Chapter 15: When Grief Ignites

The curtains stayed shut. Days blurred into each other, and the air in the apartment felt heavy, thick with silence. Sophia hadn’t left the house. She hadn’t gone to work. She hadn’t even answered her phone.

The dishes piled up in the sink, untouched. The bed remained unmade, but Sophia wasn’t in it. She was on the floor, her back against the couch, knees pulled to her chest. Her eyes, swollen and dry, stared blankly ahead. She had cried so much that the tears no longer came.

The world outside kept moving, but hers had stopped.

Sophia's phone rang, the sharp sound felt like a knife through the silence. She ignored it at first, but it kept ringing. Reluctantly, her trembling hand reached for it.

The voice on the other end made her stomach drop. It was the hospital.

“Miss Sophia…” The doctor’s tone was soft but carried the weight of what he was about to say. “I’m so sorry… Your mother passed away earlier today.”

The phone nearly slipped from her hand.

“No… no, no, no…” Her voice broke, her throat tightening as a cold wave crashed over her chest.

The doctor’s voice became muffled, drowned by the roaring in her ears. She couldn’t breathe. It felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest.

She dropped the phone.

Her knees hit the floor with a dull thud, but she didn’t feel it. A raw, broken cry tore from her throat—loud, aching, and full of a pain that couldn’t be contained.

Her body shook violently as grief took over, a wave so crushing that it felt like she was drowning. She clutched her chest as if trying to hold herself together, but everything inside her was shattering.

Her mother was gone.

The one person she fought for. The reason she endured everything. Gone.

And she hadn’t been there.

The guilt hit her just as hard as the loss. If only Tina and Alex hadnt taken the money. If only…

Her sobs filled the empty apartment, raw and uncontrollable. Her voice cracked from the force of her cries, but she didn’t care.

Minutes passed. Maybe hours. She didn’t know. The ache didn’t stop. It hollowed her out, leaving her cold and broken.

By the time her body gave in to exhaustion, she was curled on the floor, her tears soaking into the carpet. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. She felt empty. Numb. As if life had drained out of her.

The silence returned. But now, it felt different. It felt final.

…..

The days after her mother’s death felt like a blur. But the sadness… it didn’t stay. It burned into something else. Something hotter.

Anger.

Sophia sat on the edge of her bed, her fists clenched so tight her nails dug into her palms. Her heart pounded, and her chest heaved with every breath. The tears that once poured freely had dried up. Now, all she felt was rage.

Tina. Alex.

Their names tasted bitter on her tongue.

Her body shook as she thought about them—how they had taken everything from her. Her mother was gone. And they were the reason.

“I trusted you…” Her voice was low, cold, and sharp, the words slipping through gritted teeth.

The image of Tina’s smug face flashed in her mind. She could almost hear her taunts, feel her arrogance. And Alex… the man she once thought she knew, standing by Tina’s side, helping her destroy everything.

Sophia’s hands slammed onto the nightstand, rattling the lamp. The glass of water tipped and shattered on the floor, but she didn’t flinch.

“They’ll pay for this,” she whispered, her voice dark and steady.

Her eyes, once soft and warm, now burned with something fierce. She felt it rising inside her—a fire she had never known.

“You wanted to ruin me, Tina?” Sophia’s voice trembled with raw anger. “You think you won?”

Her nails dug deeper into her palms, but she welcomed the sting. It was nothing compared to the pain they had caused her.

“I swear…” She paused, her breath shaky but her voice firm. “You’ll regret every second of what you did to me.”

The ache in her chest hadn’t gone away. It was still there, but it was no longer a weight holding her down. It was fuel.

And with that fire burning in her heart, Sophia made a promise—one she would never break.

Tina and Alex wouldn’t get away with it.

Not this time.