Chapter 5 – Investigation
1136 Words
Even as she stormed off in anger, Edward followed her and grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
Sophie glared at him. She wasn’t his property for him to stop her from doing what she wanted.
“Let me go. I know you’re the richest man in the city and the one the president trusts the most, but everything has its limits.” Sophie raised her voice, tears still threatening to fall from her eyes.
“It’s not a marriage with me. Please, listen,” he said gently, releasing her.
“They tried three years ago. But I didn’t accept. The Alweys family are not people I want to get close to.”
“Why?” Sophie asked, allowing her curiosity to briefly suppress her anger.
“I don’t agree with their ideals and, besides, I already have someone in my heart.” He stepped closer and gently touched her face.
Sophie pulled away, not knowing how to react to such affection from him. “And the current proposal? They’re insisting again on something that was already denied?”
“Well, they want a planned union between David and Maira,” Edward answered, irritated.
“That’s absurd,” Sophie exclaimed. “They’re children.”
“And that’s exactly why I’ll refuse. My son won’t be a political pawn.” He spoke with determination, and she could see the truth in his words.
Silence filled the room for a few minutes, but then Edward pulled something from his pocket. “This is the key to the company’s secret files. You can go there whenever you want. It’s my way of making up for anything I’ve done wrong.”
She took the rounded key and slipped it into her pocket. Sophie knew she should leave, but something inside her gave her the courage to say something.
“I don’t understand… why do you want so badly to redeem yourself? You’re the one who expelled me from Miami, Edward. You confuse me. I can’t trust you, because I can’t understand you,” she confessed in a low, painful, sorrowful tone.
And before he could reply, she was already gone.
What she had said had caught him off guard. Edward would never have expelled her. Now he blamed himself for being such a fool, blind to something.
Naively, he had thought she was only hurt by what happened between them. And nothing more. But it seemed there was more to the situation than he realized.
Heading toward his company, he sat down and closed his eyes briefly. Edward had never forgotten that night and that woman. He wasn’t used to loving or being loved. He had never experienced such a feeling.
But even when he was hated and feared, Sophie was the only one who hadn’t done so. The only one who came close. And inwardly, he thanked her for that.
He admired her—how she always smiled, how she was kind to everyone, even with all the hardships she had faced as an orphan.
And of course, as someone raised like a monster after his mother’s death in childbirth, Edward hadn’t known that what he felt for Sophie was love. He realized it was something more that day they had been together.
Her pale, bare skin was still engraved in his memory. Her brown eyes gazing at him with desire and her smile as they fit together—it was beautiful.
Edward remembered telling her he loved her and that she was perfect. Sophie had smiled that day and, with a silly grin, said she felt the same.
If everything had seemed fine, what had changed her? What piece was missing that he wasn’t seeing?
At that moment, someone entered. His brother John, in black clothes and messy brown hair.
“What is it?” his brother asked curiously.
“Do we have reports from Sophie’s last mission?”
John raised his eyebrows, curious. “You think something went wrong on her last mission just because she ran away from you?” he asked, laughing.
Edward glared at him. “Shut up. This is important. What happened when you assigned her the mission?” he asked, clenching his fists anxiously.
John stepped back, startled by his brother’s reaction.
“It was a secret mission to retrieve an important artifact. The object arrived safely in our hands, the strategist himself confirmed it.”
“The object arrived, but Sophie didn’t.” Edward clasped his hands together, resting his elbows on the desk, deep in thought.
He scratched his palms with his nails as his mind searched for answers.
“Why wasn’t her failure to return investigated?” He looked at his brother indignantly.
“Hey, calm down. It wasn’t my fault,” John replied, nervous. “She left a letter, remember? Saying it was her last mission. The handwriting was identical, Edward. Besides, we thought she might’ve been upset by what happened between you two.”
Edward slammed his fist lightly on the desk, irritated. “Something’s wrong. We need to dig deeper. Understood?” he exclaimed, his cold gaze fixed on his brother.
“Understood. Don’t get mad at me. Don’t look at me like you’re about to kill me,” John said, leaving before Edward actually did something.
“We can’t make mistakes like this, John. We’re the president’s trusted spy family,” Edward muttered with a weary sigh.
“And don’t forget to send someone to protect her,” he ordered his brother before he left completely.
Something strange was happening, and he would find out why. His thoughts raced, trying to unravel the mystery.
Most of the lights were off—it was already night. The employees had left, and Edward kept working. Until something unusual caught his attention. Smoke was coming from the records room.
He rushed over. The only person who could be there at that hour was her—Sophie. Edward entered the room and saw all the files burning. The only explanation was a traitor among them. No one else had entered the company that day.
“Sophie!” he shouted.
Hearing a weak cough, Edward rushed inside. And as he suspected, it was indeed her. She was trapped, her leg caught under a fallen piece of furniture.
Edward managed to pull her free, but her coughing worsened. Her body already bore slight burns.
He carried her out quickly, though she was already losing consciousness.
“Edw…” she tried to say, but the cough came back. The fire spread rapidly, soon to engulf them.
But Edward knew there was still time—there had to be.
“Sophie, stay with me. Don’t fall asleep. Stay awake.”
He ran with her in his arms to the outside, his hair and clothes singed. But even though they were safe, Sophie no longer responded.
- Writer
