The King Killer | Mafia dark romance | ✔️

41. A Sense of Belonging

Valentina

We were played again. Santos had no intention of having a parley. He only wanted us at his place to insult us. When we reached back, Sofia hopped out through the doors, rushing towards us like a maniac.

"We have to tell her now." Antonio suggested. He had a concern on his place which I wasn't sure was a result of Santos or something else. "She needs to know," saying those words, he walked in.

There was a shift in Antonio's behavior since we returned. I didn't want to be the one to drudge up suppressed thoughts in front of others, so I let him leave. Sofia watched me carefully, her eyes following my every step till I returned to our room.

"How was it?" She was bubbling from the inside for any news about her brother. "How is he?"

I sighed, thinking of ways to break it to her. The news wasn't a jolly one but we had given her hope in the past. I would have to be the devil to crumple it up too.

"Your brother didn't want you back, Sofia," I lowered my tone, telling her. Her face flooded with an expression, part anger and part sadness. Her own blood betrayed her, there wasn't much hope left for the girl who was left at the kidnapper's mercy. "When we asked for a barter, he wasn't ready to deal with us."

Wiping away the tears which streamed down her face, Sofia drew a deep breath and walked around the place. She bit her cuticles as her mind wandered to the words of mine. Turning around, she reeked of determination, an expression which Sofia rarely portrayed.

"What did he tell you," she sat elegantly on the chair, back straightened, she exhaled deep as if she was preparing herself for the worst news. "I need to know all the things that my brother said to you."

"I don' think that's a good.."

She raised her hand and in a firm voice commanded me. A part of me was glad to see Sofia take control of the situation. Having seen her as the girl who always depended on men saving her, she made me smile with her gesture to know the truth.

"I want to know everything, Val. All of it. Atleast give me this." She leaned to her side, pulling her face away. Only after the revolt that spread inside her and leaked through her eyes calmed, she turned to face me.

Narrating the day that we faced was terrible. I skipped the part when Santos showed us the tape on me being poisoned. We knew there were moles in the house, Mateo was helping me with it. When I retold the part about Santos rejecting our offer, telling us to keep Sofia, the adopted child, her dams burst open again as she sobbed into her hand.

I held her up, she was unwilling to look me in the eye. With great force, I made her to.

"He isn't the brother you deserve." I said.

In a way, I knew what Sofia went through. I felt the same with Ramon's betrayal came to light. There was nothing I could do or say to him. I had to play the doting daughter for him to be convinced and for me to discover Elena's secret.

When she looked up, her tears had dried and all hopes she carried seemed to distance themselves from her. Sofia who stood next to me suddenly felt like a shell of the girl who used to be an epitome of happiness once.

"So what have you decided?" she asked, sniffling her nose. Sofia was made aware of our meet, she was convinced that her time to go home had arrived. We never fathomed Santos to change at the last minute. In all his correspondence, he had informed of his willingness to negotiate. It was all a lie.

"We don't know yet," I lied to her. Her fate was sealed the moment her brother abandoned her. Antonio was more than glad for her to be a part of the family. It was me, who wanted her to adjust to reality before thrown into the shards of another truth.