Chapter 10 - The Choice Lucas Never Expected
Lucas stared at the email for nearly ten minutes.
Sophia found him at the kitchen table.
“What happened?”
He turned the laptop toward her.
She read it.
Then looked at him.
“When?”
“Not immediately.”
“But you'd leave again?”
“Possibly.”
Sophia became quiet.
Lucas closed the laptop.
“I can decline.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
“You didn't have to.”
She sat across from him.
Military service was part of Lucas.
Sophia had always understood that.
Before everything happened, she would have told him to go without hesitation.
Now things were different.
Not because she wanted to control him.
Because fear had rewritten the meaning of absence.
Lucas reached across the table.
“Talk to me.”
“I don't want what happened to decide your life.”
“It won't.”
“But I don't know if I can do another eight months yet.”
“Then we don't.”
Sophia stared at him.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“But your career—”
“Matters.”
“And?”
“You matter more.”
Sophia looked down.
Lucas squeezed her hand.
“I spent eight months thinking my job was protecting people far away.”
He glanced toward the nursery.
“I came home and learned the people I loved needed me here too.”
Sophia's eyes filled.
“You can't protect us every second.”
“I know.”
That realization had taken Lucas longer to accept.
Protection did not mean standing guard forever.
It meant building systems strong enough that Sophia never became isolated again.
Her own accounts.
Her own phone.
People she trusted.
Legal safeguards.
Friends.
Family.
Independence.
Safety was not dependence on Lucas.
It was the opposite.
Sophia needed her freedom back.
Lucas declined the assignment.
Not his career.
Not his service.
Just this assignment.
He requested a period that would keep him closer to home.
Weeks later, it was approved.
When he told Sophia, she hugged him.
Leo began crying between them.
Lucas laughed.
“Apparently he objects.”
“He objects to everything.”
“Definitely my son.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow.
“Your son?”
“Our son.”
“Better.”
Life began rebuilding itself around ordinary routines.
Lucas returned to work locally.
Sophia started therapy.
She reconnected with friends Eleanor had pushed away.
She began making decisions without looking over her shoulder.
Some days were easy.
Others weren't.
One afternoon, Sophia dropped a glass.
It shattered.
Lucas heard it from another room and hurried into the kitchen.
Sophia stood frozen.
“I'm sorry.”
Lucas stopped.
She was breathing too quickly.
“It's a glass.”
“I know.”
“We own more.”
She looked at the broken pieces.
Then she started crying.
Lucas understood.
This wasn't about a glass.
He didn't touch her until she reached toward him.
Then he held her.
“I hate this,” she whispered.
“What?”
“That I'm scared of stupid things.”
“They aren't stupid if they remind you of something.”
“I want to be normal.”
Lucas pulled back enough to look at her.
“You are.”
Sophia shook her head.
Lucas smiled gently.
“Normal people break glasses.”
She laughed through her tears.
“You're terrible at this.”
“I've been told.”
He cleaned the glass.
She made coffee.
Life continued.
Then came the call they had been waiting for.
Michael wanted them at his office.
The investigation had reached an important stage.
Lucas and Sophia arrived together.
Michael placed two folders in front of them.
One marked ELEANOR DAVIS.
The other AUDREY DAVIS.
Sophia stared at the names.
Michael explained the developments carefully.
There would be consequences.
Legal proceedings were moving forward.
Financial claims were being addressed.
Their access to the home was over.
And the evidence Sophia feared nobody would believe had become impossible to ignore.
When Michael finished, Sophia asked, “Do I have to see them?”
“No.”
“Do I have to speak to them?”
“No.”
She exhaled.
Lucas looked at her.
“What do you want?”
Sophia closed both folders.
“I want to go home.”
So they did.
But when they reached the house, someone was waiting outside.
Audrey.
Alone.
May you like
And the moment Lucas stepped out of the car, she raised both hands and said:
“I'm not here to fight.”
