Semua Bab Torn by Obsession : Bab 171 - Bab 180

The rain returned by morning, this time gentler—like the city itself was catching its breath before drowning again.Rafael stood on the terrace of the penthouse, shirtless beneath the gray sky, a lit cigar smoldering between his fingers. Below him, the city pulsed: red taillights weaving through wet streets, oblivious to the war now simmering in its bones.Inside, Sophia sat on the couch with a gun dismantled in front of her, fingers moving with rhythmic precision. Her hair was tied back, eyes glassy with thought.Neither of them had slept.A knock broke the silence. Three sharp taps.Rafael tensed, already moving toward the door before the second knock landed. He glanced at Sophia—she gave a short nod, sliding the last piece into the gun and standing, silent and ready.The door opened to reveal Dante, soaked from the storm. His usually calm face was a mask of tight urgency.“Voss made his first move.”Rafael let him in. “Where?”“Warehouse 47. He slaughtered everyone.” Dante tossed a

6:02 AM – Ortega Estate, War RoomThe digital screen illuminated the faces of Rafael’s inner circle. Everyone looked tired—more than tired, broken in places they hadn’t yet acknowledged. Sophia sat quietly beside Rafael, his hand resting over hers on the long obsidian table, grounding them both.Dante stood at the head of the room, a tablet in his hand, his voice cutting through the heavy air like a blade.“There was only one person who knew the convoy’s alternate route last night.”Eyes turned. Tension thickened.Rafael’s fingers curled around Sophia’s tighter.Dante turned the screen so everyone could see it. A paused video feed showed Mateo and his men preparing to leave the underground garage.Timestamp: 2:03 AMHe pressed play.A figure walked past in the background. Hood up. Face hidden.But the gait. The posture. The limp.It was familiar.Rafael’s voice was deadly calm. “Luca.”Sophia felt the tremble in his body before she even looked up. She saw it in his eyes. Betrayal. Rag

The Morning After – Rafael’s Safehouse, Outskirts of the CityThe silence was almost unnatural.No gunshots. No sirens. No distant shouts in the dead of night. Just the faint hum of the ceiling fan above and the occasional chirp of birds waking in the early gray.Rafael sat at the edge of the bed, bare-chested, the morning light catching the angry bruises that marked his skin like battle medals. A long gash traced down his shoulder blade, still red, freshly stitched. His hands hung between his knees, stained from blood that wasn’t all his own.Behind him, Sophia stirred.Her voice came softly, thick with sleep. “You didn’t come back to bed.”“I couldn’t.” His tone was flat. “Didn’t want to wake you.”She sat up slowly, drawing the sheet around herself. The mattress dipped slightly as she reached out to him, fingers brushing his back.“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”He shook his head.Sophia’s eyes traced the line of his shoulders, the rise and fall of his back as he breathed. The

The weight of Rafael's absence was suffocating. As soon as he left, the silence in the room became all-encompassing, pressing against Sophia's chest, stealing the breath from her lungs. She stood in the middle of the dimly lit space, her eyes tracing the outline of the door through which he had just disappeared. The quiet had never felt so loud, so final. It was as though he had taken a part of her with him when he walked away. She didn’t know how long she stood there, rooted in place, but it felt like hours. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, each one clashing violently with the next. She had wanted to reach him, to break through the walls he’d built around himself. She had seen glimpses of the man he could be—gentle, vulnerable, someone capable of love—but she knew now that he wasn’t ready to let go of the man he had become. The one forged in blood and darkness. The one who ruled with an iron fist, who trusted no one, not even himself. Her heart ached as she recal

The van stopped just short of the abandoned industrial complex on the outskirts of the city. It loomed like a rotting beast in the dark, steel ribs exposed, windows shattered, the air thick with the stench of rust, oil, and old blood.Sophia climbed out, heart hammering against her ribs. The wind tugged at her coat, whipping strands of hair across her face, but she didn’t flinch. Not now. Not when they were this close to the truth—and the end.Rafael stood beside her, silent, still. But the rage in him was barely contained. He looked at the building like it was a ghost from his past come to life. This place had broken boys and built monsters. But tonight, he would bury one of them here for good.“This was it,” he said. “Where Silas trained us. Where he tried to strip us down until we were weapons.”“And this is where you’re going to end it,” Sophia murmured, her hand tightening around his.He turned toward her, his gaze softer for a moment. “I’m only ending it because I found you.”He