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Chapter 15:
Sofia's tears flowed freely, hot and heavy, blurring her vision. Her chest heaved with each sob, as though the weight of her mother's words had physically crushed her heart. She couldn't believe what she was hearing—her world felt as though it was unraveling around her. The thought of going back to the Crawfords, being thrust into a world of wealth and privilege she had never known, filled her with a cold, paralyzing dread. How could she return to people who had abandoned her as a child? To a family that had chosen to move on with their lives, leaving her behind without so much as a glance back? She could not—she would not—be part of that world again.
"I don't want to go back with them, Mom," she sobbed, her voice trembling with raw emotion. "I don't want to leave you, Dad, Leo. I'm going to find a part-time job while I'm in school. I'll help you, I promise." The words came out choked and broken, as though they were barely able to escape her tight throat.
Her mother's voice was sharp, strained, cutting through her tears like a knife. "What can you do, Sofia? What kind of part-time job can you find that will help your father? We need a miracle, Sofia, a miracle!" Her words were desperate, filled with a kind of hopeless urgency Sofia had never heard before. Her mother, always so composed, always holding it together for the family, now sounded frail and small, a woman who had run out of options. It was a sound Sofia couldn't ignore, no matter how much she wanted to fight it.
Sofia felt a surge of anger rise up inside her, quickly followed by frustration. How could her mother put so much pressure on her like this? Sofia wasn't sure she even had the strength to keep going, let alone provide some miraculous solution. She knew her mother was desperate, but how could she bear the thought of being torn away from her family, from her life, just to be pushed into a world that felt alien? How could she leave everything behind for a family who had never been there for her? She had always belonged to this family—the one she had grown up with. The one she had fought for, and who had fought for her. She couldn't imagine being anything else.
But her mother's words, edged with desperation, kept echoing in her mind, piercing through her anger like a relentless wind. Sofia knew her mother was right. A part-time job, even if she could find one, wouldn't be enough. No job would be enough to cover the endless hospital bills that loomed over them, the mounting debt that threatened to swallow them whole. They needed help, and they needed it fast. And even though she fought it, Sofia understood: they were running out of time.
Looking at her mother, whose face was drawn with worry and exhaustion, Sofia felt her resolve begin to break. Her mother's eyes, usually full of quiet strength, were now filled with sorrow, the kind of sorrow that only comes when hope is beginning to slip away. Sofia's heart cracked as she realized the depth of her mother's pain. She had always believed in her mother's resilience, but now, seeing her so vulnerable, so defeated, she knew she had to act. There was no other choice. She had to swallow her pride, her anger, and everything else that kept her from the Crawfords. For the sake of her family, she had to go back to them, to the family that had offered to help.
It was terrifying—this idea of returning to a family that felt like strangers, a family who had chosen a life without her. The fear of being thrust into a world she knew nothing about, where every gesture and every word would be a reminder of everything she had lost. She wasn't ready for this, and part of her wished she could just disappear into the shadows and forget all of it.
But Sofia's mother had been right. They needed a miracle. And the Crawfords—her biological parents—were the only hope they had. Sofia had no choice but to go back to them, even if it meant facing all the fear and uncertainty that came with it.
With a heavy heart, Sofia nodded slowly. The tears on her cheeks began to dry, but the ache inside her only deepened. She would return to the Crawfords, not out of choice, but out of necessity. She had to do this for her family, for her father, for her mother, and for Leo. She had to accept the help they had offered, even though it felt like a betrayal of everything she had known.
She would go back to them, the family that had once abandoned her, to the world of wealth and privilege she didn't understand. But this time, she would not go as a frightened child. She would go with the strength of someone who had been forced to grow up too soon. She would go not to reclaim a lost past, but to secure a future for the family she had always known, and to try to heal the wounds that had been left behind.
Sofia didn't know what would come of this decision. She didn't know what kind of life awaited her with the Crawfords. But she did know that, for better or worse, it was the only path forward. And so, with a heavy heart but a steadfast resolve, she began to prepare herself for the next chapter of her life—a chapter that would be shaped by her own sacrifice, and by the quiet hope that, one day, she could find a way to make everything right.
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