Chapter 9 - Vanessa's Version
Vanessa's attorney sent Mateo a formal letter. She disputed the allegations and claimed he was using grief over Mariana to turn Sofia against her. She wanted access to the child and warned that any attempt to exclude her would be treated as harassment.
Mateo forwarded the letter to his own attorney, Caroline Wells. "Keep everything," Caroline advised. "Messages, notes, dates, photographs. Don't threaten anyone. Let the evidence speak."
She filed for temporary orders asking that Vanessa's contact with Sofia be supervised until the assessment was complete. A hearing was scheduled; nothing was decided overnight.
That evening, Sofia refused to touch her dinner.
"Are you scared?" Mateo asked.
She nodded. "Vanessa says when people get mad, they leave."
Mateo sat across from her. "I can't control what Vanessa chooses. I can control what I do. I'm staying with you, and I'm getting help to keep you safe."
Sofia pushed a pea around her plate. "You said that before."
Later, Detective Reyes called. Investigators had obtained legal authority to examine Ricardo's old phone after he refused to provide the passcode.
"The device contains messages from the week Mariana died," Reyes said. "They don't match Ricardo's original statement."
"Is Vanessa in them?"
A pause. "Yes."
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Mateo gripped the counter. For three years, Vanessa had slept beside him while he mourned Mariana. Now he knew she had carried a secret through every anniversary, every school picture, every bedtime story.
And she had made his daughter pay for it.
