Chapter Five: The morning after
859 Words
The maid stood outside Sofia's bedroom for a moment before finally turning away.
She walked down the long hallway, past the enormous staircase and into the dining room.
Matteo was already there.
He sat at the head of the table, dressed in a dark shirt with his sleeves rolled neatly to his forearms. A cup of coffee rested beside his plate, and he was scrolling through something on his phone while eating.
The maid stopped a few feet away.
“Sir.”
Matteo didn't look up.
“Yes?”
“Miss Sofia said she isn't hungry.”
His eyes remained on his phone.
For a second, the room was completely silent.
Then he simply said,
“Okay. You may leave.”
The maid nodded and walked away.
Matteo continued eating as though the conversation had never happened.
Upstairs, Sofia sat on the edge of her bed with her phone in her hand.
She had tried calling Isabella several times already.
Nothing.
At first, she had assumed her sister's phone was switched off.
Then she tried again.
Still nothing.
Sofia stared at the screen.
“Please, Isabella…”
She tried one more time.
The call wouldn't connect.
Her heart sank.
She opened their messages and stared at the last conversation they'd had.
There had been no warning.
No explanation.
Nothing that could tell Sofia why her sister had disappeared and left her behind.
She tried calling again.
Then she noticed something.
She couldn't even see Isabella's profile picture anymore.
Sofia's brows pulled together.
“No…”
She checked again.
Her stomach dropped.
Isabella had blocked her.
Sofia slowly lowered the phone.
“Seriously?”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“So you just left me?”
She stared at the ceiling.
Her sister knew everything.
She knew about the marriage agreement.
She knew about the family's debts.
She knew who Matteo De Santis was.
And somehow, Isabella had disappeared without saying a word.
Sofia's eyes filled with tears again, but this time she refused to cry.
“No. I'm not doing this again.”
She opened her contacts.
Her parents' names were still there.
She stared at them for several seconds.
Then she deleted them.
One after another.
Her mother's number.
Gone.
Her father's number.
Gone.
Sofia tossed her phone onto the bed.
“They're not my parents anymore.”
The words hurt more than she expected.
But she didn't take them back.
Hours passed.
The mansion became quieter as evening turned into night.
Sofia hadn't eaten anything since the previous day.
Her stomach growled.
She ignored it.
A few minutes later, it growled again.
“Oh, shut up.”
She pressed a hand against her stomach.
She was hungry.
Very hungry.
But the thought of going downstairs and possibly running into Matteo made her stay exactly where she was.
I'm not going down there.
She waited.
And waited.
Until eventually, hunger defeated her pride.
Sofia quietly opened her bedroom door.
The hallway was empty.
She looked left.
Then right.
Nothing.
“Perfect.”
She slipped out and made her way downstairs.
The mansion looked completely different at night.
The lights were dim, leaving long shadows across the black marble floors.
Sofia walked quietly toward the kitchen.
When she entered, she realized none of the maids were there.
“Finally.”
She found the food that had been prepared earlier and quickly scooped some onto a plate.
She was just about to leave when—
“I knew you'd come.”
Sofia froze.
That voice.
Deep.
Calm.
Cold.
She slowly turned around.
Matteo stood near the entrance.
His shirt was partly unbuttoned, his sleeves pushed up, and his expression was unreadable.
The dim lighting made it difficult to see him clearly.
Sofia's eyes lingered for half a second before she caught herself.
Why am I even looking?
She immediately looked away.
“Don't I have the right to eat?”
Her voice came out sassier than she intended.
Matteo stared at her.
Then his eyes dropped briefly to the plate in her hands.
A faint, almost amused expression crossed his face.
“Good night, princess.”
Sofia blinked.
“What?”
But Matteo had already turned away.
He walked out of the kitchen without another word.
Sofia stared after him.
Her mouth fell open.
“Princess?”
She scoffed.
“What a rude brat.”
She shook her head and marched back upstairs with her plate.
She ate alone in her room, still annoyed.
She had no idea why his stupid little comment had irritated her so much.
After finishing her food, she placed the plate aside and climbed into bed.
Within minutes, exhaustion finally won.
Sofia fell asleep.
But while she slept, somewhere else in the mansion, Matteo stood alone in his study, staring at the city lights through the enormous windows.
His phone vibrated.
He looked down at the message.
His expression immediately hardened.
We found something.
Matteo's fingers tightened around the phone.
The disappearance of Isabella Moretti had just become a much bigger problem.
And Sofia had no idea that the reason her sister had vanished was closer to her new life than she could possibly imagine.
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