Sofia's POV
"You've been out Sofia," My father's cold voice made me shudder as I stepped into the house.
"I'm being pimped out Father, can't I have at least a night for myself?" I retorted, moving to go into my room.
"The guards told me you left despite the warning I'd given to you," He said but I gave no response, the throbbing of my legs from the intensity of what happened last night soaring through my body.
"What if something had happened to you? What would I have to say..."
"Say to who? The one who I'm being sold to in exchange for saving you?" I snapped with a scoff, watching a small glitch in his reaction.
"That's not what I'm talking about Sofia, I just need you to understand that I'm doing this for..."
"I'd really appreciate it if you do not complete those words you want to say, Dad," I said, walking closer to him.
"What do you want to say? To tell me that you're doing it for my sake, have you thought about the possible consequences of what you're throwing at me Dad, to be married to a man I know nothing about, what if he abuses me, hits me, or even kills me. And you know the most disgusting part is that he might as well sell me off to some man because he has some debts to pay?" I questioned, my eyes brimming with tears that dripped down my face.
"That's not going to happen..."
"I also thought it was never going to happen to me too Dad, I trusted you to let me live my life and not sell me off to some man," I yelled in his face.
"I'm sor..."
"You know what, it's okay, an apology is the last thing I want from you," I said and walked out on him to my room, plopping onto the bed.
The fuzzy thought of what happened yesterday replayed in my mind before I walked to take a bath, bracing myself for what was to happen.
*******
"Miss Sofia," a maid called as I walked out of my bathroom.
"Your father says it's time to go," She said and I gave no response, I wasn't going to.
"Miss Sofia," the maid called again, her voice insistent.
"I heard you the first time, I'll come down when I'm ready," I said and heard her footsteps recede
With a resigned sigh, I pulled a simple lazy gown over my body. Fastening the buttons, my thoughts drifted back to last night—to Zack. The sensory thought of how his hands trailed my hands over my body.
"Sofia," My father's voice broke my thoughts, and I walked out to meet him.
The driver's waiting, he said, his voice as meek as he could manage.
.
.
.
"This way, Miss Sofia," the butler to my husband to be said, gesturing down an endless hallway. My father followed closely behind, but I didn’t look at him.
The door to the drawing room loomed ahead, large and ominous. I swallowed hard as the butler pushed it open, revealing an opulent room bathed in warm light. But my eyes weren’t on them.
They were on him—Zack.
He stood by the fireplace, his lean frame relaxed yet commanding, his dark eyes locking onto mine the moment I entered. The air shifted, and for a moment, it was as if we were the only two people in the room.
“Sofia?” His voice was low, almost a whisper, but I heard it.
My breath hitched, and my legs wobbled as memories of the night before flooded back. His touch. His voice. The way he made me feel alive and untethered from this suffocating world.
I didn’t know what to say. What could I say?
Zack took a step forward, his expression a mixture of shock and something else I couldn’t quite place—something that sent a shiver down my spine.
“You…” he started, his voice strained.
But before either of us could say another word, the door opened again, and the sound of heavy footsteps echoed behind me.
"Zack, what are you doing standing there? Come meet our guests properly," a sharp, commanding voice said.
I turned to see another man walking into the room, Micheal, and another that looked similar to Zack—the same piercing eyes and sharp jawline—but his demeanor was colder, more calculating—evil, that screamed that I should be running away.
“I see you’ve met my twin,” the man said, striding past me without a second glance. “Alex,” he introduced himself, his voice gruff as he extended a hand toward my father.
My father shook it, a smile spreading across his face.
"And this must be Sofia," Alex said, his eyes flickering over me with a detached sort of interest. “You’re just as I imagined.”
My stomach twisted. The stark contrast between Alex's cold formality and the fiery, magnetic energy I’d felt with Zack the night before was glaring.
Zack, who hadn’t moved from his spot by the fireplace, finally tore his gaze away from me. His jaw was tight, his fists clenched at his sides.
“You didn’t tell me your fiancée was arriving today,” Zack said, his tone casual but with an edge that didn’t go unnoticed.
Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. “Why would I? It’s not your concern.”
Zack’s lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes darting back to me. I felt pinned under his gaze, my heart racing. Did he regret last night? Was he angry?
“I think we should all sit down,” Nathaniel continued, gesturing toward the plush sofas. “There’s much to discuss.”
I moved toward one of the sofas, my legs feeling like jelly. Zack remained standing, his hands shoved into his pockets as he leaned against the fireplace, leaning in to give me sight of the angel wings.
His eyes were unleaving from where he sat and I could feel my insides lurch at the rambling thoughts of last night and the miserable way we had to meet again.
“I can't do this”
Sophia’s POV The road stretched before me like a long, gray ribbon under the dull sky. I walked with my head bowed, arms wrapped around myself, as if trying to hold in the pieces of me that kept threatening to scatter with every step. My soul felt numb but my hands couldn't stop shaking. The road was cold and silent, people stared at me intrigued with pitiful eyes and mouth in awe. Had they recognized me? Were they feeling bad for me? Actually I couldn’t care less. My feet were sore, my legs heavy, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know what I was walking toward, only that I had nowhere else to go but home.Home. The word felt so odd to me again. I hadn’t thought of my father’s house as home in years. The further I went, the more the memories began to press in—my father’s stern voice when I was young, his silent disappointment on the night I was married off, the way his eyes had looked at me that last morning before I left. I hated him for what he had done, for selling me into the Holmes
Sophia’s POV The Rae’s knock came softly at first, like a hesitant breeze against the heavy wooden door. I didn’t answer. I had no strength left for words. She opened the door anyway and stepped in, her eyes careful, her posture cautious as though stepping into a room filled with glass shards.“Mrs…” her voice was timid, almost apologetic. “Mr. Holmes requests your presence in the parlor.”For a moment, I didn’t move. The request echoed in my head like a distant call from another world. My body felt like lead, sunk deep into the mattress, my limbs useless. The walls around me were silent except for the faint hum of the wind slipping through the curtains.I stared at the Rae without really seeing her. I could feel her nervousness—she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, waiting for something that I couldn’t give. I wasn’t sure if it was exhaustion or surrender that made me finally rise. My legs were stiff, my movements slow and mechanical, as if I was being dragged forward b
Sophia’s POV The car ride home passed like a blur.Outside the window, the city slid by—gray streets, pale faces, the cold shadows of late evening. I sat still, my head tilted slightly against the glass, not seeing any of it. The seatbelt pressed against my ribs where the wound still throbbed. My hands rested on my lap like pieces of stone.I heard Zack breathe beside me, slow and uneven, like someone afraid to make a sound. He kept glancing at me, but I didn’t turn to meet his eyes. I didn’t have the strength for that. I no longer had the strength for anything.The hospital’s smell still clung to my skin: antiseptic, metal, and faint traces of blood. It lingered like a ghost, reminding me of every hour I had spent staring at the ceiling there, waiting for pain to pass, for grief to fade. Neither had.When we finally reached the Holmes estate, the huge gates opened as if to swallow me whole. I didn’t feel like I was coming back home. I felt like I was walking back to my cage, to the
Sophia’s POV I opened my eyes into chaos.A blinding light hit me, then blurred shadows moved above me. The ceiling was white, too white, spinning in circles as my body floated in and out of the noise. Voices rose and fell, sharp and urgent, but I could barely catch their words. My chest felt heavy, my ribs burned, and every breath dragged fire inside me.“Pressure’s dropping—”“Scalpel—now—”“She’s fading—keep her awake!”The voices echoed, bouncing inside my skull. I wanted to speak, to ask where I was, what had happened, but my mouth refused to open. My tongue was sand, my lips cracked. The air stank of antiseptic, of blood, of something sharp that stung my nose. I heard the rush of machines, the beep of monitors, the shuffle of rubber shoes against the floor.I blinked once, and the world slipped away again. Darkness pulled me under, deep and heavy. For a second, I thought it was death, that the gunshot had finally swallowed me whole. But then the voices returned, louder, more de
Zack's POV The walls of my room still carried the echo of my sobs. My throat burned from hours of crying, my stomach churned with the mix of alcohol and drugs that poisoned my blood. I had beaten myself against the ground until my fists hurt, until the skin of my knuckles tore open. The world blurred before me, but the blur was nothing compared to the storm that crushed my chest. I had ruined everything. I had destroyed Sophia, the only light left in my wasted life.I could still see her face when I told her the truth. The way her eyes widened. The disbelief. The shock. The hatred that flared like a blade across her soul. And then she was gone, running out, leaving me with the weight of every crime I had committed.I pressed my head into the cold floor, pulling at my hair until strands broke between my fingers. “Why? Why did I say it? Why did I ever touch her life? Why didn’t I let her go?” The questions tore out of me in broken whispers, but the silence swallowed them. My thoughts
Sophia’s POV I had stood by the door for what felt like forever, listening to the way Zack’s broken sobs shook his chest, the way he almost tore his own skin apart with shame. I had come to comfort him, to remind him he wasn’t alone in this endless storm, but the moment I stepped inside, his eyes flickered with hostility. He looked at me as if my presence burned him alive, as if I was the one shoving him deeper into despair and drew him out of sinking at the same time.“You shouldn’t be here,” he rasped, voice jagged and bitter. His arms trembled as he dragged himself away from me, his eyes glassy, veins dark beneath his skin. “You don’t have to see me like this! Not now! Get out!”The words stung, sharp and unforgiving, but there was no truth in them. I could see how much his chest rose and fell, how fear and shame filled every inch of him. He wasn’t angry at me. He was angry at himself. Still, I stepped closer, soft enough to not startle him, gentle enough to not give him reason to