Chapter 28

The night was thick and still, except for the soft rustling of leaves caused by the chilled breeze at midnight. Ethan and Liam lay in wait, cloaked, every nerve taut. Ethan had not once strayed his gaze away from the sequestered area where Sophia was supposed to meet her accomplice.

"You sure she'll show?" Liam whispered low the words barely audible.

Ethan nodded, his features chipped from marble. "I heard her talking to someone, they are supposed to meet here. She's getting desperate. I think she's slipping under my radar. This is her last chance to try and cover her tracks."

Liam's jaw clamped tight as he glanced sideways at the trees where they'd positioned themselves. "I still can't believe she had the nerve. To go after Ayla… it's sickening."

"Trust me, I know," Ethan replied, gaze darkening. "But tonight, we end it.

What felt like an eternity later, finally, footsteps could be heard in their direction. The figure emerged under the moon, taking the shape of Sophia, who looked about her fearfully, turning her head back almost continually. Taut, her hands fluttered at her sides, to be running off at any moment. Not very long after, another figure emerged from that inky darkness beyond. His features were not decipherable from under a hood.

"There he is," Liam breathed, muscles coiling with readiness.

Ethan laid a firm hand on Liam's shoulder, holding him in place. "Not yet. We gotta hear them first."

Hunched low, they listened intently.

"Sophia," the accomplice growled. "I told you not to call me unless there was an emergency.

"This is an emergency!" Sophia hissed, her head frantically swiveling around. "Ethan is breathing down my neck. Always there, always watching. I am not going to be able to keep this up much longer."

The man swore softly under his breath. "Then lay low. Keep your mouth shut and act innocent. You've done it so far-

"You don't understand!" she cut in. "He's getting close. I need a way out. I want this to end. Now."

Ethan listened-and his suspicions were confirmed.

"I knew it," he whispered to himself.

Liam looked at him. "Now?"

Ethan nodded. "Now."

He nodded across at Luca and, together, they stepped from the shadows, footsteps thunderously loud in the silence. Sophia went white when she saw them, paralyzed.

"E-Ethan?" she stuttered, one step backward. "What… what are you doing here?"

Ethan's eyes were icy, fixed into hers. "Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing, Sophia."

His accomplice swore and tried some sort of bolt but Liam was in the way, clamping down hard on his arm. "Going somewhere?" Liam sneered, twisting the man's arm behind him. "I don't think so."

The accomplice winced in pain, but it was Sophia's eyes darting wildly, crazily; desperation danced across her face. "Ethan, listen to me-this isn't what it seems!”

"Really?" Ethan replied coolly. "Then explain it, Sophia. Explain to me why you are meeting a man in the middle of the night talking about how you need a 'way out'."

She opened her mouth, words failing her as her gaze flickered to her accomplice now whimpering under Liam's grip.

"Don't even think about dragging me down alone, Sophia," the man spat back thick and venomously. "We are going down together!"

Sophia's eyes went wide. "No, you don't understand. Ethan, this man-he's lying! He's trying to frame me-"

"Save it," Ethan cut in, sharp. "We heard everything, Sophia. Every. Single. Word."

A flicker of panic danced across her face, and at her sides, her fists clenched. "You are mistaken. I am innocent-Ethan, I swear! It is this man; he is the one who has been doing all of this, not me, he's threatening me to do as he says and made me come here."

He snorted in contempt and winced when Liam's grip on his arm tightened. "She's lying through her teeth, Ethan. She's the one who's been calling the shots all along. The attack on Ayla? That was her idea. She's been using me to do her dirty work.”

Anger seemed to balloon in Sophia's face as she spat, "Traitor!"

She launched herself at him, but Ethan stood in her way, his eyes filled with repulsion.

"Enough, Sophia!", he said. "You have lied and manipulated and hurt everyone around you, but tonight, your lies end here.”

She shook her head furiously. "Ethan, please, you have got to believe me! This is not what this seems. I'm being set up. There are people who want me out of the way. This man is working for them. He's framing me!"

Liam arched an eyebrow. "And we're just supposed to take that for gospel truth? After all that you've just said?”

Letting loose with a watery gaze, Sophia cast desperate eyes onto Ethan. "I'm telling the truth, Ethan. You know me. You know I'd never hurt Ayla."

His face unreadable, Ethan stared into hers. There, for a time at least, it almost seemed he could buy her story. Then he shook his head.

“No more, Sophia," he whispered. "I have given you every chance in the world to come clean, and with each of them, you have lied to me. I am not covering for you anymore."

At that, Sophia's face went hard. The pleading look in her eyes turned into a steely one. "You are making a big mistake, Ethan," she spat. "You will regret this if you do it."

Ethan's brow arched. "Is that a threat of some kind?"

The smile that stretched across Sophia's face was acidic. "Take it more as a warning: there are dynamics at play here that you can't even begin to comprehend. If you think you're safe, then you're delusional."

Ethan stared her down, not backing down. "And if you think that you can keep on terrorizing' people and get away with it, then you are the crazy one.”

He turned to Liam. "Take them both back to the council. They'll know what to do with them."

Liam nodded, his hold on the accomplice tightening as he looked more and more terrorized by the minute.

They finally began to drag her off, and as they were doing so, Sophia whirled around and shot one last malignant glance in the direction of Ethan. "This isn't over, Ethan," she spat. "Mark my words-you'll regret this."

He watched her fade into the night, his face firming finally as she disappeared from view. He knew she was dangerous, but more importantly, he did know he had finally taken that first step toward taking her down from her thesis of manipulations and deceptions.

But as the night wore on, he couldn't shake off the feeling that Sophia's last words had been a lot more than a threat.