Sophie’s POV
Morning came heavy, thick with dread instead of light.
I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, Cole’s smirk flashed at me against the dark of the docks, his words circling like vultures. Your father trusted the wrong man. And then Adrian, his voice rough and final: Tomorrow, you’ll know everything.
Now it was tomorrow.
The hours stretched, cruel and slow. I paced my room until my body ached, replaying every moment I could remember of my father. His laugh, the strength in his arms when he’d carried me on his shoulders, the warnings he whispered as I grew older—warnings I hadn’t understood until it was too late.
And always, in the background, Adrian’s shadow. His presence haunted me, like smoke you couldn’t scrub from your skin.
When the knock came, soft but steady, I
