Chapter 8 Morning sunlight filtered through the curtains as I sat beside Sophie's bed , watching her peaceful sleeping face . Last night's chaos didn't seem to mess with her sleep , which was at least something . My phone buzzed with a text from my lawyer : " Blake Turner's in custody but police say they can only hold him 24 hours for disturbing the peace . He claims he just wanted to see his daughter , no intent to harm . " I texted back : " File for a restraining order . Make it cover everywhere Sophie might go . " Putting my phone down , I smoothed out the wrinkles on Sophie's forehead . Seven years I'd worked my ass off keeping her safe from Blake's shadow , and somehow he still managed to crash into her world . " Mommy ... " Sophie's eyes fluttered open . " Is the bad man gone ? " " Yeah , the police took him away . " I kissed her forehead . " Want to hit up the theme park today ? I cleared my whole schedule . " Sophie's eyes lit up instantly . " Really ? Can I ride the roller coaster ? " " Absolutely . " I smiled and booped her nose . " But breakfast first . " The theme park's happy chaos helped wash away last night's nightmare . Sophie dragged me on every single ride , ending with the carousel where she laughed like an absolute angel . I was taking pics with my phone when I spotted something in the corner of the frame - a guy in a baseball cap lurking behind the crowd , staring straight at us . Blake . My hand shook and I almost dropped my phone . When I looked up again , he was gone . Was I seeing things ? Or had he actually followed us here ? " Mommy ! Look ! " Sophie pointed at a rainbow in the sky . " It's so pretty ! " I forced myself to focus on my daughter while quietly telling security to stay extra alert . On the drive home , Sophie fell asleep in my arms . As we entered our neighborhood , security suddenly hit the brakes . " Ms. Sullivan , someone's blocking the road ! " I looked up to see Blake standing in the middle of the street , arms spread wide . He'd changed into clean clothes , but his eyes were still totally unhinged . " Go around him , " I told the driver . But Blake rushed over at that time and started banging on our window . " Khloe ! Just let me see Sophie ! Five minutes ! " Sophie woke up and freaked out seeing Blake outside , burrowing deeper into my arms . I cracked the window barely an inch . " Blake , if you keep stalking us , I'm calling the cops . " " I just want to talk to my daughter ! " His voice was breaking . " Look , I brought her favorite panda toy ! " He held up this grimy stuffed animal - the same kind I'd bought Sophie years ago , but she'd tossed it ages ago . " Get lost ! " I rolled up the window and snapped at the driver . " GO ! " Divorce Paners or Death Code ? My Choice , His Regret 77.8 % Chapter 8 The car shot forward as Make stumbled out of the way , still pathetically chasing us for a block before collapsing in the street like some abandoned homeless guy . Back home , I immediately called an emergency meeting with our lawyers and security team . " This is worse than we thought , " our security chief said , pulling up surveillance footage . " Blake's been circling us since his release last night . He hit Sophie's school , her favorite park , even tried bribing building security . " Our lawyer adjusted his glasses . " Legally , we can't completely stop him . We can file restraining orders , but enforcement is tricky . And ... " He hesitated . " If he pushes for paternity testing and sues for visitation , the court will probably side with him . " " Then we send them overseas , " Marcus said firmly . I shook my head . " Running won't work . Blake's lost it - he'd follow us to the ends of the earth . " Just then , our nanny rushed in panicking . " Miss ! Sophie's robot ... it's moving by itself ! " We bolted into Sophie's playroom and found Uncle Tin Man just standing there in the middle , holding up scissors and making these creepy slashing motions at Sophie's photos on the wall . " I swear I didn't do anything ! " Sophie was huddled in the corner looking scared as hell . " He just went psycho all by himself ! " Security immediately ripped out the robot's plug . I grabbed Sophie - poor kid was shaking like crazy . " It's cool baby , just some tech weirdness . " I tried to chill her out , but my gut was screaming that something was seriously wrong . When our tech guy checked out the robot , he found some seriously messed up shit . " This wasn't a glitch . Someone straight - up hacked this thing and totally rewrote its brain . " " Blake ? " Marcus looked ready to murder someone . Tech guy shook his head . " Dunno for sure . But this kind of next - level hacking ? Way too advanced for some random homeless dude . " That night , after Sophie's bedtime story , I was about to kill the lights when she dropped this bomb : " Mommy , is that scary man actually my dad ? " My hand totally froze on the switch . Like , what the hell do you even say to that ? " If he is , " Sophie whispered , " why's he such a freak ? Why didn't he want us before ? " I sat down and played with her hair . " Sophie , some people might have your DNA , but that doesn't make them family . You've got me , Marcus , Grandma and Grandpa - we're obsessed with you . That's what actually matters . " Sophie nodded like she kinda got it , then crashed out . I stood by the window staring at all our security cameras , and it hit me - this whole nightmare had to end . Like , for real this time . The next day , I hit up a shrink myself . Uncle " Based on what you're telling me , this Turner guy probably has paranoid personality disorder , " the doc said . " But we'd need to see him face - to - face to know for sure . " " What if he says hell no ? " " Then cops or family gotta force him in . " Beat . " But legally speaking , you're not family anymore . " I hung up and was like , fuck it . Time to unleash the full Sullivan family power and end this shit show . At the industry summit , I'm crushing my keynote when all hell breaks loose in the back . " KHLOE ! " This nasty voice cuts through everything . " GOTCHA ! " 81.5 % Chapter 8 Blake had somehow slithered in and was zombie walking toward the stage looking absolutely feral . Security tackled him but he kept thrashing around . " She's my wife ! Back off ! Khloe ! Baby , let's go home !" The whole place went absolutely batshit . Reporters were having orgasms with their cameras . I'm just standing there watching this total trainwreck and honestly ? I felt kinda sorry for him . Dude went from Silicon Valley hotshot to complete psycho . " Blake Turner , " I said into the mic , voice echoing everywhere . " We're over . Bounce . Stop being a creepy stalker . " Blake went dead quiet , giving me these serial killer eyes . " Where's our kid ? What'd you do with my Sophie ? " Now everyone really lost their minds . Reporters knew they'd just struck gold - tech queen Khloe Sullivan's baby daddy drama ! I said fuck it and went full savage . " Sophie's MY daughter . You're nobody to her . Keep this stalker shit up and I'll destroy you with every lawyer I've got . " Security dragged his ass out while he screamed like a maniac : " SHE'S MINE ! YOU CAN'T STEAL HER ! KHLOE ! YOU'LL BE SORRY ! " That video blew up TikTok within hours . Marcus went into full damage control mode while I stayed weirdly zen about it all . " Call the psych ward , " I told our lawyer . " I've got receipts that Blake's dangerous as hell . Let's get him locked up . " Three days later , after cops and head doctors did their thing , Blake got slapped with " paranoid personality disorder with violent tendencies " and got shipped off to the loony bin . I went to sign papers and peeked through this window at him . Blake was all curled up in his hospital pajamas , mumbling to himself like a crazy person . Nurse told me he'd been on repeat for days : " Khloe's gonna rescue me . She has to come back . " I peaced out without a second glance . Ten years of my life , ending with this absolute disaster . Outside in the gorgeous sunshine , I breathed deep and FaceTimed home . " Sophie ! Mommy's coming back . What do you want for dinner ? I'm cooking tonight ! " ' Sophie's voice came through all excited : " Can we have those yummy ribs ? Oh ! And Uncle Tin Man's working again - he's got some big surprise for me ! " I grinned , hung up , and slid into my ride . The nightmare was finally over . Time for me and my baby girl to actually live our best life .