SOFIA
The weight of his last words didn't lift.
"Not for you."
It was a simple sentence, but it acted like a final seal on a door that had been closing for weeks. I stood in the center of the room, looking at him, and for the first time, I didn't feel like I was fighting a system. I felt like I was looking at the architect of a destiny I hadn't even been invited to witness.
"You speak about it like it's a contract," I said. My voice was lower now, stripped of the heat of the argument.
"It is," he replied.
"And when did it start?"
"Before you were old enough to understand the nature of a promise."
The answer was so cold it made me shiver. I walked back toward the desk, my fingers brushing the edge of the file again. It felt different now. It didn't feel like a collection of secrets
