Chapter 67

Chapter 67
Sofia pov

His hand never let go of mine until he threw me into the backseat of the car. The leather stuck cold against my skin, but it was his eyes that burned hotter than fire. He didn't speak at first—he just stared at me, breathing hard, as though making sure I was really there.

Finally, his voice cut through the silence, low and heavy with restrained fury. "Do you have any idea what you've done to me? I called you all day. Not a single answer. And then I find out you took the jet, disappeared halfway across the world like you were running from me."

I smoothed my hair, smirking faintly. "I wasn't running. I was visiting our son."

"Without telling me?" His hand slammed against the seat, not near me.

The driver didn't even dare to look back—he knew better.

"You think this is a game, Sofia?" His voice was low, dangerously calm. "Vanishing. Taking the jet without telling me. Turning your phone off. Do you enjoy making me lose my mind?"

I tilted my head, refusing to flinch. Once upon a time, I had. Once, his temper had been a storm that left me bruised. But now, after years, I had learned his storm was only another language of love. He had changed, yes—but the possessiveness, the control, that would never leave him.

"I went to see our son," I said smoothly, my tone deliberately calm. "Adrik needed me. He always needs me."

His eyes cut to me, sharp as knives. "Adrik can burn the world and bury it in his ashes, and I won't care. But you—" He broke off, his jaw clenching. "You don't get to disappear from me. Not anymore. Not ever."

I let a slow smile curve my lips, though my pulse raced at the force of his stare. "Still so possessive. Even after all these years."

I touched his arm lightly, the way I knew calmed him, yet also fueled his obsession. "I told you before—Adrik needs me. He's still ours, no matter what he's become."

His jaw tightened, but his hand found mine, threading our fingers together in that familiar, crushing grip that was both a prison and a promise. "If you ever disappear like that again, Sofia... I'll tear the world apart to drag you back. Do you understand me?"

I leaned closer, lips brushing his ear, my voice velvet and venom. "I'd expect nothing less from you."

He exhaled, a sound between a growl and a sigh, then pulled me against him, his embrace rough, almost bruising, but it was love—the only way we had ever known how to love. Twisted, consuming, dangerous.

He leaned closer, his hand gripping my chin with that old familiarity—firm enough to remind me he still could, soft enough that I knew he wouldn't. "Not possessive. Obsessed. You're mine, Sofia. Do you understand? Mine. No flights. No vanishing acts. No secrets. If you leave me like that again..." His thumb pressed against my lips. "You won't like what I'll do."

I smirked against his touch, whispering, "I never do. But I always love it anyway."

Something dangerous flickered in his eyes before he released me, sitting back but never letting go of my hand, as though even an inch of distance was too much.

I loved him. God help me, I loved him even with all his flaws, all his demons, all the blood he carried on his hands. But love, in our world, was never a gentle thing. It was sharp, cruel, and binding.

I was born into the mafia. My father, a clan leader, wore power like a crown, but even crowns can rust when enemies circle. Another family threatened him, pressed harder and harder until desperation left him with only one choice—seek help from the most powerful syndicate in our world. That was where he came in.

Leo. Newly sworn as leader, inheriting his father's empire. A man everyone whispered about, feared, and obeyed. My father offered his loyalty, and in return... he promised his daughter. My sister, Jessica.

I wasn't supposed to be part of it. I wasn't supposed to even exist in Leo's world. I had been away in London, studying, living a life that had nothing to do with blood oaths and vendettas. I only came back for Jessica's engagement party. That was the night everything changed.

The first time I saw him, he terrified me. Not just because of his presence—the way he stood like the world already belonged to him—but because of his eyes. He looked at me, not my sister, and something shifted. He didn't even hesitate. He cut off the engagement with Jessica as if it meant nothing and announced that it was me he wanted.

I thought it was madness. I thought it was a joke. But it wasn't.

I was already in love with someone else back then. A boy who had nothing to do with crime or death. A boy who gave me laughter, softness, a glimpse of what life could have been. I thought I could run. I thought love could protect me.

But Leo doesn't share. He doesn't forgive.

He killed him. My lover. Right in front of me. His blood spilled across the ground, and I remember the sound that tore out of my throat—grief, horror, rage. But Leo only looked at me with those dark eyes, calm, unshaken, as if ending a life was no different than snuffing out a candle.

And then he punished me.

I had never known pain like that, never known what it meant to be broken in body and in spirit. I tried to escape once—I almost made it. But he caught me. And when he did... the punishment was worse than death. He made sure I understood that I would never run again.

At first, I hated him. Every breath I took near him felt like swallowing poison. But hatred has a strange way of twisting when there is no escape. Slowly, against my will, something changed. Perhaps it was the way he always returned, no matter how cruel. Perhaps it was the way his possessiveness was suffocating but unwavering. Perhaps it was simply that I had no choice.

Over time, the bruises faded, but his presence never did. Leo rained hell on me until resistance became impossible. And yet, inside that storm, I found myself bending—not breaking. He was brutal, obsessive, a man carved out of shadows. But he was also mine. And I became his.

It has been a roller coaster ever since. A life made of blood and fire, of nights that burned and days that never promised peace. A life where love feels more like chains than wings.

And the worst part? Somewhere along the way, I stopped fighting the chains.

I loved him. Even when I shouldn't. Even when it destroyed me. I still do.

Along the years, something inside me began to shift. The girl who once flinched at the sound of a gunshot, who once wept at the sight of blood... she died a long time ago. Leo didn't just claim me as his wife—he remade me. Shaped me with fire, with steel, with suffering. At first, I thought I was surviving. That I was simply learning how to live in his world. But survival in the mafia isn't just about breathing. It's about becoming what they are.

And so I did.

I began to see the killings, the betrayals, the punishments—not as horrors, but as ordinary parts of life. A language written in blood and violence. At first, I pretended I didn't notice, pretended it didn't affect me. But then... then I realized I wasn't pretending anymore. I was watching men beg for mercy, watching lives snuffed out like candles, and I felt nothing. Worse, I enjoyed it.

There is a moment you cross a line, and once you cross it, there is no going back. I crossed it willingly.

Most people, when they see me, they see a soft woman. A mother. A wife. A face that smiles at dinners, that can play the role of the dutiful hostess. But what they don't see—what they'll never see unless I choose to show them—is the monster beneath that silk. A monster that Leo created, but one that I chose to keep alive.

And yes, I gave birth to monsters too. Adrik is the clearest proof. His darkness is mine sharpened to a blade. I didn't just carry him in my body—I trained him, molded him, allowed him to embrace the shadows without shame. When I look at him, I don't just see my son. I see the legacy of what Leo and I forged. Ruthless. Unyielding. Unbreakable.

But that is why Joy fascinates me. Why she draws me in like a reflection in the mirror. She reminds me of myself—before. Before the blood, before the killing, before the softness was burned out of me. Joy is the kind of girl who still screams in her sleep, who still clings to light even when surrounded by darkness. And watching her, I feel... something strange.

It's like watching my own life unfold again, only this time not in my hands but in hers. Watching her struggle, watching her fight, watching her try to run even though I know running is pointless. She is a mirror of the girl I once was—fragile, hopeful, afraid. And yet, I can see the cracks already forming in her, the same way they formed in me.

It's cruel, I know. But in a way, I love her for it. I love her because she makes me remember. And I love her because she doesn't realize yet that she is already being pulled into the same abyss I fell into.

Monsters aren't born. They're made. And I am proof of that. Joy may not see it now, but she is walking the same path I once walked. And if she isn't careful, she'll become just like me.

And maybe... that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

....................

What are your opinions about Sofia 😂would like to hear them all !!!!