SOPHIA
The moment Erick’s voice faded from the phone, I just sat there… frozen.
For several seconds, I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
It was like all the noise in my head, the anger, the pain, the doubts had gone quiet all at once, leaving only the echo of his last words:
“Take all time you want, but please just come home… to me.”
My heart thudded painfully. I felt Mrs. Ross’s gaze on me, gentle and worried, but not intrusive.
Across the room, the guards waited.
They stood with that still, silent patience that only warriors from Blackthorne possessed.
They didn’t press me.
They didn’t speak.
But I could feel their readiness, their expectation.
They were here to take me home.
Erick’s palace.
My pups’ home.
The home I once vowed I would never step foot int
