Thirty-seven

She approaches me with a big smile, wearing a short black dress. In her hands is a coffee tray.

"Coffee?" she proposes, her voice sweet.

"You bitch," I spit, shaking my head and glaring at her.

Nova smirks and walks to the coffee table to put down her tray. She lets out a content sigh and crosses her arms, tilting her head towards me.

"You looked better, Sophia. What's the matter?" she says, smirking.

I tighten my grip on the knife. "You're supposed to be dead."

"You of all people should know better." She snickers, shaking her head.

I scoff. "Of course. It was too good to be true."

Nova glares at me. I smile.

"So all this time, you were working with the enemy." I pause, throwing a disgusted look at the other person in the room. "With my... father."

She turns towards him, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't tell her?"

Matthew King shakes his head. "I was waiting for you."

They smile at each other. It makes me sick.

Nova turns towards me, shrugging. "He's my father, too."

It feels like she just punched me in the stomach. I back away from her, out of breath, glancing at my father in shock.

"What?" I mutter, looking back at her. "What do you mean?"

"I married her mother. Nova is your stepsister," Matthew King declares proudly.

Please, tell me this is a nightmare.

"This is disgusting," I say, taking a step back from them. "I can't believe it."

"Don't talk like that about your family," he orders coldly, and my blood boils.

"You are not my family!" I scream, slowly losing my mind. I turn to glare at Nova. "And how could you do that to Brandon? You didn't give a damn about him, right?"

She raises her head. "I really cared about him."

I let out a laugh. "Right. Your father probably thought of this. Am I right?"

They stay silent. Nova narrows her eyes at me.

"All that matters is that we're together now. We're a family," the Master utters, smiling. I'm about to throw up. "We'll make great things together."

"Go to hell." I laugh harshly, staring angrily at the both of them. "I don't belong to you. Never will. So now, you have two options. You let me go, or you kill me."

"I can't do that, my little Bird," he says, frowning.

Nodding, I adjust my grip on the knife. "But I can."

I throw the knife at Nova. It plunges into her shoulder and she falls backward on the couch, screaming in pain. Walking towards her, I pick her up by the hair and pull out the knife, positioning it against her neck. She groans, her face grimacing.

"Let me go and I won't kill her," I say, meeting my father's serious eyes. "I will move on and so will you."

"What's going on here?" A woman in her fifties with straight black hair enters the room, her eyes widening in horror.

"Mom!" Nova cries, trying to move away. I tighten my grip around her.

"Darling, everything is fine," Matthew King says, taking a step towards her.

I scoff. "Right. Everything is fine. If I were you, Mrs. King, I'd run away right now, before he decides to kill you one day. It's just a matter of time. He doesn't even love you."

Her eyes turn cold. She looks just like Nova. "Let go of my daughter. Right now," she orders, taking a step towards us.

I breathe heavily, looking between her and the man who destroyed my life. Nova still cries in pain, and I suddenly hear Matthew King's words from earlier.

In the end, you turned just like me.

You also kill people for a living.

No. I'm not like him. I can't be.

I push Nova away and step back. She runs to her mother who takes her in her arms. Nova clutches her shoulder in pain. Both of them turn to glare at me, but I focus on my father.

"I'm not like you," I conclude, taking a seat on the armchair.

He watches me silently.

"What are you waiting for? Arrest her!" The woman says, scowling at me.

"Go help Nova with her shoulder," he demands, and both of the women leave the room in a huff.

Matthew King walks towards me and kneels down, his face too close. He seems to notice something and furrows his eyebrows.

"You wear contact lenses?"

I slowly smile. "Not normally. Say hi to my friend."

A few moments later, something explodes in the building. He mutters under his breath, his eyes turning angry.

"You always have to complicate everything."

I shrug. "What can I do? I'm a complicated daughter. I have trust issues, right? My father murdered my mother and planned my boyfriend's death, and also forced his other daughter to make him fall in love with her. Just to hurt me. To turn me like you. That's what you wanted?"

A few people burst into the room. My people. I keep staring at my father as he takes a few steps back. I stand up.

"I believed you for a moment, you know? I've done terrible things. But I realize that most of the time, those things I did... I only did them because I had to survive. Not because it brought me joy."

I step towards him, shaking my head. "I don't kill because it brings me joy. I arrest people like you who destroy lives. I try to bring justice to this world. I don't want to be like you. All this time, I thought that revenge was justice. That it would bring me peace to see you die because of what you've done. I was wrong."

His angry expression turns into a confused one, and he watches as men surround him. His eyes meet mine again.

"You'll get what you deserve," I say, nodding to the men who step towards him. "And I'll get what I deserve."

"And what do you deserve?" he spits, trying to fight the men who grab his arms. A few gunshots are heard in the hallway.

I think for a few seconds, then take a deep breath. "Peace. And love. The love you took from me."

The men drag him away, and she shouts after me, trying to get away. He's soon out of sight, and someone else enters the room, out of breath.

Brandon.

His eyes meet mine, and in a few strides, he's right in front of me, his arms wrapping around my shoulders. I sigh and wrap my own around his waist, closing my eyes.

"Remind me to never let you out of my sight again," he murmurs in my ear. "From now on, I'm following you everywhere. I should have known you'd do something stupid."

I raise my head to meet his gaze. "But it worked, right?"

Brandon sighs, shaking his head. He leans his forehead against mine for a few moments, then raises his head again.

"So your father..." He trails off, watching me carefully.

Nodding, I look down. "I got all the answers I wanted. Needed, to move on."

Brandon brushes my cheek with his thumb, making me look up at his guilty expression. "I'm sorry. All this time, I was breathing the same air as him and I didn't know that this son of a bitch was your father. If I'd known..."

"It's not your fault," I declare, shaking my head. "I've never shown you any pictures of him."

Pausing, I look around me, then glance at Brandon with a neutral expression. "Did you see Nova?"

Brandon grits his teeth and slowly nods, his eyes watching me. "Yeah. She was injured at the shoulder, but we arrested her."

He slowly smiles, raising an eyebrow.

I raise my hands. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

He chuckles. "You should have aimed for the heart."

I take a deep breath. "Maybe. But I didn't want to kill her. I didn't want to do what my father expected me to do." Looking down, I shrug. "I already have enough blood on my hands."

Brandon stays quiet. A few moments pass before he intertwines his fingers with mine and steps closer. I meet his eyes.

"You're not a bad person, Sophia," he says, his eyes watching me intensely. I furrow my eyebrows.

"You really seem to believe that," I state, and he smiles.

"Yeah, so if you could start believing it as well so we can leave this place, that would be nice."

I laugh, nodding once. Surprise fills his eyes before it's replaced with happiness.

"Didn't think I would hear that sound ever again," he murmurs, then brings me closer to him until his lips meet mine.

Smiling, I kiss him back. When he breaks the kiss, I rest my cheek against his chest and ask, "So what now?"

He kisses the top of my head. "Whatever you want, sweetheart."

*

That's the... end... Next chapter is the... epilogue?? What 😭

I think my babies deserve a good ending, especially Sophia. Stay tuned for the final.

I want to thank already everyone who gave a chance to this story. I hope you enjoyed Sophia's story. ❤️ I think she really learned from everything she's been through.

Thank you for reading me, whoever you are.

I love you, and I'll see you in the epilogue.

Audrey

EDIT:

I had to. Credits to PebbleQueen 🤣

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