Chapter 9 - The Reckoning
Through the cabin’s windows, Ryan looked out to see the flashing lights of state trooper vehicles surrounding the perimeter of the woods. The tactical units were moving in, their weapons raised.
"Clara, please... you have to help me," Ryan sobbed into the phone, his voice completely broken. "They’re going to put me away forever. I did it for us! I wanted to give you a better life without the debt!"
"You tried to burn your six-year-old child alive for a check, Ryan," I said, a tear finally sliding down my cheek, not out of sorrow for him, but for the ghost of the man I thought I knew. "You didn't do it for us. You did it for your own weak, pathetic ego. Don't you dare use our names to justify your sickness."
"I have a rifle, Clara," Ryan threatened, his voice dropping into a desperate, dangerous tone. "I won't let them take me alive. I’ll end it right here."
"Then end it," I said, my tone turning to absolute stone. "But you will die knowing that you failed completely. You will die knowing that Sophie and I are going to live a long, beautiful, happy life, completely scrubbed of your existence. You are nothing to us anymore."
The line went dead as I hung up the phone. I looked at Detective Miller, nodding once.
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The tactical team breached the cabin seconds later. Ryan didn't have the courage to pull the trigger on himself. He was dragged out of the cabin in handcuffs, weeping like a coward, his face pressed into the dirt as the news cameras—which had followed the high-profile hunt—captured his ultimate disgrace for the entire world to see.
The viral footage of Ryan's arrest, paired with the horrifying details of the "House of Cards Arson," dominated social media for weeks. Millions of people across the country rallied behind Sophie and me, offering support, donations, and resources to rebuild our lives from the ashes.
