Chapter 34- Heavier

The file she’d stolen felt heavier with every step, the weight of a thousand secrets digging into her ribs. Every breath she took seemed to echo off the cold stone walls.

She pushed forward, skirting piles of broken chairs and torn banners. Daxton had its hidden corridors, its burial grounds of history and lies and she was the only one left to navigate them tonight.

She thought of Rivers and his last glance, it was fierce, protective, tired. She wondered if he’d make it out. She wondered if he’d ever forgive her for dragging him deeper into the fire. But she had no time to doubt. Every second she lingered was a second she might lose everything.

A noise ahead stopped her, a whisper of movement that didn’t belong to rats or wind. She shrank against the wall, heart hammering. The file clutched tight against her chest.

A figure emerged from the darkness, a silhouette of sharp lines and tense shoulders. Sonia’s pulse jumped. She recognized him even in the half-light.

“Eric,” she breathed, her voice cracking.

He turned, his eyes dark with worry. Relief washed over his features as he crossed the space between them and pulled her into his arms. The embrace was desperate and real, his chest heaving with the same fear she felt.

“Where were you?” he rasped. “Rivers said you took something, he said you’d be hunted.”

She couldn’t help the tears that sprang to her eyes. She was tired of running. Tired of the lies. But even now, she couldn’t tell him everything. Not yet.

“I had to find the truth,” she whispered against his chest. “It’s bigger than I thought, Eric. It’s all tangled..Daxton, the Cartel, even Rivers. I have to finish what Silas started.”

His hands cupped her face, forcing her to look at him. “Sonia—” he began, but the weight of her secret was too much.

She shook her head. “Eric, please...” Her voice cracked. “Don’t ask me to walk away. Don’t ask me to be safe. I can’t, not until I know he didn’t die for nothing.”

His jaw tightened, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “I’m not asking you to be safe,” he said, voice low. “I’m asking you to let me fight with you.”

She searched his eyes, dark and stormy and unyielding. She saw the boy who’d challenged her in fencing class, who’d kissed her like he was breaking his own rules. The boy who’d seen through every lie she’d worn and still stayed.

Her throat tightened. “You have no idea how dangerous this is,” she whispered.

A faint smile curved his lips, wry and sad. “I think I’ve figured that out,” he said, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I’m here anyway.”

A sob caught in her chest, half laughter, half sorrow. She pressed her forehead to his, closing her eyes. “We’re going to get hurt,” she said. “This could destroy everything.”

He tilted her chin up and kissed her, it was soft at first, but then deeper, like he was tasting every part of her that had been hidden for too long. She melted into him, all the walls she’d built crumbling in the heat of his touch. Every tremble in his hands, every ragged breath and she felt it all. And in that kiss, she wasn’t Silas. She was Sonia. Raw and real and alive.

When they broke apart, she rested her head on his shoulder, breathing him in. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For seeing me. Even when I was someone else.”

His hand slipped to the small of her back, holding her like a lifeline. “You were always you,” he murmured. “I just had to look harder.”

They stood in the shadows, bodies pressed close, sharing a fragile moment of peace. But the world didn’t stop. The file in her hands still pulsed with secrets that demanded to be known.

She stepped back, meeting his gaze. “There’s something I have to show you,” she said. “It’s why Rivers was hiding me. It’s why the Cartel wants me dead.”

He nodded, his expression hardening. “Then let’s finish this,” he said.

She led him to a broken bench and spread the file out. Names, numbers, coded entries. And at the bottom—photographs of men in masks, the same symbols that had haunted her brother’s journal.

Eric’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the pages. “This…this is bigger than Daxton,” he muttered. “This is an empire.”

Sonia’s heart ached. “It’s everything Silas was trying to fight,” she said. “And now it’s ours to finish.”

He reached for her hand, squeezing it tight. “Then we fight. Together.”

A tremor ran through her. For the first time since the funeral, she felt stronger than the shadows. Stronger than the lies. Stronger than the blazer she wore.

They weren’t just playing a part anymore.

They were writing their own story, one where she wasn’t just Silas’s sister, but Sonia Vale. And she was going to end this.