“Why did you disappear?” I asked.
Her hands tightened around the pendant.
“Because they saw my face,” she said. “The men who set the ambush. They saw me pull you out. And they put a price on my head.”
“So you’ve been hiding.”
“For fifteen years.”
“And you came here.”
She nodded again, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I thought if I stayed close to you, they wouldn’t think to look for me inside your house. I thought I could keep my daughter safe.”
Her voice cracked on the last word.
I looked at the little girl standing by the window, clutching a stuffed rabbit and watching us with solemn eyes.
“How old is she?” I asked.
Sofia’s breath hitched.
“Six.”
Something cold settled in my chest.
“Who’s her father?”
Sofia looked at the floor.
And in that silence, I understood.
“They found you,” I said slowly. “After you saved me. They found you, and they—”
“Yes.”
The word was barely audible.
My hands clenched into fists.
“Who?”
She shook her head quickly, her eyes filling with tears.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s dead. I made sure of it.”
I stared at her.
She met my gaze, and for the first time, I saw something hard and sharp beneath the fear.
This woman wasn’t just a victim.
She was a survivor.
And she had killed to protect herself.
I turned back to Renata.
