Every person inside the courtroom froze.
Every person inside the courtroom froze.
Even the air itself seemed to stop moving.
The judge slowly leaned forward.
“Did you say… you recorded them?”
My tiny hands trembled as I held up the pink toy phone.
Everyone had laughed at that phone for years.
Arthur Sterling bought it for me on my seventh birthday because he didn’t want me touching his expensive devices.
What nobody knew was that the toy phone actually had a real recording feature hidden inside.
I pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Arthur's voice appeared.
Angry.
Loud.
Terrifying.
“You two are insane. If this ever gets out, the company will collapse.”
Then Clara’s voice came.
Cold.
Different from the sweet voice she always used in public.
“Nobody will ever know.”
Then Julian spoke.
“We poison him tonight. The nanny takes the blame. Eleanor is too young to understand anything.”
My entire body shook.
The courtroom exploded into chaos.
Gasps.
Shouting.
People standing from their seats.
The prosecutor’s face drained of color.
Clara stood up instantly.
“That recording is fake!”
But then another sound played.
Arthur yelling one final sentence.
“If anything happens to me, Clara and Julian did it.”
Suddenly, Clara grabbed her purse and sprinted toward the exit.
“Stop her!”
Bailiffs tackled her before she reached the doors.
Julian tried running too.
He didn’t make it three steps before officers pinned him to the floor.
For the first time in years…
Mrs. Gable began to cry.
Not from fear.
From relief.
I ran straight into her arms.
May you like
And for the first time since my father died…
I stopped feeling alone
