3.Accident

~~Sophia~~

At that moment, I watched my whole world collapse right in front of me like it was built on rotten foundation.

My mind refused to accept what my ears had just heard. It kept searching for some other explanation, something that would make all of this less cruel. But there was nothing.

The engagement ring around my finger suddenly felt like a weight. 

While I was busy dreaming of a sweet future, these two assholes were busy fucking behind my back? 

“How… How long?” The question barely made it past my lips.

My gaze fixed on Hector. My fingers tightened until my nails dug into my palms.

“How long have you been sleeping with my sister?”

Hector's jaw shifted, but he said nothing.

“Answer my fucking question!” I didn't even realize I'd screamed until the sound echoed through the room.

My father's expression hardened.

“That's not what we're bothered about,” he said impatiently, as though I were a child throwing a tantrum instead of a woman whose entire future had just been ripped apart.

A bitter laugh escaped me. I suddenly felt like a stranger sitting among people who were supposed to be my family.

Then again, maybe I had always been a stranger to them.

I'd spent years trying to earn their love, convincing myself that if I just tried hard enough, if I was good enough, they would eventually see me.

And Hector…

Hector had been the one person I'd thought was the light in a life that had always felt painfully dark. But apparently, even he had chosen to become part of the darkness.

I dragged a trembling hand through my hair and looked away before they could see what was happening to me.

My fingers found their way to my mouth. I bit down hard on my nails, trying to keep myself from falling apart, but the pressure building behind my eyes was becoming impossible to ignore.

My vision blurred. I blinked rapidly.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to breathe.

“Romano will be here very soon,” Mother said, glancing at the clock.

“Who?” I turned sharply toward her. “Is he the one y’all want to sell me to?”

“Nobody's selling you,” Karla snapped. “You're simply being used to repay a debt.”

My stomach twisted.

“Used?” The word came out almost as a whisper.

Hector immediately reached for Karla's leg beneath the table, giving it a small squeeze, a silent warning to shut up.

My father leaned back in his chair, completely unaffected by the wreckage unfolding in front of him.

“Romano Moretti,” he said.

He said the name so casually, as though he were introducing a business associate instead of the man they intended to hand me over to.

Romano Moretti. The name rang a bell. He was the most feared Mafia lord in Mexico. His reputation for ruthlessness was everywhere. He was cold, calculating and completely merciless.

People said he killed without blinking. That he tortured people when he wanted to make an example out of them.

There were stories about the things he'd done, stories that were so horrible I never even wanted to know whether they were true.

But to the world, he remained a ghost. People knew the name Romano Moretti. They knew the stories. But photographs of him were almost impossible to find.

And that was the man my parents wanted to give me out to?

I let out a breathless, humorless chuckle.

“That's not possible.” I shook my head. “There's no way on mother earth I'm agreeing to this. That man is a monster.”

“Watch your tongue, young lady.” My father's voice hardened instantly. “We're your parents, and we have the right to give you off to whomever we please.”

“No.” I stepped back, my hands trembling slightly at my sides. “You don't have any fucking right to make decisions for me.”

My voice rose as the fear and anger I'd been trying to hold back finally broke through.

“Do you even know what you're telling me to do? You're giving me to a man no sane woman would willingly give herself to.”

I looked from my father to my mother, desperately hoping one of them would realize how insane this was.

“I'd rather die than agree to this.”

“Don’t sound so immature, Sophia,” Karla said, her patience wearing thin. “He asked specifically for you.”

I saw my father's chin twitch. He stood up so quickly that I instinctively stepped back, but before I could move any farther, he grabbed my arm.

His fingers dug into my skin.

“Listen to me, young lady.” His voice was low, his teeth clenched. “Whether you like it or not, you're going to do whatever Romano tells you to. Don't be selfish for once. He'll kill us if we don't provide you to him.”

Selfish? I stared at him in disbelief. So protecting myself from a killer was now being selfish?

If anything, they were the ones being selfish.

They were asking me to sacrifice my entire life because they had made a stupid decision.

“You should have thought about that before taking the loan from him.” I glared straight into his eyes, forcing myself not to look away.

“So you're saying you're not going to accept him?” my mother asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“No.” I said it firmly. That was final.

My father stared at me for a few seconds before his expression hardened.

“We'll see about that when he comes here. He's on his way right now to pick you.”

In that very moment, I knew that was my sign to take action because there was no way on mother earth I was marrying a killer. Apparently, I wasn't their daughter anymore. I was just something they could use to clear a debt.

I dragged my hand away from him.

They probably didn't expect me to run. But who cared?

I ran for my dear life.

“Sophia! Come back here!” My father's voice bellowed behind me, but I didn't stop.

I don't think I'd ever run that fast in my entire life. My legs moved almost on their own, driven by nothing but fear and the desperate need to get away from that house.

My feet barely touched the floor as I raced through the house. My lungs burned with every breath, but I didn't slow down.

Soon, I was out of the house and running toward the main road.

I had nothing with me. Not even my phone. And the road ahead was dark because it was already nighttime. But I didn't care.

I would think about tomorrow when tomorrow came. Right now, all I wanted was to get as far away from them as possible.

I heard my father's footsteps behind me, pounding against the ground. But he wasn't as young or agile as I was, and soon, the sound grew farther away.

When I got closer to the main road, I risked looking back to see if he was still following me.

That was the mistake I made.

Because the next thing I heard was the deafening beep of a car horn.

I turned but it was already too late.

The impact sent me flying.

My body slammed against the ground, and for a moment, I couldn't feel anything except the sharp shock that ripped through me.

I tried to breathe, but my lungs seemed to forget how.

My vision swam as I stared up at the night sky, clear and scattered with stars.

Was this really how I was going to die?

A warm trickle slid down the side of my face. I reached up weakly and touched my head.

Blood. My fingers came away wet and panic tightened my chest.

I tried to move sideways, but my body felt heavy and strangely distant, like it no longer belonged to me.

Everything around me began to blur.

Then I saw a pair of legs running toward me. Someone was coming. I didn't know who it was. I couldn't even make out their faces.

But strangely, one thought crossed my mind. If I died right here, at least it wouldn't be Karla or Hector who killed me.

Strong arms slipped beneath me and lifted me from the ground.

I wanted to say something. But my lips wouldn't move.

The last thing I felt was the warmth of those arms around me.

Then everything went dark.