Chapter 10 - Daniel Had Known Something Was Wrong
Daniel came to Sophie's apartment carrying a printed screenshot.
She recognized it immediately.
One of the fake messages.
The timestamp read 10:14 a.m. on April 7.
Sophie looked at him.
“What about it?”
Daniel sat down.
“I noticed this three weeks before you confronted Vanessa.”
Sophie remained standing.
“Noticed what?”
“The Boston interview.”
The fake message read:
Interview’s finally confirmed for Tuesday. Once I get through that, everything gets easier.
Daniel placed another page beside it.
A forwarded email.
Sophie's actual interview invitation from the Boston company.
Sent April 7.
11:03 a.m.
Forty-nine minutes after Sophie had supposedly messaged Aaron that the interview was confirmed.
Sophie stared at the two timestamps.
Her body became very still.
“You knew.”
“I knew something didn’t fit.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before the fight.”
“Did you ask Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That screenshots sometimes show the wrong time after syncing.”
Sophie laughed once.
“Did you believe that?”
Daniel looked at her.
“No.”
There it was.
The twist Sophie had not prepared herself for.
Not gullibility.
Not ignorance.
Choice.
“You knew she might have faked them.”
“I suspected it.”
“And you said nothing to me.”
“I wanted to be sure.”
“No.”
Sophie stepped backward.
“You wanted something else.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
He did not argue.
“Say it.”
He stared at the floor.
“I was ashamed.”
Sophie’s throat tightened.
“Of what?”
“If Vanessa forged them, then I had given her your password for nothing.”
“For nothing?”
“I had accused you in front of my family. I had searched your email. I had spent weeks treating you like you were lying.”
His voice broke.
“And if the screenshots were fake, I was the person who let all of that happen.”
Sophie felt more betrayed than she had when Vanessa spoke in the living room.
Because this was not fear in the moment.
Daniel had received evidence that Sophie might be innocent.
And silence had protected him better than truth.
“So you let me keep defending myself.”
“I kept checking.”
“You let Vanessa keep calling me dishonest.”
“I know.”
“You watched me apologize for being angry because you said my anger made me look guilty.”
Daniel covered his face.
“I know.”
Three earlier details rearranged themselves instantly.
Daniel refusing to show Sophie the original screenshots for days because “looking at them again wasn’t healthy.”
Daniel becoming strangely quiet whenever she suggested asking Aaron directly.
Daniel pleading with her not to confront Vanessa before she had “real proof.”
Sophie had thought he was defending his sister.
He had also been defending himself.
Vanessa’s scheme required access.
Daniel supplied it.
Vanessa created the lie.
Daniel discovered a crack in it.
Then chose his own reputation over Sophie's reality.
That was the part no forensic report could repair.
Daniel lowered his hands.
“I should’ve told you the minute I saw the timestamp.”
“Yes.”
“I was a coward.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sophie believed him.
That hurt too.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
He stared at her.
“That’s worse.”
“It isn’t supposed to feel good.”
“Sophie—”
“You keep asking women to tell you how to handle the consequences of your choices.”
He stopped.
First Vanessa.
Now Sophie.
Someone else always translating the next move.
“You need to decide what kind of man you are when nobody gives you instructions.”
Daniel stood.
At the door he turned back.
“Do you think there’s any chance for us?”
Sophie looked at him.
“I think the fact that I don’t know is one of the consequences.”
Daniel nodded.
May you like
Then left.
For the first time, Sophie did not feel responsible for making his pain smaller.
