Chapter 6
Sarah stayed in the hospital for three days.
The doctors managed to stop the early labor.
Lowered her blood pressure.
Stabilized her condition.
But the message was clear.
The stress was killing her.
And my mother knew it.
That’s why she’d gone to the news.
She wanted to break Sarah.
Wanted her to crack under the pressure.
Wanted her to lose the baby.
And if that happened, she’d find a way to blame Sarah for it.
I sat in the hospital room.
Watching my wife sleep.
The news was on mute in the corner.
My mother’s face kept appearing.
The grieving mother.
The victim.
The public was eating it up.
Comments on news articles.
Social media posts.
People calling Sarah a gold digger.
A manipulator.
A liar.
People saying I was brainwashed.
That I’d turned against my own mother for a woman who was using me.
It was unbearable.
My lawyer called.
“We need to fight back,” she said. “Not with the media. With facts. We’re filing a restraining order against your mother. No contact. No coming within 500 feet of Sarah, the house, the hospital. And we’re requesting a gag order. She can’t talk to the press about this case.”
“Will it work?”
“Judges don’t like it when defendants try cases in the media. Especially when the other party is pregnant and in the hospital. We’ve got a good shot.”
She filed the papers that day.
The judge granted the restraining order.
And the gag order.
My mother couldn’t talk to us.
Couldn’t come near us.
Couldn’t talk to the press.
It was a small victory.
But I knew it wouldn’t stop her.
The day we brought Sarah home, there were reporters outside our house.
Cameras.
Microphones.
They’d found our address.
We had to sneak in through the back.
I called the police.
They made the reporters leave.
But I knew they’d be back.
That night, I got another text.
Unknown number.
“You think a piece of paper can stop me? I’m your mother. I gave you life. I can take everything away.”
I showed it to the detective.
“Burner phone again,” he said. “She’s being careful. But we’re getting closer. We found out the PI she hired. He’s got a record. Not clean. We’re looking into everything he found on Sarah.”
“Did he find anything?”
The detective hesitated.
“Nothing illegal. Nothing that would help her case. But he found… personal things. Medical history from college. A therapy appointment Sarah had after her sister died. Nothing she’d want public.”
I felt sick.
My mother had Sarah’s most personal, private information.
And she was desperate enough to use it.
The next week was quiet.
Too quiet.
No texts.
No cars parked outside.
No sign of my parents.
Sarah started to relax.
Just a little.
Her parents were still with us.
Taking care of everything.
We started preparing for the baby.
Setting up the nursery.
Folding tiny clothes.
Buying diapers and bottles and blankets.
For a few days, it almost felt normal.
Like we could actually have a life after this.
Then, one morning, everything fell apart.
I was making coffee when there was a knock at the door.
Two police officers.
“Daniel Carter?”
I nodded.
“Is Sarah Carter home?”
My heart stopped.
“She’s upstairs. Why? What’s happened?”
The officers looked at each other.
“Sir, your mother has been found dead in her home.”
The world tilted.
I grabbed the doorframe to stay upright.
“Dead?”
“Apparent heart attack. Your father found her this morning. He asked us to tell you personally.”
I couldn’t process it.
My mother.
Dead.
The woman who’d been terrorizing us.
Who’d tried to destroy my family.
Gone.
Just like that.
“Daniel?” Sarah’s voice from the top of the stairs.
She’d heard.
She came down slowly.
Her hand on her stomach.
The officers told her too.
She went pale.
Sat down on the stairs.
For a long time, no one spoke.
Then Sarah whispered, “Is it over?”
I didn’t know.
I really didn’t.
We went to my parents’ house that afternoon.
The police were still there.
My father was in the living room.
He looked old.
Broken.
When he saw me, he stood up.
“I tried to tell her to stop,” he said. “I told her she was going too far. But she wouldn’t listen. She was obsessed. Said Sarah was ruining the family.”
He started crying.
“I found her on the kitchen floor. Same spot where… where it all happened. Like she was waiting for something.”
I didn’t know what to say.
I felt… nothing.
And everything.
Relief that it was over.
Guilt that I felt relieved.
Sadness for the mother I’d once had.
Anger at the woman she’d become.
The detective pulled me aside.
“Mr. Carter, I know this is a terrible time. But we need to ask you something. Your mother’s body… there are some inconsistencies. We’re not ruling out foul play yet.”
I stared at him.
“Foul play? You think someone killed her?”
“We’re just being thorough. Given everything that’s happened. The threats. The obsession. The high emotions. We need to make sure.”
He looked at me carefully.
“Where were you last night, Mr. Carter?”
“Home. With my wife. And her parents.”
“Anyone can confirm that?”
“All three of them. And our security system. It records everything.”
He nodded.
“Okay. We’ll need to check. Standard procedure.”
I went back to Sarah.
She was sitting in the corner.
Watching my father cry.
“Daniel,” she whispered. “They think someone killed her, don’t they?”
I nodded.
She looked up at me.
Her eyes were wide.
“Then it’s not over. Is it?”
I put my arm around her.
And I knew.
She was right.
May you like
My mother was dead.
But the nightmare was just beginning.
