Chapter 20 Sophia
Sophia
“Good morning.”
The voice drifted through the fog of sleep—low, warm, coaxing. Something in the tone made my chest loosen, like I was safe. Like I was home.
A hand brushed my cheek. Gentle. Slow. The tip of a thumb skimmed just below my eye, then traced along my jaw. My head tilted toward it instinctively, chasing the comfort without understanding why.
The fingers moved again, brushing my hair back from my face.
There was no warmth in the skin against mine. No kindness behind the touch. Just... curiosity.
I opened my eyes.
Ivan was crouched just inches from me. Shirtless, expressionless.
My blood turned to ice.
The chain at my ankle snapped tight, dragging hard against the floor with a metallic clatter as I scrambled away from him as far as I could.
Slowly, he moved towards me, smelling so strongly of alcohol it made my eyes water.
“I’m not much of a morning person either,” he said, amusement playing at the edges of his mouth. “Maybe you’d prefer to sleep in a bed?”
“Fuck off,” I rasped, voice hoarse but steady.
His grin widened—slow, deliberate—as his hand slid up my thigh.
“Make me,” he said.
I whipped my chained ankle up, over, and around his neck, twisting the metal into a loop and yanking. Desperate. Furious.
But before I could tighten it, his hand snapped up and caught my foot.
Muscles flaring, his grip was iron.
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t stop smiling.
I twisted, kicked, used everything I had—but it didn’t matter. He was stronger.
He unlooped the chain from his neck like it was nothing and let it drop with a heavy thud.
His pupils were blown wide—so wide they devoured the green of his iris. It was like staring into a bottomless pit.
I couldn’t move.
He leaned in close, close enough that I felt the warmth of his breath against my neck.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, voice low and smooth.
“Get away from me.”
I yanked my leg, but his grip only tightened—not painful, but enough to let me know he was the one with power.
The room felt smaller. The air, heavier.
“Let me go!” I shouted desperately.
His grip loosened, and I pulled away.
“All you had to do was ask,” he said after a beat.
I clenched my teeth, refusing to blink.
He sat next to me on the couch with a long exhale, draping an arm across my shoulders, thumb tracing lazy circles along my upper arm. I couldn’t back away any further.
“I got an interesting call earlier.” He glanced at me expectantly, like I should care.
“An acquaintance of mine gave me all the Auditores’ secrets.” He studied me for a reaction. I gave him none.
“The best one is where they keep their dirty money—most of it, anyway.”
He looked through the large window with calm authority. “I’m going to steal it. Then I’m going to wipe that family off the map. Every. Last. One of them.”
He gave me a sideways glance.
“Except Caroline. I’m not a monster.”
I didn’t let my expression crack. Not for him. Not for this.
He ruffled my hair. “Try to get better sleep tonight, tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”
The chain at my ankle felt heavier now, and I felt weak. He stood, and walked away.
I stared at the end of the hall, where the air still carried the chill of his presence, where he would eventually reappear. Every cell in my body was buzzing with anxiety at the thought he would at any moment.
I curled my legs to my chest, the chain scraping faintly as it shifted. I didn’t cry. There was no use in that. Not now.
I just sat there, listening to the silence Ivan left behind, trying not to think.
Caroline’s door creaked open. She stepped out.
This time, she was dressed—barely. The outfit looked like Ivans idea of modesty. Her hair was tousled, and her face held a strange, eerie calm that unsettled me more than if she’d come out screaming.
“Caroline,” I said, sharper than I intended. “Your entire family thinks you’re being held hostage.”
She paused. Guilt flickered across her face. Then it vanished, replaced with cold detachment.
“I can’t control what they think,” she said, shrugging like none of this mattered.
I stood, lowering my voice but not my urgency. “You literally can. All you’d have to do is pick up a phone and tell them you’re here—tell them we’re—”
“I’m not allowed to have a phone. Ivan’s rules.”
“So you are being held here… against your will, But you like it?”
She looked away, her eyes settling on something in the corner of the room. She nodded.
After a dozen heartbeats, she still didn’t look back at me.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
She nodded again.
I stared at her, trying to keep my voice from cracking. “Ivan hasn’t… hasn’t forced you to do anything, right?”
She shifted, uncomfortable. Then finally looked at me. “That’s… kind of complicated. But I guess the answer is no.”
Complicated. Like this was some moral riddle. Some philosophical debate.
Manipulation. Stockholm syndrome. Trauma bonding. Whatever it was, she was a victim.
“Gabriel is going to come here,” I said, my voice tight. “He’s going to get us both out—and when he does, he’s going to kill Ivan. You know that, right?”
She looked down, her arms folding in like she was closing off.
“Maybe he won’t,” she whispered. Her eyes shimmered with the suggestion of tears.
“If Gabriel doesn’t kill Ivan, then Ivan will kill him. That’s how this ends. One of them dies. That’s not a warning—it’s a fact. You need to find a way to get the key to this chain so we can—”
“What do you expect me to do?” she yelled. “Even if I could get the key, even if I told Gabriel I wanted to be here… do you really think he’d believe me? What difference would it make?”
“Shut up,” I hissed, glancing down the empty hall.
But she was right.
Even if she called and made him believe she was happy in her arranged marriage to psycho, Gabriel wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t. Not anymore. Even if we escaped, one of them would die.
Her eyes narrowed. Her expression hardened. “You don’t get it,” she said. “I’m not leaving.”
“Why?” The word burst out of me.
She flinched but didn’t back down.
“You don’t have to like it,” she said softly. “But I’ve made my choice.” She turned back toward the bedroom.
“This?” I asked, lifting my shackled ankle. “This is your choice?”
She paused. Just for a moment. Then she closed the door.
My question hung in the air, unanswered.
What little hope I’d clung to—that she and I could escape—was gone. If Caroline wouldn’t leave, if she wouldn’t even try to betray Ivan’s trust, then Gabriel would risk everything.
And when he did, it might be the last thing he does.