Chapter 55: Home Sweet Home
Adam observed the landing of his words. He witnessed Sophia’s mother’s eyes light up as she realized how quickly her priorities had changed from supporting him to looking out for her kids.
He could see the tension on Sophia’s face as her desire to argue clashed with the burden of responsibility he had just placed on her. He had just warned her that doing so would endanger her family, but she still wanted to fight for him to support him.
He had used her weakness as a weapon to coerce her into complying. It was a necessary but coldly manipulative move.
Something he could not quite put his finger on made him ache. A sincere affection for Sophia that was at once a strength and a weakness. He was aware that this emotion was shared.
He was aware that she liked him much more than she should to. That weakness was a drawback. Before it killed them both, he had to cauterize it. The nicest cruelty he could give was to make her live a normal life by forcing her to act normal.
As for Anastasia he had no worries. He saw the quiet intelligence in the little girl’s eyes. She understood things she shouldn’t. She was a survivor. She would adapt.
Adam stood up. The meeting was over. "I’ll see you at school" he said. The statement was casual almost mundane a stark contrast to the bloody horror of the morning. It was a promise of a return to normalcy a future that seemed impossibly distant.
He didn’t wait for a reply. He didn’t want to see their reactions to hear their protests. He simply turned and walked out of the shop out of the house and out of their lives.
A deep sense of regret descended upon him as he walked down the peaceful morning street. Last night, he had made an awful mistake. He had lowered his defenses and allowed Sophia’s anxiety to influence his decisions. It had been the biggest tactical mistake to come to her house.
Her whole family had been drawn into his violent world by it. He would have faced the assassins by himself if he had gone to his own booby-trapped house as originally intended. He would have passed away and started over. It would have cost him alone. However, they had now paid for it in addition to him.