Chapter 1 - The Last KickThe room went silent.
Victor stood over me with the wooden stick raised above his shoulder.
For a moment, nobody laughed.
Even Helena, who had been smiling only seconds earlier, looked uncertain.
I was on the kitchen floor, one arm wrapped around my stomach, the other pressed against the cracked tile. My vision came in flashes.
Victor's face.
Helena's cold eyes.
Raul's clenched jaw.
Nora's phone still pointed at me.
And then, beneath all the fear, I felt it.
Another tiny movement.
A kick.
Weak.
But real.
My baby was alive.
I tried to breathe.
Victor stepped closer.
"You sent a message, didn't you?"
I could barely move my lips.
"No."
He crouched beside me and grabbed my chin.
"Don't lie to me."
His breath smelled of coffee and cigarettes.
He smiled.
"You think your brother can save you?"
My heart stopped.
He knew.
Somehow, he knew I had reached for Alex.
Nora lowered her phone.
"Maybe she did send something."
Helena snapped toward her.
"Shut up."
Victor looked at Nora.
"Did you see anything?"
Nora hesitated.
That hesitation told me everything.
She had seen me.
She had watched me send the message.
She had watched me crawl across the floor.
And she had recorded it.
Victor stood.
"Give me your phone."
Nora froze.
"It's just my phone."
"Give it to me."
Her fingers tightened around it.
Victor crossed the room in two steps.
Nora finally handed it over.
He checked the screen.
His expression darkened.
Then he smiled again.
"Good."
He deleted something.
I didn't know what.
Then he turned back toward me.
"This family does not have problems," he said. "We have solutions."
Helena nodded.
"Exactly."
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to run.
But my body wouldn't cooperate.
My head throbbed.
Warm liquid trickled from my hairline down my cheek.
I looked toward the shattered phone.
The screen had split into a spiderweb of glass.
No signal.
No way to call anyone.
Then I heard something.
A faint vibration.
I blinked.
It came from inside the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink.
My phone.
For one glorious second, I thought Victor had missed it.
But then I remembered.
That wasn't my phone.
It was an old emergency phone I had hidden months ago.
A cheap prepaid device.
I had forgotten about it.
Victor hadn't.
Because he had no idea it existed.
I slowly pushed myself toward the cabinet.
Victor noticed.
"What are you doing?"
I froze.
"Nothing."
He walked closer.
I lowered my eyes.
"I think I'm bleeding."
That distracted Helena.
"Oh, she's doing it again."
Victor glanced at Helena.
"Check her."
Helena rolled her eyes and walked toward me.
She bent down.
And whispered so softly that only I could hear.
"You should have listened the first time."
Then she slapped me.
My cheek burned.
Something inside me changed.
The fear remained.
But beneath it was something harder.
Determination.
Because five minutes ago, I had been begging them to stop.
Now I knew they weren't going to stop.
Not until I was dead.
Or gone.
Helena stood again.
"She'll be fine."
Victor nodded.
"Good."
He picked up the stick.
I looked toward the sink.
The cabinet.
The phone.
Thirty seconds.
That's all I needed.
Then a sound came from outside.
A car door slammed.
Victor stopped.
Everyone looked toward the windows.
Another car door.
Then another.
Helena's face went pale.
"Who's that?"
Raul stood.
"No one should be here."
Victor frowned.
Then came three hard knocks against the front door.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Nobody moved.
The next sound was a man's voice.
"Open the door!"
My heart nearly exploded.
I knew that voice.
Alex.
Victor slowly turned toward me.
The color drained from his face.
"You didn't."
I smiled for the first time that morning.
"Yes."
His eyes widened.
Then something crashed against the front door.
Once.
Twice.
On the third удар, the lock broke.
The door burst inward.
And my brother stepped inside.
He wasn't alone.
Behind him stood two police officers.
But Alex was looking only at me.
At the blood.
At the broken phone.
At the wooden stick.
His expression went completely still.
Too still.
"Who did this?"
Nobody answered.
Alex looked at Victor.
Then at Helena.
Then at the stick in Victor's hand.
He said only one sentence.
"You're all going to prison."
Victor dropped the stick.
But he was too late.
May you like
Because the police had already seen everything.
And Nora's phone was still recording.
