Piss Off, Alpha! You Lost Me Forever novel Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Chapter 158 This Too Will End

SOPHIA’S POV

Sky Manor was lit up when I pulled into the driveway. Every downstairs light was on.

I sat in the car for a moment just looking at it. I was so tired. My arm ached with every heartbeat. My eyes felt like they had sand behind them. But I gathered my bag, got out of the car, and pushed through the front door.

Klara came running before I had closed it behind me.

She was still in her day clothes. She ran to me but stopped just short of throwing her arms around me, remembering at the last second about my arm. Instead, she grabbed my left hand with both of hers and looked up at me.

"You’re so late," she said. "I was worried. How’s your arm? Did you keep it dry like the doctor said? You didn’t keep it dry, did you-"

"Klara." I said her name softly, the way I always did when she was spiralling. She stopped. I reached out with my good hand and pressed it gently to the top of her head, smoothing her hair the way I had done since she was small. "I’m fine, just tired."

"Your arm—"

"Is fine." That was mostly true. "I’m home now. Everything is okay."

"Are you hungry?" she asked with a smile. "I kept some soup warm."

"I’m not hungry. I just want to wash up and sleep."

She looked unhappy about this but nodded. "I’ll wait until you’re done."

"Klara, you don’t need to-"

"I’ll wait," she said, in the tone that meant the conversation was over. Then, she turned back toward the living room.

I looked at her and felt something in my chest warm up. She was waiting up for me. In a season where I had felt invisible to almost everyone who was supposed to see me, my niece sat in a lit living room past midnight just to make sure I got home safely.

I went upstairs to shower. When I was done, I put on some clean clothes then headed downstairs to check on Klara.

Klara was sitting on the sofa with her knees pulled up, fighting sleep and losing. Her head kept tilting to the side. When she heard my footsteps she looked up immediately.

"Okay?" she asked.

"Okay," I confirmed.

She smiled then walked to the stairs. She looked back at me and said. "You work too hard,"

I chuckled "Goodnight, Klara."

"Goodnight, aunt Sophia." She went upstairs.

I went back to my bedroom. Everywhere felt quiet when I pushed the door open. I reached for the bedside lamp, clicked it on, and stood in the doorway for a moment letting my eyes adjust.

Then I noticed it.

The window on the far side of the room was half open.

I always closed my windows before I left - Always. It was habit I was so used to that I did it without thinking. I had closed that window this morning. I was certain of it.

I walked beside it, and that was when the scent reached me - Cedar and tobacco. Zade’s scent.

My heart jolted hard in my chest.

He had been in here.

Not recently, I guess. The scent was too thin for that. It seemed faded enough that it had probably been earlier in the evening, before the event, before the hospital, which meant he had been here while I was gone. He had climbed in through the window the way he always did, had stood in my room in my absence doing God knows what and then left.

The thought sent a complicated feeling through me that I refused to think about. I felt uneasy and another part of me felt pissed about having my space entered without permission.

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