Chapter 5 - The Media Circus
Four months passed. The story broke, and the media descended on their family like vultures. The Sedona Floorboard Boy, they called it. True crime podcasts dissected Elena’s flawless Instagram posts, contrasting her perfect latte art with the monstrous reality beneath her floors.
David and Sarah had moved back to Texas, putting a thousand miles between them and the nightmare house. They bought a secluded property with massive windows, ensuring there were no dark corners, no basements, no secrets.
Leo was healing, but the scars were deep. He flinched at loud noises. He refused to wear socks, panicked by the feeling of anything confining his feet. And he never, ever went into a room without leaving the door wide open.
Maya, incredibly, became his anchor. The six-year-old rarely left his side, her presence a silent, fierce protection.
But the peace was fragile. The trial was approaching.
Elena’s high-powered defense attorney was pushing for an insanity plea. They argued that her grief over her miscarriage had triggered a psychotic break, making her incapable of understanding right from wrong. If the jury bought it, she would go to a luxury psychiatric facility instead of a maximum-security prison.
May you like
David swore on his life he would never let that happen. But the prosecution had a problem. To prove Elena was calculating and malicious, they needed a star witness.
They needed Leo to testify.
