Chapter 157
Chapter 157
Clara’s POV
I knew it was Sofia before she even reached the room. She had a certain way of walking when she was stressed. Fast, purposeful, like every second mattered and she was already ten steps ahead in her mind.
The door opened quietly, and there she was. Still in her work clothes. Her laptop bag hanging from her shoulder. Her expression somewhere between frustration and concern.
I looked back toward Ayleen before turning to her. “What are you doing here?”
Sofia closed the door behind her and walked closer. “I’m here to get you out of here.”
I frowned. “What?”
“You heard me.”
She lowered her voice. “You cannot be sitting in a hospital room waiting for them to come and arrest you.”
I looked at her for a moment.
“Sofia.”
“No.”
Her tone was firmer now. "I know you think you’re being noble by staying here, but this isn’t a movie. The moment they decide to move forward, they will not care that Ayleen is lying unconscious ten feet away. They will take you.”
“I’m not leaving.” She stopped.
“Miss Clara.”
“I’m not leaving her.”
Sofia sighed, already knowing this argument would not be easy.
“You need to think strategically.”
“I am.”
“No, you’re thinking emotionally.”
That would have annoyed me on any other day. Today, I didn’t have the energy to argue.
I looked at Ayleen’s still figure behind the glass. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Sofia softened slightly. “Then tell me.”
I turned back to her. “You’ve worked with me for years.”
She nodded slowly.
“You know how I operate. You know how I think. You know how I built this firm.”
“I do.”
“You’ve been managing my office for years. You’ve handled difficult clients, difficult cases, difficult situations when I wasn’t available.”
“I know where this is going. I am you secretary. I stopped practicing law for a reason”
“Now it's your time to prove to yourself that your reason was wrong, the reason why you are a good secretary is because you are a good lawyer .”
I stepped closer.
“I trust you.”
That made her pause.
“I trust that I trained you well enough for a case like this to be manageable.”
Her eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Manageable?”
“Yes.”
“Someone is trying to destroy your career.”
“And they will succeed faster if I run.”
The words came out sharper than I intended.
I looked back at Ayleen.
“If I leave now, I prove them right. I prove that I have something to hide. I give Katherine exactly what she wants.”
Sofia stayed quiet.
“She doesn’t need me convicted,” I continued. “She needs people to doubt me. She needs my name damaged. She needs everyone
questioning whether I’m the person they thought I was.”
I met her eyes. “I’m not going to help her do that.”
For a moment, Sofia just watched me.
Then she exhaled. “You really are impossible.”
A small smile almost appeared on my face. “You knew that when you started working for me.”
“Yes,” she said. “Unfortunately, I did.”
The tension eased for half a second.
Then I looked at her again.“Any updates on Ayleen’s case?”
Her expression changed immediately.
“I sent one of our lawyers to the police station to follow up.”
“And?”
She hesitated.
“Sofia.”
She pulled out her phone.
“The police confirmed what they suspected earlier. The brakes were tampered with.”
My stomach tightened.
I had already known that.
But hearing it again made it real.
“What else?”
Sofia unlocked her phone, scrolling through something.
“They reviewed additional footage from a street camera near the accident.”
I stood straighter.
“And?”
“They believe Ayleen knew the car had no brakes.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Sofia turned the screen toward me.
“According to their review, she wasn't driving normally after the failure happened. She was reacting.”
My eyes stayed on the phone, but I barely saw it.
“She realized?”
“Yes.”
Sofia’s voice softened.
“They believe she was trying to avoid traffic. She was looking for a way to slow the car down, trying different directions, trying to find
somewhere safe to stop.”
My chest tightened.
That sounded exactly like her.
Always thinking.
Always trying to protect everyone around her.
“She was trying to save herself,” I whispered.
Sofia nodded. “And then another vehicle appeared.”
I looked at her.
“What vehicle?”
“That’s the problem.”
She continued scrolling.
“The footage shows another car entering the road. It suddenly braked directly in front of her.”
My blood went cold.
“So she lost control because someone forced her into it.”
“That’s what it looks like.”
I stared at the floor for a moment.
Someone hadn’t just tampered with the brakes.
Someone had planned the moment.
“They knew she didn't panic, someone was watching her to make sure she crash,” I said quietly.
Sofia looked at me.
I looked back at Ayleen. “And the car?”
Sofia’s expression tightened.
“A dead end.”
“What does that mean?”
“No plates.”
“Stolen?”
“Possibly. The police are checking, but right now there’s nothing useful.”
“Cameras?”
“They’re trying.”
“Owner?”
“Nothing confirmed.”
I clenched my jaw.
“So someone planned an attack, used a vehicle with no identification, and disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And they have nothing.”
“Not yet.”
“Do you have the footage?” I asked Sofia.
She looked at me for a moment before answering.
“I do,” she said quietly. “But are you sure you want to see it?”
I knew what she was really asking.
Are you ready to watch the moment everything changed?
“Yes,” I said.
She unlocked her phone and handed it to me.
The footage wasn’t clear. It was taken from a distance, from a street camera, but it was enough.
At first, there was nothing unusual. Just traffic. Cars moving normally. Ayleen’s vehicle driving along the road.
Then another car appeared.
My breathing slowed.
It came from behind. It moved closer to her car, staying beside her for a few seconds.
Then it accelerated.
My entire body went rigid.
The car moved in front of Ayleen’s vehicle and stopped suddenly.
I watched as Ayleen’s car reacted.
She tried to avoid it.
She tried to move away.
But the space around her disappeared.
The vehicle on one side. The road ahead blocked. No control. No safe option.
She had two choices.
Go off the road or hit another car.
My chest tightened as I watched her choose. She protected everyone else. Even when someone had deliberately put her in danger.
“She could have hit the other vehicle,” Sofia said quietly.
I shook my head. “No.”
My voice was barely above a whisper.
“She knew.”
Sofia looked at me.
“She knew she couldn’t stop.”
I replayed the footage.
Again.
And again.
My eyes stayed fixed on the other car.
“Look at this.”
Sofia leaned closer.
“The car slowed down beside her.”
“Yes.”
I pointed at the screen.
“For a few seconds, it was right next to her.”
I swallowed. “She saw something. She saw the driver.”
The words hung in the air.
Sofia immediately shook her head slightly. “That’s an assumption.”
“Yes,” I said.
I looked back at the footage.
“But it’s an assumption based on everything we know.”I handed the phone back to her.
“Marcus wasn’t in Greenport.”
Sofia didn’t answer.
“And Katherine wouldn’t risk involving someone she couldn’t control,” I continued. “She doesn’t make careless moves. She doesn’t leave things to chance.”
My voice became colder. “She would only involve someone if she knew they would do exactly what she wanted.”
Sofia looked down at the phone.
“But if Ayleen saw Marcus…”
She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t have to.
The realization reached both of us at the same time.
My stomach dropped. “If Ayleen saw Marcus,” I said slowly, “then she isn’t just a victim.”
Sofia looked at me. “She’s a witness.”
The room became painfully quiet.
Ayleen wasn’t someone they wanted to hurt anymore.
She was someone who could expose them. Someone who could identify the person behind this.
“This is why they’re trying to get me arrested now.”
The words came out before I even realized I had said them. Sofia looked at me, waiting.
“I thought it was strange,” I continued, my eyes still fixed on Ayleen through the glass. “The timing. Katherine is moving too quickly.”
I turned toward her.
“She’s a judge. She knows how investigations work. She knows how to build a case properly. If she wanted to destroy me, she had every opportunity to create something stronger, something that would actually hold up.”
I paused, replaying everything in my head.
“The documents. The accusations. The timing of everything happening at once.”
My jaw tightened. “It feels rushed.”
Sofia stayed silent, but I could see the realization forming on her face.
“They don’t care if the case against me is perfect,” I said quietly.
I looked back at her.
“They want me out of this hospital.”
The words felt heavier once they were spoken.
“They know Ayleen is the only person who can expose them. They know she saw something.”
I swallowed.
“And if I’m not here…”
My eyes moved back to Ayleen.
“They will send someone to make sure she doesn't wake up.”