Page 193 of Checkmate
“Hey sweetheart,” she cooed as she set off the white noise machine. “Let’s have a cuddle, shall we?” She picked up her daughter and sat in a rocking chair by the window. From there, she had a view of the city. Odette settled against her chest as Sophie rocked them gently, her tiny fingers playing with a strand of Sophie’s hair.
Peaceful moments like this made it worth it, she supposed. But this was not how she envisioned her life.
When she thought back over the last year, she wanted to weep for the life she had lost. The beautiful house was gone. The luxury cars - gone. Even the clothes she had once treasured were long gone.
If last year’s Sophie could see her now wearing a pair of Alex’s old boxers and a tatty grey T-shirt, she’d die. But this was life now. Most days, she barely bothered to dress. Instead, she wallowed at home and frantically searched for news about Marcus and Erica.
Thank God for Alex, who had surprised her by being a decent father.
He doted on Odette, and Sophie hated to admit that without him, she would have failed. How smug she had been when she first got that positive pregnancy test all those months ago. She was so determined she’d have the help - a chef, a maid, and a nanny. But they’d all disappeared along with the house and all their money.
“Mummy should have left him to rot in that jail cell,” she murmured against the soft, wispy hair on top of Odette’s head. Though that was perhaps a little harsh. What she shouldn’t have done was steal Erica’s rings.
“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness, Sophie.”
Those words haunted her, and she wished she had taken them more seriously.
She had assumed that there were no consequences for the theft, and Sophie laughed at how pathetically kind Erica was. What kind of woman was she to allow Sophie to take advantage of her so many times? She had stolen her husband, her home, and now her jewellery, and because of a baby, Erica wouldn’t retaliate.
Sophie couldn’t have been more wrong.
The first blow had been the billboards.
On either side of the city, they placed two boards. They showed a close-up of Sophie’s face with words that still made her cringe to remember.
Have a husband? Avoid this woman! Sophie will steal your husband. She’ll cheat on her own! Then, she’ll get herself pregnant. When you help her, because no one else would, she’ll steal your things. She’ll pawn them to bail out your ex, who assaulted you! Not one to bring home to the mother, fellas!
The billboards had remained in place for a month. No matter who Sophie and Alex complained to, or tried to bribe, no one removed them. She was sure Marcus had pulled strings with Angus and the other bigwigs who ran the city.
Sophie didn’t want to show her face anywhere after that!
But, of course, she had no choice. Baby appointments, work, and begging clients not to leave the company. The last three months of her pregnancy had been a whirlwind.
Unfortunately, begging couldn’t stop Alex’s clients, and they dropped him as their representative. Apparently, they could forgive a lot. But an eight-foot-high billboard airing all of Alex’s dirty laundry was a step too far.
The business folded pretty soon after that. Alex had been smart enough to call it quits before it landed them in a bunch of debt. But with no business, they could no longer afford the house.
That went next, sold for under the market value, just for a quick sale. Sophie had cried with every box loaded into the moving truck. These tears weren’t because of pregnancy hormones.
Leaving the house she loved for the flat Alex had bought, broke her spirit. She thought of the home Marcus and Erica had bought together. It had been lovely. It made her weep even more.
And she had ended up right back in a dinky flat.
It had been smart of Alex to buy them a place rather than rent. It took a lot of the funds from the house sale. But it meant they had room to breathe. They did not have to worry about rent or a mortgage.
But a smart choice didn’t make it easier. Bringing a newborn Odette into this place was soul-crushing. She should have had a beautiful nursery.
Those first three months of Odette’s life were probably the most content Sophie had felt. Alex was home all the time, and he had thrown himself into fatherhood. In fact, seeing him being a daddy to her daughter made Sophie fall for him all over again.
They’d fallen back into a relationship without even discussing it. One day Alex was sleeping on the sofa, the next he was sleeping next to her in her bed, and the three of them were a family.
He had helped with Odette and taken such good care of Sophie. She couldn’t have asked for more of him. But of course, the fun times couldn’t last.
Soon, the money from the house sale dwindled. Alex was obsessively job hunting. She’d gone from having him here all the time, to barely seeing him as he worked two jobs just to keep them afloat.
When he was home, they argued or fucked. Their daughter was reluctant to sleep, so it was rare for them to be intimate.
Not rare enough to get yourself knocked up again.
