Chapter 120
Sofia Bliss.
Abyss.
That was the only word that took shape inside me the very second I heard it.
It was like everything around me turned dark and heavy… painful.
Like the walls became shadows and swallowed me whole, just like before—just like the day I lost my mother.
It was exactly the same.
The sounds around me became muffled, but I could still hear them, like an echo trapped inside my skull.
My father… had been found?
No…
His body.
They had found his body.
Burned.
Just like my mother.
Found exactly the same way.
A weight crashed down on my chest — the kind that steals your breath and makes your lungs burn.
My hands turned cold, and I saw Adrian turn toward me with panic written all over his face. His hand already reaching for me, his mouth moving, calling my name as if that alone could pull me out of the hole I had been thrown into.
But it didn’t.
Everything went even darker.
And I felt myself fall — truly fall — so deep that it felt like nothing could reach me anymore. Nothing could drag me out.
The human Sofia — the one I had known my whole life — curled up in a corner of that void. Small. Trembling.
While something else… another version of me… began to form. To breathe.
Those damn memories came back sharper than ever.
The phone call.
The cold voice.
The word “accident.”
Then the image of my mother’s closed casket.
Except now, I wasn’t a child anymore.
I… wasn’t just human anymore.
And I knew the truth.
I knew it had never been an accident.
My hand went to my head, fingers digging into my hair as the abyss hollowed me out from the inside. I heard Adrian in the distance, desperate, trying to pull me back, to anchor me — but it was useless.
Because the truth had already settled inside me, perfectly formed.
This had been done on purpose.
Planned.
And now they were shoving it in our faces.
The same method.
The same kind of death.
The same message:
“I know what I did. And I can do it again. And again.”
Strong arms wrapped around me. Adrian. He was talking on the phone, his voice hard, vibrating with fury.
“Damn it, Edgar, are you sure about this?” he snarled. “If you’re wrong, I swear I’ll kill you.”
The response came muffled but clear enough.
“I’m sure.” Edgar sounded breathless, like he’d been running. “I… I can’t get closer. I can’t get more details. The police unit responsible…” he paused, “it belongs to Andrew Hoffman’s team.”
It cut through the darkness like a beam of light.
I latched onto it.
That name echoed inside me like a spotlight guiding me out.
But not in a good way.
Because now I was certain who had done this.
Andrew.
My body moved on its own. My arms tightened violently around Adrian, my voice coming from a place that was no longer fully human.
“It was him,” I said. “It was him. From the very beginning. That bastard.”
“Sofia, calm down,” Adrian tried, his hand steady on my back. “We need to be sure. It could—”
“What?” I cut him off, almost screaming. “Be sure? It was him, Adrian! That piece of shit! He did it on purpose! He killed my mother, and now my father! Everything points to him!”
My hand snatched the phone from Adrian before I even realized it. I pressed it to my ear, my voice breaking, desperate.
“And my cousin?” I shouted. “Where is she? Was she with my father? Is she alive? Edgar, please! For the love of God, give me at least one good piece of news!”
On the other end… silence.
A silence that was far too heavy.
Then a sigh.
“I… I’ll try to get more information,” he said, voice cracking. “I’ll call later.”
And he hung up.
The dry click of the call ending was the crack that shattered what little remained of me.
My fingers clenched around the phone so hard I nearly broke it. I started pacing, pulling at my hair, gasping for air.
“Shit… shit… shit…” I repeated, like a useless mantra.
That damn demon.
Adrian tried to reach for me again.
“Sofia, look at me. Breathe. We need to—”
“To what? We need to what?” I yelled, turning on him, my eyes burning. “Stay calm?”
The words burst out of me like fire.
“My father is dead, Adrian! And I… I won’t even get to see him before burying him!” My voice broke. “Do you have any idea what that does to someone? What's it like to lose your mother like that? To watch her disappear… and the only thing left is a handful of ashes?”
My legs gave out. I collapsed against his chest.
“And now… presently it’s my father. The same way.”
I cried without restraint, without control, the words tumbling out between sobs.
“I didn’t even get the chance to talk to him properly after I learned the truth. He suffered alone. Hiding everything from me… trying to protect me. And now—”
Adrian stayed silent.
I felt his body shaking with tension.
His wolf… my wolf… both furious. Confused. Shattered.
I pulled away slowly, my face wet, my expression hard in a way that even frightened me.
“I want to go.”
“What?” he asked, alarmed.
“I want to go there,” I said, firm. “I want to see the scene. My father. Everything.”
“No,” he said instantly. “Sofia, that… that will destroy you—”
“You can’t take this from me!” I screamed. “You can’t stop me from saying goodbye!”
I stepped closer, staring straight into his eyes.
“I didn’t get to do that with my mother.” My voice dropped, thick and heavy. “But now I’m different. I’m not just human anymore.”
My breathing was erratic.
“I need to find something. Anything. The only thing I have left is my cousin. And if something happens to her…” I swallowed hard. “I won’t survive knowing someone is doing this to me on purpose, and I can’t do anything.”
My hands gripped his arms.
“Please.”
Adrian exhaled, long and torn.
Cornered.
“Fine,” he said at last. “I’ll take you… But promise me you won’t lose control.”
“I… don’t know if I can promise that.”