She stepped aside. He entered, his gaze a physical weight on her.
“The Senator—” he began.
“—is done.” Her eyes flicked to the TV and back. “I’ve been watching it on a loop. You burned his whole life down?”
“I told you I would.”
She let out a humorless breath. “You’ve told me a lot of things.”
Silence—thick, charged. The ghost of his confession hung between them.I was sent.
“Why?” The word was torn out of her. “After all of it… why do that?”
Tonio looked at a bruise on his knuckle as if seeing it for the first time.
“It was the only thing I could give you,” he said, his voice low, raw, “that wasn’t a lie.”
Her breath hitched. Damn him—he was right.
She crossed her arms. A shield. A boundary.
“So that’s it? You destroy a man on national television, and I’m supposed to what—be grateful?”
“I don’t expect gratitude.”
“Good. Because vengeance doesn’t erase what you did to me.”
He stepped closer. Not enough to touch, but close enough that she felt the heat of him.
“I know.”
No excuses. Just truth laid bare.
“You lied to me,” Sofia said. “You betrayed me. After I—” Her breath caught. “—after I trusted you with things I never told anyone.”
“I’m trying to fix that.”
She let out a short, bitter laugh. “By hunting me down?”
“I didn’t hunt you.” His voice dropped. “I needed to make this right. To see if there’s anything left to build on. I think you want that, too.”
Her pulse stuttered. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend you know me.”
Tonio’s jaw tightened. “Sofia, I don’t know you—I want to get to know you. But what I do know is the face you make when you’re thinking too hard. I know the difference between your fear and your anger. I know when you’re lying—to meandto yourself.”
Her throat tightened. She hated that he wasn’t wrong.
“Stop,” she whispered.
He didn’t. “And I know that if you wanted to disappear—really disappear—Wraith would’ve made it happen.” His gaze held hers. “You stayed.”
Sofia blinked hard, fighting the sting in her eyes. “I stayed because I’m tired.”
He shook his head once. “No. You stayed because you’re done being afraid.”
