When they arrived at the mansion, Ivan was currently preparing their food for dinner. "Hi, Ivan!"
"Welcome home, young mistress." Ivan greeted her back and smiled sweetly at her. "Dinner will be ready in half an hour."
"Great. I'll go to my room now." She ran upstairs and got inside her room to take a shower and change her clothes. 'Looking at him makes me remember of Liam again.' she thought to herself and slumped down on her bed with her legs and arms sprawled wide open. "Liam." She whispered his name over and over again. She liked how his name rolled on her tongue and the way he called her Sofi earlier and when he scolded her, too. If it was anyone else, she would've broken their skull or take their heart out of their chest but she didn't. She let him scold her.
'Knock! Knock! Knock!'
"Sofi?" It was Niko's voice calling her from outside her room. "If you're done changing, can I come in? I need to show you something."
"Can I call when I'm done?"
"Alright." Niko didn't linger outside her room and left immediately. Sofia took a shower as quick as she could and put on a set of clean clothes. She dried her hair and ran out of her room even when it was still a little damp.
"What is it?" She asked because she knew that Niko won't call for her attention if it's nothing important.
"Guess what?"
Sofia put her fingers on her chin while thinking what things she asked Niko to look in the past few days, weeks or months. "I have forgotten most of the things I ask you to look into but I haven't forgotten my revenge. So, is it related with my family?"
"Bingo!" Niko placed a folder in front of her which contains all information she needed to take back what rightfully belongs to her. "I have done it. So, what about your promise?"
"I didn't forget my promise in exchange to this. Just let me find a good time, okay? There should be some school holidays and school breaks, so let's leave during those times."
"Sure." Niko leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs. "What are you planning now? Do you want me to slowly attack the company?"
"Why attack the company? It's my father's work. Just attack the woman behind the company. Oh! Never mind. I'll do it on my own." Sofia flipped through the pages of the documents and found a heartbreaking information. She wasn't abandoned by her grandparents but it turned out they really looked for her and reported her missing. Only that, they died in a plane crash one week after she was thrown away by her step mother. "How unfortunate." She muttered to herself while reading it.
"Are you alright?" Niko asked when he noticed that she looked really calm and composed while reading the documents.
"Yeah. I'm fine." She stood up with the folder in hand and turned around. "Send me a message when dinner's ready. I'll continue reading this in my room."
"O-okay."
Sofia walked upstairs and sat on the windowsill, looking at the at the dark sky with the twinkling stars. "So, they're all dead, huh." Her tears fell one after another on the back of her hands and some fell directly on the cold floor. "I'm really abandoned by everyone. They left me all alone in this world." She wiped her tears but they kept falling. "I wonder how they felt when they found I was gone." Sofia was just about to dwell on her pain and breaking heart when she remembered something. She sniffed and wiped her snots and tears while trying her best to calm herself.
"I still have an uncle. If my grandparents knew that I was missing, it's impossible that my uncle didn't know about it." She flipped through the pages once again to read the documents, not missing anything.
It listed all the things that her stepmother did and all dirty secrets that she'd be able to use against her. As she continued to flip the pages, her eyes caught something that made her heart grow cold. Instead of crying, she laughed so hard as if she losing her mind. She laughed and laughed until tears came out of her eyes.
"For Pete's sake! How could this be? Oh god!" She laughed again but she soon clutched her chest because of the stabbing pain. "Why?!" She yelled angrily and threw the documents away. "Just why?! Why did he have to betray all of us?!" Hatred, seething hatred that could burn someone's body a hole was showing in her eyes.
Niko heard the noise and ran upstairs. The same goes for the two other men who suddenly heard Sofia's loud and angry yell.
"What happened?" Viktor asked anxiously while standing outside her door. "Did you do something to her?"
"No. Her family did something to her." Niko responded with a grim expression. "I don't know what to do this time."
Yusef sighed deeply and shrugged his shoulders. Every time this happen, none of them can do anything. If the problem isn't extreme, Niko can try to handle it and comfort her but when it's beyond their control, they can only wait for her to calm down on her own.
"Did something happen?" Ivan came out from the kitchen and looked to the three men who were standing on the second floor.
"Sofi's just having a little episode of her emotional distress. You don't have to worry about it." Viktor replied but his facial wasn't convincing at all. However, Ivan didn't ponder over it for much longer and just went back to cooking.
Sofia on the other hand looked so messed up. She just took a bath but now, she's messy again. She leaned her back on the wall and pulled her knees close to her body, hugging herself like a young child. She looked so small and miserable.
"Mommy." She called for her mom once again. She may be a big girl now but she grew up with lack of security. In all these years, when she's alone she'd cry in despair and call for her mom.
Despite her pain and complicated emotions, Sofia was still alert with her surroundings. The moment someone jumped through her window and landed in front of her, she stood up and launched an attack without any hesitations.
"I'm not here to attack you."
The voice was mellow and it stunned Sofia, making her stop doing her next move. She wiped her tears in an instant and stood up straight. "What are you doing here?"
Ivan reached out his hand and handed her the butterfly necklace. "This helped you all these years, right? You can still wear it if you like."