Chapter 121
Sofia Bliss
Adrian and I ran to the car.
All I could think about was my father. And Leticia.
Adrian kept sending messages to Edgar, and he responded almost instantly, sending locations, details, and updates. When Adrian started the engine and slammed his foot on the accelerator aggressively, we were on the highway within minutes.
My heart… it wasn’t keeping up with the rest of my body or my mind.
Everything was chaos.
It was like the old Sofia was a cracked vase — old, brittle, splitting in every direction, struggling to hold something that had been leaking out for a long time. Pain. Fear. Anger. Guilt. All of it seeping through fractures I didn’t even know I had.
I stared through the windshield, but I didn’t see the road.
It was like all I could see was fire. Ash.
My mother’s face — and now… my father’s.
The tears wouldn’t stop. I tried to hold them back, tried to swallow them down, but it was useless. In the end, all that remained was that silent crying — the painful kind that squeezes your chest and burns your eyes like open wounds.
Adrian drove faster and faster, though nowhere near as fast as I wanted. His hand found my knee, squeezing gently, trying to anchor me.
“I’m sure Edgar will find Leticia soon…” he murmured — even though he knew it was a lie.
I knew it too.
Andrew Hoffman.
That bastard.
That monster.
He had done all of this from the beginning — he was the one behind everything.
He killed my mother.
And now my father.
It was like he wanted to prove he had control over my life.
Anger started to boil inside me, scorching and suffocating.
How long until they found Leticia the same way?
How long until I was the only one left?
My hands curled into fists, tight and painful.
I wanted to kill him.
I wanted to rip the answers out of him.
Hear from his own lips why.
If all of this was because my mother chose my father…
Or if it was something worse. Something I still didn’t understand. Something tied to that disturbing conversation Adrian had with me before the call.
No matter the reason… it was sick.
“It’s near the city exit…” Adrian said quietly, checking his phone. “Off the northern highway.”
I kept staring ahead.
The damn road felt endless. A dark tunnel dragging me straight into hell.
Adrian tried to speak again.
“Sofia… about what we talked about earlier, you—”
“No, Adrian…” I cut him off, my voice low, held together by force.
I didn’t want to hurt him.
“It doesn’t matter right now.”
All that mattered was my father.
My cousin.
All the wasted time.
The silence I accepted.
That useless waiting I agreed to.
I should have acted sooner.
The guilt hit hard.
I had been weak — I’d stopped, convinced myself someone else would do something for me. That some damn miracle would happen. And now… everything inside me was too dark.
A kind of darkness I barely recognized as mine.
It felt like with every tragedy, a piece of me was left behind — swallowed by shadows.
“I don’t want to talk about that right now, Adrian…” I repeated, breathing deeply.
He didn’t insist.
The next minutes felt like hours.
Until I saw it.
The reflective stripes.
The red and blue lights are flashing in the distance.
A police car blocking the lane.
Cones.
People standing around.
And then… the mark.
A long, violent skid mark across the asphalt, twisting until it vanished at the edge of the highway — right where the cliff began.
My heart nearly tore out of my chest.
My hand flew to the seat, gripping it as the car slowed. I couldn’t breathe properly.
Was this real?
Was my father really down there?
“Sofia…” Adrian said, voice tight.
“Stop…” I whispered. “Stop here.”
He pulled onto the shoulder. Before the engine even fully stopped, he grabbed my hand.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “We can—”
I shook my head.
“I need to see…” I swallowed hard.
I stepped out, my legs barely holding me up.
The officers looked immediately. There weren’t many, but every single one turned toward us. Their faces weren’t curious — they were alert, as if they’d known we were coming sooner or later.
They knew Adrian. Obviously.
Maybe because of that, no one stopped us when we walked past the caution tape.
I started walking fast.
Without noticing, my walk turned into almost a run.
“Sofia, wait—” Adrian tried to follow, reaching out.
But I was already at the edge.
The guardrail was bent. Crushed.
The abyss gaped open in front of me.
When I looked down…
Far below, among rocks and scorched vegetation, was the car.
Or what was left of it.
Twisted. Crushed. Completely burned.
A black smear against the earth.
I saw the forensic team — tiny dots from up here — moving carefully, as if this was just another body. Another case.
My body lurched forward.
I was going to jump.
I wanted to go down there to see it with my own eyes. I wanted to find my father, even if it was only pieces.
I wanted to see him one last time.
The pain ripped through me.
“Sofia, no!” Adrian grabbed my shoulder hard.
“Let go!” I screamed. “I need to go! He’s my father!”
The words tore out of me uncontrollably.
“I need to see him! I have to say goodbye! I need to know if he suffered, if—”
I was completely out of myself.
Adrian tightened his grip, turning me to face him. His eyes were hard, burning with rage and grief.
“Sofia.”
His voice came out cold.
“He’s dead.”
I froze.
“He doesn’t feel anything anymore,” he said. “You know that.”
I swallowed, my chest aching.
“If you go down there…” he hesitated but finished. “You won’t find your father. You’ll find…”
I finished for him — painful, but true.
“I’ll only find ashes and bones.”
My legs gave out.
The sob tore out of me, loud and raw, as I collapsed against him. Adrian wrapped me in a crushing embrace, like he could keep me from falling apart by force.
Then I heard footsteps.
One of the officers approached.
“Mr. Valehart…” he said, professional, no mockery — just duty. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I saw tension flood Adrian’s face.
The anger.
The hatred.
He turned slowly toward the officer, his entire body rigid — a predator barely held back.
And I realized something.
Right there, in that moment…
We were the same.
Helpless.
Hostages.