Chapter 122 CAN WE START AGAIN
Chapter 122 CAN WE START AGAIN
Alexander exhaled slowly. “I will.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Sophia said quietly. “But Alexander… if you get out and go back to your old ways—if you hurt anyone or do anything illegal—I will make sure you never see her again. Do you understand me?”
“I understand,” Alexander said immediately. “And I won’t go back to that life. I’m done with it. I just want to be a father.”
He paused.
“And maybe…”
Sophia frowned slightly. “Maybe what?”
“Maybe… be with you,” he said softly. “For real this time. No lies. No games. No revenge. Just us… trying to raise our daughter together.”
Sophia felt her chest tighten.
“I don’t know if we can do that,” she admitted. “After everything… I don’t know if we can trust each other.”
“Then we learn,” Alexander said. “We start over. We try.”
His voice dropped, more serious now.
“Sophia, I’ve spent three years in prison thinking about everything. About what I did wrong. About who I was… and who I want to be.”
She stayed silent.
“I’m not that man anymore,” he continued. “Not the one who left you at the altar. Not the one who ordered Victor killed. I’ve changed.”
Sophia shook her head slowly.
“People don’t change that easily.”
“Don’t they?” Alexander replied. “You changed. You became someone else. You rebuilt your life from nothing. You survived.”
He paused.
“If you can change… why can’t I?”
Sophia didn’t have an answer.
After the call ended, the apartment felt too quiet.
Sophia sat in the dark, her thoughts racing.
Second chances.
Change.
Love.
Was any of it real? Or were they just fooling themselves again?
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Sophia frowned and checked the screen.
Helena.
At midnight.
She walked to the door and opened it.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Helena didn’t wait for permission. She walked straight inside.
“I’m here to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”
Sophia shut the door behind her. “I already know what you’re going to say.”
“Then listen anyway,” Helena snapped. “You can’t testify tomorrow. You cannot help Alexander get out.”
“Yes, I can,” Sophia said firmly. “And I will.”
Helena’s eyes flashed with anger.
“He will destroy you!” she shouted. “The second he’s free, he’ll come after all of us—me, you, Victor, Marcus, Vanessa—everyone!”
Sophia crossed her arms. “Or maybe he just wants to meet his daughter and move on.”
“You’re being naive!” Helena grabbed her shoulders. “Sophia, listen to me. I’ve known him his whole life. I’m his sister.”
Her voice dropped, intense and serious.
“I know exactly what he’s capable of. He doesn’t forgive. He doesn’t forget. And when someone crosses him… he destroys them.”
Sophia looked straight into Helena’s eyes, calm and steady.
“Then maybe,” she said slowly, “you don’t know him as well as you think.”
She pulled away from Helena’s grip.
“Or maybe people can change more than you believe.”
Helena shook her head. “I’m trying to protect you—”
“No,” Sophia snapped, her voice rising. “You’re trying to protect yourself!”
Victoria suddenly woke and started crying.
Sophia quickly picked her up, gently rocking her.
“You’re scared,” Sophia continued, her voice shaking with anger. “You’re scared Alexander will come after you. For setting him up. For giving me evidence. For testifying against him!”
Helena’s face went pale. “That’s not true—”
“It is exactly true!” Sophia shot back. “You used me. You used my grief over Victor to push me into destroying Alexander.”
She held Victoria closer.
“And now you’re afraid of the consequences. Well, that’s your problem, not mine.”
Helena’s expression hardened.
“If you testify tomorrow,” she said coldly, “I’ll tell the court everything. How you broke into Alexander’s office. The illegal wire. Every crime you committed.”
Sophia didn’t flinch.
“I’ll destroy you to keep him in prison.”
Sophia met her gaze without fear.
“Then do it,” she said quietly. “I don’t care anymore.”
Helena blinked, surprised.
“I’m done being afraid,” Sophia continued. “Done being used. Done letting you—or anyone—control my life.”
She took a breath.
“Tomorrow, I’m telling the truth. Whatever happens after that… I’ll face it.”
For a long moment, Helena just stared at her.
Then, without another word, she turned and walked out.
The courthouse was packed.
Reporters lined the steps. Cameras flashed. Everyone wanted to see what would happen.
Sophia walked in, holding Victoria in her arms. Marcus Chen stayed close beside her.
“You sure about this?” Marcus asked quietly.
Sophia exhaled. “No. But I’m doing it anyway.”
They entered the courtroom.
Across the room, Alexander sat at the defense table, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.
Their eyes met.
He looked nervous. Hopeful. Grateful.
Sophia felt her chest tighten but said nothing.
She sat in the front row, keeping Victoria close.
The baby started to fuss, letting out a small cry. A few people turned to stare.
A baby in a courtroom wasn’t normal.
Sophia didn’t care.
She wanted Alexander to see his daughter.
To remember what he was fighting for.
Suddenly, the courtroom doors closed.
“All rise,” the bailiff called out.
Everyone stood as the judge entered.
Judge Patricia Morrison—a stern woman with sharp eyes—took her seat.
“You may be seated.”
The room fell silent.
The judge looked down at the file in front of her.
“We are here to hear a motion to overturn the conviction of Alexander Blackwood,” she said clearly, “in the matter of conspiracy to commit the murder of Victor Lang.”
She looked up.
“Mr. Callahan, you may begin.”
Robert Callahan stood up calmly.
“Your Honor,” he began, “we have new evidence that changes everything about this case.”
The courtroom went quiet.
“Victor Lang—the man everyone believed was murdered—is alive. He has been in FBI witness protection for the past three years.”
A wave of whispers spread across the room.
“There is no body,” Callahan continued. “Because there was no death. And you cannot convict a man of killing someone who is still alive.”
The prosecutor, David Morrison, stood quickly.
“Your Honor, the charge is not murder,” he said firmly. “It is conspiracy to commit murder.”
He turned slightly toward the judge.
“Mr. Blackwood hired a hitman. He paid five hundred thousand dollars. He gave clear orders to kill Victor Lang.”
He paused.