Chapter 6 - THE SIX WITNESSES
Michael Harper came to Columbus three days later.
He did not hug me immediately.
Neither did I.
We stood across from each other in a quiet coffee shop.
He had my eyes.
The same dark brown.
The same small crease between the eyebrows when we were confused.
I noticed it before I wanted to.
“Your mother told me you were gone,” he said.
“Where?”
“Somewhere overseas.”
I stared at him.
“She told you I was gone?”
“She said you didn't want to know me.”
My chest tightened.
“She told me you abandoned her.”
Michael looked down.
“I never abandoned either of you.”
We sat there for two hours.
He told me about Brenda.
About the engagement.
About the night she disappeared from his life.
He had been working out of state.
When he returned, she was married to Gregory.
Pregnant.
He had tried to contact her.
She refused to speak to him.
Gregory threatened him.
Eventually, Michael left.
Not because he didn't care.
Because he believed Brenda had chosen another life.
I listened quietly.
Then I told him about the brick.
His expression hardened.
“Your father did that?”
“He was never my father.”
Michael looked at me.
“Maybe not by blood.”
The words stayed with me.
Meanwhile, the legal case against Gregory was moving forward.
Detective Harris had gathered statements from six witnesses.
The electrician had seen Gregory block emergency assistance.
The delivery driver had heard Gregory threaten Wyatt.
The neighbor had seen the brick in Gregory's hand.
The teenager's video captured Melanie's statement.
A nurse had recorded my initial statement at the hospital.
And Arthur Bell had been present in the house before the attack.
Each witness held a piece of the truth.
Together, they formed something impossible to destroy.
But my family tried anyway.
Brenda hired a lawyer.
She claimed I had provoked Gregory.
Melanie said I had always been jealous of her.
Gregory's attorney suggested the attack had been an accident.
A terrible misunderstanding.
The word made me furious.
There was nothing accidental about a brick being lifted.
Nothing accidental about my father saying:
“You're marrying Melanie or you're out of this family.”
Wyatt had kept his broken phone.
The audio recording had survived.
The screen was shattered.
The memory chip was not.
The recording was sent to a forensic technician.
When the audio was enhanced, the voices became clear.
Gregory.
Melanie.
Brenda.
They were discussing Wyatt.
They were discussing money.
They were discussing me.
Then the technician discovered something else.
The recording began several minutes before the attack.
The first words were Gregory's.
“You have until tonight.”
My voice answered:
“I'm not leaving Wyatt.”
Then Brenda laughed.
And Melanie said:
“If he won't choose me willingly, we'll make sure Sadie can't stand in the way.”
I listened to the recording twice.
Then I closed my eyes.
Wyatt reached for my hand.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“That you had to hear this.”
I looked at him.
“You didn't do this.”
“No.”
“My family did.”
The recording was submitted to the police.
The case changed immediately.
Then the teenager's video was released.
It showed Gregory holding the brick.
It showed Brenda laughing.
It showed Melanie standing calmly on the porch.
Public opinion turned overnight.
But the biggest shock came from Arthur.
He told Detective Harris that Gregory had invited him to the house before the attack.
Why?
To discuss the old will.
Gregory had wanted Arthur to destroy it.
Arthur had refused.
And he had secretly recorded their conversation.
When the police listened to that recording, they heard Gregory say:
“She cannot have that estate.”
Arthur asked:
“Why not?”
Gregory answered:
“Because if Sadie gets control, everything we built is gone.”
Arthur replied:
“Everything you stole, you mean.”
There was a long silence.
May you like
Then Gregory said something that made everyone in the room freeze.
“Sadie doesn't even know who she really is.”
