Chapter 24

Sophia's POV

Sleep never fully came that night. I kept dialing the number that had sent me those pictures of my parents’ territory, and every time it failed to connect, the panic underneath it grew a little sharper. Eventually exhaustion won out, though it didn’t feel like rest so much as a temporary surrender.

I woke determined the next morning, dressing quickly, my mind already circling the difficult day ahead. Whatever Derick’s first task turned out to be, I needed to find something worth handing him, something genuinely useful that might convince him to move faster on my parents’ behalf. I grabbed my bag and headed out.

I was halfway into a taxi outside my building when a familiar voice called my name. Blake stood there, fury written plainly across his face, and before I could respond, he crossed to the taxi an