Chapter 39: Nightmare

Sofia's POV

The second the vault door shut behind him, I felt it.

That heavy silence.

It wrapped around me like a cold fog, pressing in from every side, making the room suddenly feel smaller—like the walls were inching closer with every passing second. I just stood there for a moment, staring at the door, waiting... almost expecting it to swing open again. That maybe Leandro would change his mind and come back.

He didn’t.

I exhaled and hugged my arms around myself, suddenly very aware of how alone I was.

He said he’d be back soon. Promised, even. And I believed him—I still do—but my heart wouldn’t stop thudding, and my mind wouldn’t stop racing. The way he said yes when I asked if he truly had a brother... that distant, cold tone—I recognized it. I’d heard it before, on days when something rattled him more than he let on. The kind of tone that said: Don’t ask. Not yet.

And I hadn’t pushed. I just nodded, even though a hundred questions burned on my tongue.

How could someone like Leandro have a brother no one knows about?

Why was this the first I was hearing of it?

But I knew better than to force it out of him. Whatever that part of his past was, it wasn’t a clean wound. It was old. Deep. And maybe still bleeding.

I tried to distract myself. I wandered around the vault a little—not because I was curious, but because I was restless. The place was lavish. Leandro had said everything I could possibly need was here. And he wasn’t wrong.

Liquor. Clothes. A mini fridge. Weapons. A bathroom that probably cost more than anything I’d ever owned.

But it didn’t feel comforting. Not without him.

I ended up sitting on the couch, tucking my legs beneath me as I stared at the wall of security monitors, hoping one of them would show his face. They didn’t.

I lost track of time. There was no clock. No phone. Nothing to help me know how long I’d been waiting.

Was it thirty minutes? An hour?

I didn’t know. All I knew was that every minute he stayed away made my chest feel tighter.

I should’ve been used to silence. To waiting. Life had taught me how to be patient with things I couldn’t control. But this was different.

This wasn’t just fear of the unknown. It was fear for him.

I kept thinking about that explosion at the office. The Russians. The name Adrian. And now, this mystery brother? What if it was all connected? What if this brother was part of the people trying to hurt him?

What if something had already happened?

I stood up, paced, sat back down. Repeated the cycle.

I hated this. The waiting. The not knowing. The silence that rang too loud in my ears. My heart wouldn’t settle, and my stomach twisted with every worst-case scenario my mind conjured.

I should’ve begged to go with him.

I should’ve told him how scared I was.

But instead, I played it cool. I nodded like a good girl. Because I didn’t want to seem needy or weak or clingy.

Now I regretted that.

I ran my fingers through my hair, biting down on my lip, hard enough to sting. My eyes kept drifting to the vault door. Still closed. Still quiet.

“Come back, Leandro,” I whispered.

My voice cracked.

It hit me then—how much I’d come to care. How fast, how deep. And how completely out of my control it was. I didn’t want to lose him. Not when I’d just started to understand what he meant to me. Not when he was the only person who made me feel protected in a world full of threats.

The thought of something happening to him… I couldn’t stomach it.

Eventually, I found a blanket folded neatly in a corner. I pulled it around me and curled up on the couch, hoping sleep would come and steal me away from the fear. But even as my eyes drifted shut, my thoughts stayed with him.

Please be okay.

Please come back.

Please… don’t make me wait too long.

I don’t know when I finally dozed off.

One second I was staring at the flickering monitors, and the next, my mind pulled me somewhere else—somewhere soft and warm, where the weight pressing on my chest didn’t exist.

I was standing in a field. The kind you only ever see in postcards or cheesy romance movies. Wildflowers danced in the breeze, the sky a soft golden hue. It felt like peace—like a world untouched by pain or danger. I felt... free.

And then I saw him.

Leandro.

He was leaning against a tree, shirt sleeves rolled up, a lazy smile tugging at his lips. Not the cold, guarded expression he always wore in the real world—but something softer. Something… real.

“Sofia,” he said, voice lighter, like all the darkness he carried had vanished.

I moved toward him, heart pounding, but not in fear this time. In something sweeter. Safer. His arms opened, and I stepped into them like it was the most natural thing in the world. He held me close, his chin resting atop my head.

“This is nice,” I murmured. “Too nice.”

“It’s what I want for you,” he whispered against my hair. “Peace. Safety. A life without fear.”

“I only want that if you’re in it too.”

He pulled back, looking into my eyes. “Then I’ll fight for it. I’ll burn the world if I have to.”

His words hung in the air like a promise.

But then the sky began to darken.

The breeze turned cold.

And in the distance, shadows began to rise. Fast. Chaotic. Familiar.

The explosion.

The screams.

The gunfire.

Suddenly I was standing alone again. Leandro was gone.

I turned, heart racing, calling out his name—but he didn’t answer.

Then, the vault door appeared in the middle of the field, glowing faintly like a beacon. I reached for it, but it felt cold—uninviting. And just before I could touch it

I woke up.

Gasping.

Disoriented.

The blanket had slipped halfway off me, and the dim light of the vault wrapped everything in a soft orange hue. My skin was clammy, my heart thudding like a drum.

It was just a dream.

But it didn’t feel like just a dream. It felt like a warning.

A reminder of what was at stake.

And suddenly, the silence felt heavier than ever.

“Leandro…” I whispered again.

Where are you?

Please come back to me.