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Chapter 9 - The Last Survivor

Sophie sat in a haze, her gaze fixed on the floor, barely noticing the time that passed. The apartment was still, save for the occasional creak of the old furniture or the hum of distant city life. But inside, Sophie felt nothing. Her mind had become a blur, as hollow and cold as the space around her. That was until the harsh knock at the door broke the silence.

 

A man stood there, a police officer by the looks of him, holding an envelope in his gloved hands. His expression was somber, his gaze flicking nervously between Sophie and the ground as he handed her the letter.

 

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of such news, Miss Turner," he said softly before turning and walking away, leaving Sophie standing in the doorway, staring down at the letter in her hands.

 

The envelope felt heavy, like a weight in her chest. Her fingers trembled as she slowly opened it, almost dreading what the words might say. As she unfolded the paper, her eyes scanned the message, and the world around her seemed to stop.

 

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Turner Family Tragedy: Mysterious Deaths

 

Six months ago, the entire Turner family was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Investigations revealed that their deaths were sudden and unexplained, with no clear cause of death. Authorities have been unable to provide any answers, and their deaths remain an open case. The family had no known enemies, and no clues were left behind that might explain what had happened.

 

The only survivor of the tragedy is Sophie Turner's nephew, Alex Turner Jr., who was away on a school trip at the time. He is currently being cared for by a distant relative and has been in a state of shock since learning of his family's deaths.

 

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Sophie's world spun. Her hands went cold, dropping the letter as she sank to her knees. Her family was gone. Dead. Six months ago. She had been locked away in the dungeon, suffering, unaware of the tragedy that had befallen them.

 

Her mind raced as the words replayed in her head: *Six months ago.* They had all been taken from her in an instant, and she hadn't even known. Her parents. Her sister. Gone. All because of her. Or at least, that's how it felt. She had been too lost in her own pain to even ask if they were okay, to check on them.

 

Her heart ached as she realized that only one person remained. Her nephew—her sister's son—was the sole survivor. He had been on a school trip, far away from the chaos that had torn their family apart. But what about him now? What was he left with? She could imagine him, a confused child, struggling to understand why his parents, his family, were gone. The weight of that loss would be a burden on him forever, just as it was on Sophie.

 

Her breath caught as a bitter laugh bubbled up in her throat. She had lost everything—her family, her future, her child. The only thing she had left was a nephew she could barely protect, and even he had been taken from her by fate. Sophie felt the hollowness deepen inside her, her soul more broken than it had ever been.

 

She hadn't even been there to say goodbye. She hadn't been there for her family when they needed her most, and now, the very idea of them—their voices, their faces—was a distant memory she could barely recall.

 

The tears didn't come. There were no tears left. She just sat there, her body frozen, her heart completely shattered. The weight of her grief crushed her, and she couldn't even move, as if the very force of it had paralyzed her.

 

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Back at the Castellano mansion, the news hit the family with a sense of guilt and shock. Natalie and Alex stood in silence, staring at the news report on the television. The room was heavy, thick with the realization of their own part in Sophie's suffering.

 

"They didn't deserve this," Natalie whispered, her voice shaky. "None of them did."

 

Alex clenched his fists, his jaw tight with regret. He had been so focused on vengeance, on making Sophie suffer for her betrayal, that he hadn't stopped to consider what her family might have gone through. They had taken everything from Sophie—and now they knew that her family had paid the ultimate price for it.

 

"I was wrong," Alex muttered, his voice low. "I should've never let it go this far."

 

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Back in her apartment, Sophie continued to sit, unmoving, the weight of her family's death bearing down on her. She had lost them all, and there was nothing left. The walls of the apartment, the cold floor beneath her, the silence—it all pressed in on her, suffocating her.

 

But in the back of her mind, a faint flicker of something stirred—a sense of responsibility. Her nephew, Alex Jr., was the only family she had left. He needed her, and perhaps, just maybe, Sophie could find the strength to try and protect him. To be there for him, even if it meant facing the shattered remnants of her own life.

 

But for now, she was lost in the darkness of her grief, unable to move forward, and unable to escape the shadow of her family's tragic fate.