Chapter 2 Twelve years for a lie

My breath grabbed my throat. I felt the room turning around me, the edges of my vision began to blur.

I was a second away from fainting, but I forced myself to concentrate on the face of the officer and desperately looking for any sign that it was a mistake.

Maybe some kind of misunderstanding?

"And ... arrest?" I stammered, my voice barely whisper. "What are you talking about?"

But he was unwavering, his eyes cold and serious. There was no doubt in his voice.

"Sophie Hendricks, you are arrested for trading drugs and human exploitation. You have the right to be silent. Everything you say or do can and will be used against you in court ... "

Before I could find the words that would react, my wrist was pulled behind my back, the cold bite of the handcuffs was locked in place.

My stomach spewed when I was led from the house ...

**********

The scene moved and I stood in the courtroom before I knew it.

The judge spoke in silence. "Will witnesses be revealed?"

And then, just like the unfolding nightmare, they were there. Bruce, my husband and Selena, my best girlfriend.

I could hardly stick together when a hot tear slid down my face.

What was that? I dreamed? I couldn't understand any of this.

Selena was the first to approach the stage. She climbed up, her voice stable, but fake, practiced.

"Sophie was my best friend from college," she began, and her words dripped with false sincerity. "I know her too well." I have always told her to stop engaging in drug trafficking, but never listened. She was still pushing me to get involved, and when I refused, she started pushing me ... I didn't want to have anything to do with it, but she didn't leave me alone. I tried to help her. There was always a lost cause... "

My chest tightened. I couldn't breathe. That was crazy. Lies. All lies.

She continued, every word twisted into my heart with a knife.

And then Bruce was up and stepped forward with a look at the sadness that didn't belong to his face. His voice cracked as he began his own version of our story.

"I loved Sophie." I really did, "he said, and his voice filled with false, trembling emotions. "But she changed." I tried to warn her to help her, but she was too far away. I never imagined that it would be involved in something like that. Drugs ... trading in trading ... I no longer knew what to do. I even found that he was planning to bring Selena. It destroyed me. "

The only tear slid down his face.

I felt my heart break. He cried. Crocodile tears. It was all part of his game.

More people testified one by one, each of which offered their own piece of this terrible puzzle, all singing the same twisted melody.

Every lie was stacked on the other until their weight was canceled.

The judge spoke again, his voice cold and finite.

"The court heard enough." The defendant, Sophie Hendricks, has been sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment. "

She rang the words in my ears, such as the death sentence, a permanent mark on my soul.

And that was when everything turned black.

My body was giving away and I collapsed in the courtroom, the head spins, the world around me disappeared to .. Total Darkness.

**********

I woke up with a sharp capping and my head pounded as my eyes were slowly opening.

At first I was hit by the sterile scent of the hospital room, followed by a look at the blurred figure that hovering over me.

"Thank God you are awake," the sister and relief of her voice said. "You fainted for exhaustion, but now you're fine."

I tried to sit down, all the memories flooded back, but my body felt hard, as if I were sleeping for days.

"What ... what happened?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.

The nurse smiled gently. "You fainted in court." You were under great stress. We had to perform several tests. "

I flicked and kept trying to understand everything. "Tests?" I repeated, my mind raced.

She nodded.

"We wanted to be thoroughly." And ... Well, we have some news. You are pregnant. "

Pregnant?

I felt as if the Earth had fallen from under me.

"Pregnant?" I said, my heart lay in my chest. "I ... I'm pregnant?"

The nurse looked uncomfortable, but nodded. "Yes, you are."

My world leaned again and the shock plunged.

How could that be real? I wore my child ... a man who just destroyed my life.

**********

Five years later...

The door to my cell opened and Ward's voice came down the corridor. "Sophie Hendricks."

I straightened myself, the name rolled out of her language, as if it were my own. Yes, it used to be mine.

It has been five long years since I was Sophie Hendricks, but now I was Elena Maxwell.

I watched her around the hallway and the air felt different. Lighter. Brighter. It was as if the weight of my past was raised, replaced by something new, something inviolable.

After completing the necessary formalities, the chains of my earlier life were finally removed. I was handed over to the world outside.

There was an elegant black SUV at the gates, immaculate and strong. She was behind her back straight and her behavior, was a woman who organized my rise. It was the one that ensured that I would never survive ... but it benefits. A sophisticated figure, spotless in an adapted suit that shouted wealth and strength.

Her smile was sharp, but her eyes retained the heat I knew was right.

"It's good to have you back," she said, and her voice stable, but welcome.

I breathed deep, the fresh air of the real world filled my lungs after five years of darkness. Everything about this moment felt different. That was freedom.

I looked around, the reality of my new life dropped. I wasn't just another face in the crowd. I was rich. Very rich. A mighty woman in herself.

"Are you ready to pull it out?" She asked with a smile.

I turned face -to -face, my lips curled into a confident smile. "More than ever."