No Longer Your Rose Chapter 07
After dropping Valentina off, Dario went straight to find Theo.
“How long was Isabella sentenced to?” His voice was low and heavy.
Theo looked up. “One year.”
Dario froze. “But Isabella said she served five.”
There was no reason for Isabella to lie to him now.
Could the victim’s family have reversed their stance, leading to a harsher court ruling?
The two men looked at each other, both seeing the same doubt in the other’s eyes.
Just then, both of their phones buzzed at the same time.
They pulled out their phones and saw an email from Isabella.
The attached documents included screenshots from the dashcam footage of the accident five years ago. Sophia’s face was clearly visible. Everything showed that Sophia had staged the whole thing to frame Isabella.
Theo’s hands started to shake.
Every piece of evidence proved Isabella was innocent.
Every time, Sophia had set her up.
But not one of them had ever believed Isabella. They blindly took Sophia’s side at every turn, condemning me, resenting me, and forcing me to kneel and beg for forgiveness.
Worse, to keep Sophia out of prison, they had threatened Isabella with her adoptive parents’ lives and forced her to take the blame.
He raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.
“I’m unforgivable.”
Just then, Sophia walked in with the child.
She saw Dario and smiled. “Dario, what brings you here?”
She turned and saw the look on Theo’s face. Her smile froze.
Before she could react, Theo grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the wall.
Sophia’s face turned red. She clawed at his fingers, gasping for air. “Theo… what are you doing…”
“You’ve got absolute gall, Sophia.”
“You manipulated the victim’s family into settling and dropping the case, didn’t you? Stirred them up. Even arranged for prison inmates to torment and brutalize Isabella behind bars.”
Sophia struggled, her nails drawing blood on the back of his hands. “I didn’t… Isabella is lying…”
Theo let go and shoved her. Sophia hit the floor hard.
The little boy screamed and burst into terrified sobs and threw his arms around her. “Mommy! Mommy!”
Sophia held the child, took a shaky breath, and looked up with tears in her eyes.
“Fine. I did it.”
“But I did it because I love you. I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t let my child grow up without a father.”
Theo laughed out loud, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Sophia, is he even my child?”
Sophia went pale. Her lips trembled, but no words came out. She pulled the child behind her back.
She looked up at Dario, her voice hoarse. “Dario, please, do something!”
Dario stood still. He didn’t move.
He looked at Sophia on the floor and hardly recognized her.
In his memory, she was the sweet little sister who brought him late-night snacks when he worked overtime and knitted him scarves for his birthdays.
When had she become this stranger?
To protect her, he had hurt his own flesh and blood.
He had slapped Isabella. He had taken the shares her grandfather left her. He had sent her to prison.
After she got out and opened that small barbecue shop, he had never once asked her if she was okay.
Dario clenched his fists, his voice quiet. “We’ve uncovered every dirty thing you’ve done, Sophia.”
“The Santoro family will take back the shares we gave you. You have no right to keep what belongs to Isabella.”
Sophia slowly stood up, shielding the child behind her, and let out a bitter, mocking laugh.
“What right do you have to judge me? You’re just as complicit in destroying Isabella as I am”
“She will never forgive any of you. Never.”
The doorbell rang.
Dario opened the door. Two police officers stood outside, their expressions serious.
“You’re under arrest for felony hit-and-run.”
“Both of you, accessory after the fact and perjury.”
“Turn around. Hands behind your backs.”
Sophia took a step back, her face white.
Dario glanced at Theo, then walked out first.