I gave a bitter laugh, though a tear slipped from the corner of my eye. Before she could notice, I brushed it away.
“Fine. Then get out of the organization. Sophia Lane, without its protection, let’s see how you protect Daniel.”
She stared at me in disbelief.
“I’ve fought and bled for the organization all these years. I have plenty of enemies. You of all people know—without the organization, I’m as good as dead.”
My laugh was cold.
“Sophia, what’s the point of saying all this to me now? You won’t give up anything, yet you think a trinket can buy mercy from me? After knowing me all these years, don’t you realize? I, Ethan Cole, have never been a kind man.”
I walked to the balcony and flung the charm into the night. It arced through the air and vanished.
“Go, Sophia. It’s late. Don’t mistake yourself again.”
I didn’t know when she left, or how long I stood there, until a vulgar sound reached my ears and pulled me back.
It came from the room next door. Sophia’s room—right beside mine, as it had always been since everyone assumed we were meant for each other.
Through the crack of her door, I saw her tangled up with Daniel, the air thick with passion.
The same woman who had just whispered tenderly at my bedside now couldn’t get enough of another man’s embrace.
How laughable.
I turned away, walked downstairs, and sat in the garden in a daze.
As I stared at the endless stars above, my mind drifted back to the night of Sophia’s eighteenth birthday.
That night, the sky was just as full of stars as it was now. But her eyes had shone even brighter.
“Ethan, I love you.”
Back then, I had held her tightly, certain I was holding my entire world.
Lost in memory, I didn’t notice someone sit down across from me until he spoke.
“Mr. Cole, you’re in quite the mood. Still up to admire the moon this late at night?”
“Thank you for earlier. Sophia told me a lot about you. I thought you wouldn’t let us go so easily, but it seems she worried too much. You’re not nearly as ruthless as the rumors say.”
Daniel smiled, but the coldness in his eyes betrayed him.
Without waiting for my response, he continued.
“You must have seen it just now. We live right next door, after all. It’s Sophia’s fault—she couldn’t resist. But you understand, don’t you? When passion takes over, people can’t help themselves. Surely you, of all people, can understand that…”