Chapter 2

A flash of panic crossed Leon's handsome face.

Then he shrank down under the blanket and let no one near him.

In thirteen years, Selena never once came back to Bay City.

The one who pulled me from dead last in class to first in the whole city, who bought me the first dress of my life, who told me about the things girls need to know, who taught me how to live well, was always Sofia.

She loved me like her own daughter.

But that marriage wore away all her life, little by little.

Because Selena never came back, Leon started taking out his frustration on other women and on alcohol.

Every time he drank himself unconscious, it was Sofia who cleaned him up.

Once, he nearly ended up in the family hospital.

Sofia stayed by him all night, changing his clothes and bringing his fever down, only for him to shove her to the floor.

"Get out! I know what you're after. Trying to worm your way up while I'm weak? Dream on!"

Pain shot through Sofia's ribs.

She got up slowly, said nothing, and went back to undoing his collar.

Leon started to struggle, then realized she was only changing him into dry clothes.

He felt a little let down, but mostly he was humiliated and angry.

"Why has Lola been ignoring me lately? Have you been badmouthing me to her?"

Only at the mention of me did Sofia react.

She gathered her things, stood up, and said,

"Lola is growing up. She needs a father, not a family heir who does nothing but get drunk and smash doors."

Leon gave a cold snort.

"What she's missing is a mother's love. If it weren't for you, the one with her right now would be Selena."

Sofia said nothing more and walked out of the room.

The year I turned fourteen, I won the city math competition.

For the Moreno family, this was quite the rarity.

For the first time, Leon and Sofia showed up together, sitting in the audience and clapping for me.

When the competition ended, people began filing out.

Leon immediately put distance between himself and her, then smiled and pushed a bouquet into my arms.

"Lola gets her smarts from me and your mom, no question. What do you want to eat? Daddy will take you."

I looked over at Sofia beside me.

She dipped her head a little, but a small smile of happiness for me still lingered at her lips.

So I took her hand and said to Leon,

"I got where I am not because of the Moreno family, but because I have a good mom."

That day, I saw Sofia cry with joy for me.

Later Leon noticed that, because I sided with her, Sofia had slowly gained some standing in the Moreno family.

He couldn't stand her being respected.

So he cut off the Belmonte family's port funding, pulled their escort convoys, and deliberately let word spread that the Belmontes had lost the Moreno family's protection.

In the end he pushed the Belmonte family to the brink of ruin.

Sofia's parents were pushed off a mountain road on their way to a negotiation at the docks.

Her older brother and sister were sold into forced labor at the North Harbor warehouses.

Sofia fell gravely ill.

I begged Leon to take her to the hospital.

But he only looked down at her coldly and said,

"You should thank me. If it weren't for the Moreno name, you'd have been packed into a shipping container long ago, just like your brother and sister."

With that, he left without looking back.

It was that very day that I took her to the hospital, and we found out she had a terminal illness.

When she learned she didn't have long, she didn't cry very hard.

Instead she took me to a place we'd never been, the Vane Bookshop.

There was a man there, very tall, with a gentler face than Leon's.

Sofia held my hand and walked slowly up to him, giving a pale, weary smile.

"It's been a long time."

Only then did I learn that the man in front of us was named Simon Vane, Sofia's childhood sweetheart.

The Vane family wasn't a mafia family, but they ran the biggest bookstore and charity fund in the Old Town.

They didn't touch guns or smuggling, yet plenty of people owed them favors.

They talked about a lot of things from their childhood.

Finally, Sofia quietly told him about her illness.

"Simon, when I'm gone, scatter my ashes into the sea. And this child, even though she's almost grown, watch over her for me."

Simon stared at her, stunned, unable to hold back the tears streaming down his face.

"Twenty years apart, and the news I finally get is that you're dying... What in the world did Leon do to you?"

Sofia lowered her head.

"I was too naive. I thought I could change an arranged family marriage."

Simon shook his head with a bitter smile.

"It's all right. Our promise still stands. I've been waiting for you all this time, waiting for you to come and tell me you'd leave with me."

"I can't leave anymore. Don't go up against the Moreno family for my sake. When Leon loses it, he'll drag the Vane family down too."

Right in front of me, they opened their hearts to each other.

It turned out Simon had pursued Sofia for a full ten years.

Even knowing she was marrying into the Moreno family, he never gave up.

The night before Sofia's wedding, Simon came one last time to confess his feelings.

Sofia turned him down.

But Simon wasn't angry.

He pressed a ring into her palm.

"I can wait another twenty years for you. In twenty years, give me your answer then."

Sofia froze.

But for the sake of the Belmonte family's marriage contract, she had to stay away from Simon for twenty years.

I grieved deeply for what they'd lost.

In the end, Sofia died of her illness.

The next day, Simon took his own life in the back courtyard of the bookshop.