"You're framing me! How can you say something so horrible about me?"
Sophia screamed the words while kicking wildly at the chair, deliberately creating as much commotion as possible. Her wrists bled where the rope had bitten into skin from all her thrashing.
But when she looked up, there wasn't a trace of panic in her eyes. Only calculation.
Her gaze slid toward Kurt, and a perfectly timed whimper escaped her throat.
"What would you even gain from killing me? Do you really hate me that much? Is this still about the time I slipped something into your drink? I told you it was an accident! Why are you doing this to me?"
Kurt caught the signal instantly.
He swung the metal rod hard across Sophia's back. A dull thud echoed through the warehouse.
She let out a strangled gasp, slumping against the chair, her voice shaking so violently it barely held together.
"What did I ever do to you... to make you want to hurt me like this..."
The performance was flawless. My grip tightened around the voice recorder, and I kept my voice flat and cold.
"Sophia, drop the act. You and Kurt have been working together. How long did you think you could keep it hidden?"
She acted like she hadn't heard a word. Her tearful cries were aimed past me, toward the warehouse entrance.
"Luke... Luke, help me... I'm so scared..."
As she stumbled to her feet in a show of desperate struggle, she knocked the recorder from my hand and crushed it underfoot.
The next second, the warehouse's iron door slammed open and Luke burst inside.
The first thing he saw was Sophia, battered and sobbing, a mess of tears and bruises.
His face went white with fury.
In three strides he was at her side, tearing the ropes free, pulling her into his arms.
When he turned to look at me, his eyes were glacial. Nothing but disgust and rage.
"Marlene, you've gone too far! Look at her! And you're still trying to smear her name?"
Sophia buried her face in his chest, shoulders trembling, crying harder now.
"I know she's never liked me. But I never imagined she'd have someone beat me to death..." Her voice cracked with manufactured terror. "That recorder... she brought it on purpose, didn't she? To set me up? She was trying to force the kidnapper to say I was behind everything..."
Kurt jumped in on cue, playing his part without missing a beat.
"Mr. Simmons, your wife pressured me into giving a false confession! She said she wanted to frame Miss Simmons. She offered me money. She told me to hit her. I just needed the cash. I had no choice!"
The two of them fed off each other seamlessly, piling every ounce of filth onto me.
Luke's gaze carved into me like a blade. He didn't let me get a single word out. He just held Sophia tighter and said, low and final:
"Marlene, I have never been more disappointed in you."
The police took Kurt into custody on the spot. As they led him away, he shot Sophia one last reassuring glance.
Sophia stayed curled against Luke's chest, coughing weakly.
"I'm fine, Luke. Don't blame her. Maybe she just... lost her head for a moment."
The perfect martyr. Every last detail polished to a shine.
The officers took brief statements. Luke shielded Sophia through every question.
I stood to the side, and the cold that had settled in my chest spread through my entire body.
He had been exactly like this in my last life. And in this one, nothing had changed. He still refused to see what was right in front of him.
After we got home from the police station, Sophia's eyes rimmed red again, tears spilling freely.
"Am I just causing trouble for everyone? Maybe I should leave."
She turned as if to go, and Luke caught her arm immediately. Then he rounded on me, his voice hard.
"Marlene, enough! What happened back then was an accident. And you carried the baby to term safely. Why can't you just forgive her?"
Eleanor ran at me, small fists swinging blindly.
"Bad woman! I don't want you as my mommy! You're a bad person!"
