Chapter 162
SOPHIA’S POV
I got out of the car, walked to the front door and knocked.
Amaya answered quickly. She looked at me with a shocked expression.
She bowed her head “Miss Sophia. Please come in. Sir. George is in the sitting room. He asked me to bring you straight to him when you arrived p>
“Thank you, Amaya.” I stepped inside.
The hallway was quiet. But I could still feel the tension in the house. My wolf felt it immediately.
I followed Amaya toward the sitting room. I felt my mind turning over one last time the question I hadn’t been able to stop asking since George’s call.
What am I doing here?
And the only honest answer I had: I don’t entirely know. But I came anyway.
When I got to the sitting room, I froze.
The smell came first. I caught the scent of cigarette smoke.
Then I saw the state of it.
Everywhere was destroyed. Two cups lay shattered near the fireplace. A small side table was knocked at an angle. Tea had spread across the ru. The curtains on the far window were half-pulled from their rail, one end hanging loose.
Damien sat on the sofa in the middle of it all.
He had a cigarette between his finger. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his eyes fixed on the floor in front of him. His jacket was gone. His shirt was open at the collar. His jaw was set so hard I could see the muscle working in his cheek from across the room, and his wolf energy felt was raw and agitated.
I had seen Damien angry many times. This was different. This was the kind of anger that came from something deeper than a disagreement.
George sat beside him, speaking in a low voice that Damien was clearly not hearing. The old man’s face was filled with worry.
And in the far corner, standing very still against the wall, was Tiffany.
She was pale. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her make up was ruined. She had her arms wrapped around herself.
She saw me first. Her red eyes widened a bit.
Then George looked up, and his entire face changed. He looked relieved.
He stood up instantly.
“Sophia.” He reached out and took both my hands in his, squeezing them. He looked so tired. “You came. Thank you. Thank you, my dear p>
“Of course,” I said quietly.
Damien looked up.
His eyes found mine across the room, and something moved through them that I couldn’t read immediately. His jaw tightened further. He took a long, slow drag from the cigarette and said nothing.
George led me further inside toward the sofa. “Please, Sophia. Just talk to him. Tell him to stop this, to sit down with Tiffany and speak properly instead of-” He gestured at the broken cups, the state of the room. “He won’t hear me. He won’t hear anyone. But you p>
“I’ll try,” I said. Because I had promised I would, and I kept my promises.
I moved to stand in front of Damien.
Up close, the damage was more visible. There was a tension in his entire body. The cigarette in his hand had burned nearly to his fingers without him noticing.
“Damien,” I said calmly “Whatever happened tonight, losing your temper doesn’t fix it. You know that.” I paused. “Talk to her. Actually talk, not like this p>
He looked at me.
Then he laughed. The laugh sounded bitter.
I looked at him in confusion. Why was he laughing?
He stood up from the sofa. I didn’t step back.
“You have no right,” he said “You come in here and you stand there and you tell me to talk things through? Is that why you’re really here, Sophia? To gloat? To watch? To see how it feels when things fall apart for me the way they fell apart for you p>
George gasped. Tiffany, in the corner, pressed further back against the wall.
I felt the words hit me but I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t here to argue.
I took a quiet breath.
“I’m here,” I said, “because George called me and asked me to come. That’s the only reason. I’ve said what I came to say. The rest is up to you p>
I turned.
I picked up my bag from where I had set it near the door and moved toward the hallway.
I was just about to make it outside when I heard my name.
“Sophia p>
His voice stopped me. Not because it was commanding but because of what was underneath it.
I stopped. I didn’t turn around.
“Does it make you happy?” His voice came from directly behind me “Seeing this. Seeing me like this. Do you still care, Sophia? Any part of you — does any part of you still care what happens to me p>
The room was completely silent.
I stood still for a moment with my hand near the door frame. I thought about the question I asked.
Did I still care? Did I honestly care about Damien?
I didn’t feel the grief I felt months ago. I didn’t even long for him anymore. I didn’t even feel anger at how he betrayed me.
Right now, I felt nothing.
My emotions were very quiet.
I turned around slowly.
Damien was closer than I expected. He was standing just a few feet away, and he looked like exactly what he was. He looked like a man who had broken something tonight, standing in the pieces of it.
I looked at him directly.
“I stopped caring a long time ago,” I said. My voice was flat and clean. “So don’t flatter yourself p>