Chapter 38- A Promise in the Dark

Sonia stared at the gun, her fingers numb, her breath ragged. She could still feel the tension in her arms, the tremor in her hands. The man on the floor wasn’t moving, she’d made sure of that.

She’d done it. She’d pulled the trigger.

A shudder ran through her body, one she couldn’t stop. Her knees threatened to buckle. She’d always thought she was strong enough for this...strong enough to wear Silas’s face, to shoulder his secrets but right now she felt like she might shatter into a thousand pieces.

Eric’s voice sliced through the fog. “Sonia.” He sounded different, soft, almost broken. When she turned to him, he wasn’t the cold, unflappable Eric everyone at Daxton feared. He was just a boy, his eyes wide, his lips parted, like he was seeing her for the first time.

Her voice cracked. “I… I didn’t want to. I had to. He would’ve..”

He was already moving, crossing the space between them in three steps. His arms came around her, warm and strong, and she clutched his shirt like a lifeline. The tears came then, hot and unstoppable, soaking his collar.

“Sonia, look at me.” He tilted her chin up, his thumb brushing a tear from her cheek. His eyes were searching hers, like he was trying to read the pain there, to shoulder it himself. “You did what you had to do. He would have killed us both. You saved us.”

A sob escaped her lips. “But who does that make me now, Eric? Who am I if I can just… pull the trigger like that?”

He rested his forehead against hers, his breath warm and uneven. “It makes you a survivor. It makes you someone who refuses to let them win.”

“But it feels like I’m losing myself,” she whispered. Her voice was raw. “Every time I put on that blazer, every time I lie to them, I feel like I’m disappearing. Like I’m becoming Silas, and I don’t know how to come back.”

He pulled her closer, his hands cradling her face. “Hey, listen to me,” he murmured, his eyes fierce and tender all at once. “You’re still here. I see you Sonia. The girl who’s smart and brave and so damn strong. You’re not gone.”

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to hold on to his words like a lifeline, but the guilt pressed in on her chest like a stone. “Eric,” she breathed, her voice trembling. “I don’t know how to keep doing this. I feel like every lie I tell is another piece of me slipping away.”

He kissed her forehead, soft and lingering, like he was trying to anchor her to the moment. “Then let me help you carry it,” he whispered. “You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

Her heart ached at the tenderness in his voice. The way he looked at her—like she was more than the lies she wore—broke something open inside her. She reached for him, her fingers curling around his wrist like she was afraid he might slip away.

“Promise me,” she whispered, tears brimming again. “Promise me that when all of this is over—when the Cartel is gone, when the academy’s secrets are out—you and I… we’ll still have something left. That we won’t be broken beyond repair.”

His breath hitched, and he pulled her close, pressing his lips to her temple. “I promise,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “You and me, Sonia. We’ll find a way. I swear it.”

A small, shaky laugh escaped her lips, a sound that felt both foreign and desperately needed. She pulled back just enough to look at him. His hair was mussed, his eyes red-rimmed and exhausted. He was a mess. They both were.

Without thinking, she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. It was soft, hesitant, like a question, but then he responded—his lips warm and insistent, his arms tightening around her like he was afraid she’d vanish.

When they finally broke apart, they were both trembling, but the world didn’t feel quite as terrifying. She still had the secrets, the lies, the blood on her hands but she also had him.

Eric let out a shaky breath. “We have to go,” he whispered, his voice low but urgent. “Someone’s going to come looking.”

She nodded, swiping at her tears with the back of her hand. “I know.” Her voice was steadier now, even if her heart still ached.

He reached down and picked up the file, the secrets it held like a bomb between them. But his fingers slipped into hers as he pulled her close again. “You’re not alone,” he reminded her. “Not anymore.”

She squeezed his hand, a spark of hope kindling in her chest.

As they slipped into the shadows, Sonia let herself believe just for a moment that maybe, just maybe, they’d find their way out of this darkness. Together.

And for the first time in days, she felt like she could breathe again.