She couldn't afford pride right now.
She stepped back and let him in.
He walked in like he owned the place. Sat down on her couch without being invited to, looked around the apartment with the slow, assessing gaze of a man who had always believed everything around him existed for his benefit. Sarah stayed standing, arms folded, watching him.
"So this is where you've been hiding?" he said.
"I'm not hiding. I'm living. Just living far away from all of you."
He glanced around again. "I heard you're the chief designer at an International fashion company now."
"Why are you here?" she snapped. Her hands were trembling but she kept them pressed together under her folded arms. "And how did you find me?"
He let the question sit before answering. "I know you have kids."
He paused, letting that land. "You thought you could disappear?
Wipe yourself out completely? I have my ways, Sarah. I always have."
She froze. She opened her mouth and nothing came out.
He smiled to himself. He had always loved having the upper hand. Even now, after all this time. he was still the same man-cold and
strategic and completely unmoved by the damage he caused.
"I know who the father of those kids is," he paused letting it sank. Wating for her reaction.
Sarah eye widened, at the same time her lips trembling.
Then he continue "And you're going to marry him. That way Emma leaves you alone for good."
The room went very quiet.
"How dare you." Her voice came out tight and breaking at the edges. "How dare you come into my home to threaten me into a marriage. She unfolded her arms. "Get out of my house."
He stood slowly, unhurried. "Sure." He straightened his jacket.
"Can I at least see my grandkids before I go?"
"Are you out of your mind?" The words came out before she could measure them. "The grandkids you abandoned? The ones you disowned? The ones you called bastards?" Her voice rose and she didn't pull it back, "Get out. Get out right now before I lose it completely."
He walked toward the door and paused with his hand on the frame.
"Think about what I said. You have five days to make a decision.
Five days-and if you don't, the world finds out about your children. And if your sister gets even a glimpse of it before you deal with it yourself" He let the sentence hang. "You know the rest.
Then he left. The door clicked shut behind him.
Sarah stood exactly where she was for a moment, not moving, not breathing properly. Then the air rushed back into her lungs all at once and her legs gave slightly and she collapsed onto the couch, her whole body trembling. Not just her hands. All of her.
Five days.
Madam Cassy appeared from the hallway and rushed to her side, sitting close, rubbing her back, murmuring soft words of comfort. The kids came too, creeping out of the room, drawn by the silence the way children always are after something loud has passed.
Aria climbed up beside her. "Mummy, who was that man? Why was he shouting at you?"
Sarah pulled in a slow breath and sothed Aria's hair with a hand that was still trembling. "It's nothing, sweetheart. You don't need to worry about it." She kissed the top of her head. "Now both of you go back to your room and shower. Go on."
She watched them disappear down the hall. Madam Cassy kept rubbing her back. Sarah appreciated it, she really did, but her mind was already somewhere else. Turning over what her father had said. Trying to figure out how much he actually knew, who had told him, who he meant when he said she needed to marry the father of her kids.
She reached for her phone. Muscle memory.
The screen lit up. Unknown number.
She opened it.
Sarah you are done for.
She stared at those four words until they blurred at the edges. Short. Plain. And somehow more frightening because of it.
“Who sent this?”
- Writer
