FAZER LOGINDominic watched Sophia sitting at the kitchen table, shoulders tight, eyes exhausted, phone still buzzing every few minutes like the night refused to let her breathe.For the first time all day—she looked overwhelmed.Not focused.Not strategic.Just tired.Patrick stayed crouched beside her for another second before finally standing.“She needs rest,” he said quietly.Dominic nodded slowly.Then moved toward Sophia without hesitation.He gently took the phone from her hands and muted it completely before setting it face down on the counter.“No more tonight.”Sophia looked up at him, exhaustion written all over her face.“I can’t shut my brain off.”Dominic reached down and took her hand carefully.Not forceful.Grounding.“Come on,” he said softly.“Let’s try to sleep.”Sophia looked toward the windows instinctively.Then toward the stairs.Then toward Patrick.Patrick gave her a small nod.“I’ve got downstairs.”Dominic squeezed her hand lightly.“Come on,” he repeated quietly.“L
Sophia stayed quiet for a moment after Pasquale said it.Let me carry this part now.Those words hit harder than anything else had tonight.Because she hadn’t realized how badly she needed to hear them.The kitchen around her blurred for just a second.Patrick quietly turned back toward the cameras, giving her space.Dominic stayed seated, watching her carefully but not interrupting.Sophia finally spoke softly into the phone.“I don’t know how this got this bad.”Pasquale answered immediately.“Because you kept trying to handle it peacefully.”Sophia let out a shaky breath.“She followed the kids today.”Saying it out loud again made it feel even more real.“I know,” Pasquale replied quietly.“And tomorrow, everybody else is going to know too.”Sophia leaned against the counter slightly, exhaustion finally catching up to her.“She keeps texting like she knows everything we’re doing.”Pasquale’s voice hardened again.“That’s because she’s spiraling. She’s trying to maintain psychologi
The house stayed tense long after the headlights disappeared.Nobody trusted the quiet anymore.Not after tonight.Patrick kept monitoring the cameras from the kitchen table while Dominic stood near the living room window, forcing himself not to look outside every thirty seconds.Sophia stayed in the middle of it all.Calm.Focused.But exhausted down to her bones.Another motion alert flashed across Patrick’s screen.Everyone looked immediately.Empty street.No visible car this time.“She’s parking farther down now,” Patrick said quietly.Dominic let out a sharp breath.“She’s literally hunting us.”Sophia looked toward the stairs instinctively.Toward the sleeping kids.“No,” she said quietly.“She’s trying to intimidate us.”Patrick nodded once.“And she’s escalating because she knows tomorrow changes everything.”That hung in the room.Because tomorrow did change everything.The mayor.The EMS Chief.Official attention.Questions she wouldn’t be able to manipulate away.Dominic f
Patrick’s grip tightened slightly around the phone as Dominic stared at the image.Streetlight glow.Dark hoodie.Standing just outside the range of the motion lights.Watching the house.Dominic’s face drained instantly.“She’s outside now?”Patrick nodded once.“Camera picked her up near the corner about two minutes ago.”Dominic moved immediately toward the front window.Patrick stopped him fast.“Don’t.”Dominic looked at him sharply.“She’s outside my house.”“And she wants you to react,” Patrick replied calmly.“That’s the point.”The room tightened again instantly.The feeling of safety upstairs suddenly fragile.Temporary.Patrick zoomed in on the image.Kristi wasn’t moving.Just standing there.Watching.Another notification buzzed.Motion detected.Same camera.“She’s still there,” Patrick muttered.Dominic ran both hands over his face hard.“This is insane.”“No,” Patrick said quietly.“This is escalation.”Upstairs, the kids laughed softly about something before settling
The house settled into a strange kind of quiet after the call.Not peaceful.But organized.Directed.Patrick finished adjusting the last camera angle on his laptop.Dominic was outside double-checking locks and motion lights for the third time.Upstairs, the kids were finally slowing down, their excitement fading into exhaustion.Sophia sat alone at the kitchen table for a moment.Phone in front of her.Messages still waiting unread.She looked at the screen.Then flipped it over.Done giving it power.Patrick walked back into the kitchen and stopped when he saw her expression.“You alright?”Sophia let out a tired laugh.“No,” she answered honestly.Then after a pause—“But I’m clearer.”Patrick pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.“You’ve been holding everybody together.”Sophia looked toward the stairs.“I have to.”Patrick’s expression softened slightly.“You don’t always have to do it alone.”That almost cracked something in her again.Almost.Before she could answer—t
Sophia sat at the kitchen table surrounded by open bags, paperwork, and half-finished lists.The house felt split in two.Upstairs—children packing stuffed animals and pajamas.Downstairs—adults trying to contain something that had gone too far.Sophia stared at her phone in silence.No tears.No panic anymore.Just exhaustion.Deep exhaustion.“I’m done with this,” she said quietly.Not to anyone specifically.Just… out loud.Patrick looked up from installing camera notifications on his laptop.Dominic stopped pacing immediately.Sophia leaned back slowly in the chair, rubbing her temples.“I’m done reacting to her. I’m done changing our lives around someone who refuses to stop.”And for the first time—there was no fear in her voice.Only resolve.Her phone rang.Pasquale.The second she saw his name, the energy in the room shifted.Even Patrick straightened slightly.Sophia answered immediately.“Hey.”Pasquale’s voice came through calm and direct.“I’m already on the road.”Soph
Morning came slowly over the estate, the soft Texas sunlight slipping through the tall windows of Sophia’s room. She hadn’t slept much. Every time she closed her eyes, flashes of the night before crept in—John’s anger, the way Patrick stepped between them, the sound of Angelo pulling his gun.But i
The black sedan rolled slowly down the long road away from the estate. John kept both hands tight on the steering wheel, his jaw still aching where Sophia had hit him the night before.He replayed the scene in the house over and over in his head.There wasn’t.Her words echoed louder than anything
Sophia sat very still after that.“When you grow up watched,” she said quietly, “you start to internalize it.”Jacob frowned. “Internalize what?”“The gaze.”Lily understood first.“You became self-monitoring,” she said.“Yes.”Sophia folded her arms loosely, not defensive — contained.“I didn’t re
Sophia stared at the floor for a long moment before speaking again.“There’s something else,” she said quietly.Jacob and Lily exchanged a look but stayed silent.“I wasn’t supposed to marry at all,” she continued. “Not officially. Not publicly.”Lily frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”“My fathe







