Chapter 4

Three Years Later

Sophia was just finishing up her shift when her phone buzzed against the desk. She glanced at the screen and smiled before she even answered. The photo that lit up the display was one of her favorites three tiny faces smushed together, cheeks pink, eyes bright, all fighting to be closest to the camera.

"Mommy! Where are you?"

Chloe's voice piped through the speaker, high and sweet and demanding in the way only a three-year-old could manage. Sophia pressed the phone to her ear and leaned back in her chair, letting the sound of her daughter's voice wash away the exhaustion of the day.

"I'm still at work, baby. I'll be home soon."

"Grandma didn't allow me to eat the candy in the fridge!" Chloe announced with all the righteous indignation her little body could muster. "She said I have to wait for you. But I waited all day, Mommy. All day is a very long time."

Sophia bit her lip to keep from laughing. "All day is a very long time. But Grandma is right. No candy before dinner."

"That's what Grandma said," Chloe grumbled. Then, in a whisper loud enough for the entire room to hear: "I think Grandma and you are working together."

Before Sophia could respond, a scuffle erupted on the other end of the line. She heard Chloe shriek, then the sound of small hands grappling for the phone.

"Give me the phone, Chloe!"

"Liam, stop it!"

"You've been talking forever! It's my turn!"

A moment later, Liam's voice came through, slightly breathless from his victory. "Mom? When are you coming back home? We miss you."

Sophia pressed her hand to her heart. Three years, and those words still made her chest ache with love. "I miss you too, baby. I'm leaving soon. I'll be home before you know it."

"Okay, Mom. We are expecting you." That was Tristan. She could picture him standing slightly apart from his siblings, the quiet observer, the one who always spoke last and meant every word.

"Let me talk to Grandma," Sophia said.

There was another scuffle, a muffled exchange, and then Mrs. Jose's warm, weathered voice came on the line. "Sophia? Don't worry about the children. They've been angels, as always."

"Chloe mentioned something about a candy rebellion."

Mrs. Jose chuckled. "That little one could negotiate her way into a vault. But don't you worry. Everything is under control here. You just finish your work and come home safe."

Sophia's throat tightened with gratitude. Mrs. Jose had been a blessing she never expected a neighbor who had become a grandmother to her children, a lifeline in a foreign country where Sophia had arrived with nothing but a suitcase and a secret growing inside her.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jose. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You don't have to thank me, Sophia. This is what family does."

Sophia hung up and gathered her things. The small logistics company where she worked was quiet at this hour, most of her coworkers already gone. She grabbed her coat and headed for the door, her heart already pulling her home.

The apartment was small but warm. Sophia had spent three years making it that way. Framed drawings hung on the walls stick figures and handprints and splashes of color that Chloe called "abstract masterpieces." A worn couch sat in the living room, covered in blankets that smelled like lavender. The kitchen always had something baking, and the windows let in the soft golden light of Starlight Country's endless summer evenings.

The moment Sophia's key turned in the lock, she heard the thunder of small feet.

"Mommy!"

Three bodies hit her at once.

Chloe reached her first, as always. Her pigtails bounced as she launched herself at Sophia's legs, her little arms wrapping around her mother's knees. Her face was the mirror of Sophia's same dark eyes, same stubborn chin, same smile that could light up a room.

Liam came second, more deliberate, waiting for Chloe to claim her spot before he tucked himself against Sophia's side. His face was his father's sharp jaw, intense eyes, a brow that already seemed to carry the weight of the world.

And then there was Tristan. He hung back for just a moment, watching the chaos of his siblings with calm, assessing eyes, before stepping forward to join the embrace. He was Leonardo in miniature, from the way he tilted his head to the quiet authority in his small voice.

Three children. Three perfect, impossible miracles she had birthed alone in a strange land, without anyone knowing except her mother, who had flown to Starlight Country secretly when the triplets were born and stayed until Sophia could stand on her own feet again.

Sophia knelt and gathered them all into her arms. "Did you guys miss me?"

"Obviously," Chloe said, as though the question itself was ridiculous.

"Liam took my crayons," Tristan reported quietly.

"I did not take them. I borrowed them. There's a difference."

"Borrowing means asking first."

"I'm asking now."

"That's not how it works."

Sophia laughed and kissed each of their foreheads. "Alright, alright. Let's have dinner first. Then we can hold a family court about the crayons."

Across the ocean, in a penthouse that touched the clouds, Leonardo sat behind his desk and stared at his father with cold, empty eyes.

David Ferri had aged. His hair was gray now, his shoulders stooped in a way they never used to be. He stood in the doorway of his son's office like a man asking permission to enter his own building.

"I've been calling you for weeks, Leonardo."

"I'm aware."

"Your secretary keeps telling me you're busy."

"Because I am busy."

David sighed and stepped further into the room. The office was all dark wood and glass, a monument to his son's success. But it felt more like a mausoleum than a workplace. Cold. Silent. Lifeless.

"I wanted to discuss the charity gala," David said carefully. "The board is expecting you to attend. It would be good for the company's image if the CEO made an appearance."

Leonardo didn't look up from his paperwork. "The company's image is fine."

"It would also be good for you," David pressed. "You can't bury yourself in work forever. It's been years since—"

Leonardo's pen stopped moving.

"Since what?" His voice was soft. Dangerously soft. "Since my mother died? Since you brought your mistress and her bastard daughter into our home before her grave was even cold? Since you destroyed our family and called it love?"

David flinched. "That's not fair."

"Fair?" Leonardo set his pen down and rose from his chair. He was taller than his father now. Broader. More powerful in every way that mattered. "You want to talk about fair? My mother is dead because of you. You chose that woman over your own wife, and when my mother couldn't bear the shame, she died. And you stood there at her funeral with your new whore on your arm and asked me to call her 'family.'"

"I loved Lily—"

"Don't." Leonardo's voice cracked like a whip. "Don't you dare say her name in my presence. You don't get to speak about love. You don't know what love is."

David's shoulders sagged. The fight drained out of him. "I didn't come here to argue with you, Leonardo. I came because you're my son, and I miss you."

"Your son died the day my mother did." Leonardo turned his back on his father and walked to the window, staring out at the city below. Nightvale glittered in the darkness, a kingdom of lights that belonged entirely to him. "Now get out of my office. I have work to do."

David stood there for a long moment. Then, without another word, he turned and left.

The door clicked shut.

Leonardo didn't move. His reflection stared back at him from the glass, a ghost in a suit, a man who had everything and felt nothing.

Somewhere in his pocket, his fingers brushed against a thin silver chain. He pulled it out and held it up to the light. A small lily pendant dangled from the end, catching the glow of the city.

Three years. Three years since he had woken up in that hotel room with a stranger's marks on his skin and this necklace in his sheets. Three years, and Nico still hadn't found her.

But Leonardo had not stopped looking.

He never would.

After dinner, Sophia gave the children their bath, wrangling Chloe's protests about getting her pigtails wet and Tristan's quiet insistence that he could wash himself, thank you very much. Liam supervised the entire operation like a tiny foreman, handing out towels and soap with military precision.

By the time they were in their pajamas, all three were yawning.

"Story time?" Chloe asked, her eyelids already drooping.

"Of course." Sophia tucked them into their beds three small beds lined up in a row, each with its own color blanket. Chloe's was pink. Liam's was blue. Tristan's was green. "What story do you want tonight?"

"The one about the brave princess," Chloe mumbled into her pillow.

"The one about the dragon," Liam countered.

"The one where the princess and the dragon are friends," Tristan decided, and that was that.

Sophia read until their breathing evened out and their small bodies went slack with sleep. She kissed each forehead Chloe first, then Liam, then Tristan and stood in the doorway for a long moment, watching them sleep.

Her children. Her miracles. Her secret.

She closed the door quietly and walked to her own room. The apartment settled into silence around her. She sat on the edge of her bed and let the weight of the day settle onto her shoulders.

Three years. Three years she had built this life. A small apartment. A quiet job. A country where no one knew the name Ferri. She had done it all alone, with nothing but her mother's secret support and Mrs. Jose's kindness. She had turned fear into a home, pain into love.

Her phone rang.

She glanced at the screen. Lily.

"Hey, Mom."

"Sophia. How are you doing, darling?" Her mother's voice was warm, but there was something beneath it. A tension. A hope.

"I'm fine, Mom. And you?"

"I'm okay. How are my grandbabies?"

Sophia smiled in spite of herself. "They're fine. Chloe tried to negotiate dessert before dinner. Liam is running a legal clinic about crayon theft. Tristan is Tristan."

Lily laughed softly. Then the laughter faded. "Sophia, my birthday is in three days."

"I know, Mom."

"I want you to come home. I want you to celebrate with me. You're my only child, Sophia. I haven't seen you in three years."

Sophia's stomach tightened. "Mom... you know why I can't come back."

"Leonardo won't be there," Lily said quickly. "I promise. I've made sure of it. He's going to be out of the country for business. It's just going to be me and you and a few old friends. Please, darling. I miss you. I miss my grandchildren."

"You haven't even seen them in a while," Sophia whispered.

"Then let me. Please. Just this once. Come home for my birthday. It will be quick. No one will know you're here."

Sophia closed her eyes. Every instinct screamed at her to say no. Nightvale was dangerous. Leonardo was dangerous. If he found out she was back, if he found out about the children...

But this was her mother. The woman who had crossed an ocean in secret to hold her hand while she gave birth. The woman who had kept her secret for three years without question.

"I'll think about it," Sophia said finally. "And I'll get back to you."

"Okay, darling. I'll be waiting for your response. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

Sophia hung up and stared at the ceiling. The silence pressed in around her.

Go back to Nightvale. The thought was terrifying. And yet...

"Just a quick trip," she whispered to herself. "In and out. Leo won't even know I'm there. A quick peek at Nightvale, and then I'll come straight home."

She nodded, convincing herself.

Just a quick peek.

What could possibly go wrong?