Vesna cooperated with the investigation through her attorney. Her priority was keeping Sophie safe and establishing exactly what she had signed.
I never asked her to become my friend.
She never asked me to forgive her for the part she had played in my marriage.
We didn’t need to pretend that our lives had become simple just because we had stopped allowing Richard to control the story.
But sometimes she sent me photographs of Sophie.
A sleeping baby with one tiny fist curled beside her face.
A smile that appeared unexpectedly during a quiet afternoon.
A picture of her sitting on a blanket, looking at the world as if it were the most wonderful thing she had ever seen.
I always replied.
Not because I owed Vesna anything.
Because Sophie deserved to grow up surrounded by people who understood that she was a child, not a financial instrument, a secret, or a bargaining chip.
