Page 36 of Rebellion

Colm:Go to sleep. I expect you to text me if you have problems.

Sofia sighedand decided arguing with him would get her nowhere.

Sofia:Goodnight.

There was no reply.

But she guessed she hadn’t really expected one.

9

Sofia drew the image on the napkin with an intensity that would have surprised her under other circumstances.

But this was her life at the moment.

Drawing the same image over and over.

It was almost... frenetic. A way to exercise old demons. And yet, they still haunted her.

Along with her newer demons.

God, she was drowning in problems, worries, and issues. They kept piling up higher and higher until the stress erupted.

She wasn’t able to sleep. Even her nightmares were an uncontrolled mess, the past leaking into the present.

Dead eyes staring at her. Pleading with her.

Asking her to change the past.

Only... sometimes they weren’t Dima’s eyes. Sometimes, those eyes morphed into something else.

Someone else.

It didn’t help that she was now short on staff with both Dima and Boris gone. She didn’t want to ask Sacha what had happened to Boris.

Sometimes, she was better off not knowing.

“What are you drawing?”

She let out a small cry and grabbed the napkin, covering it with her hand as she glanced up into a familiar face.

“Detective Maran, what are you doing here?”

It wasn’t the most polite greeting she could have given him, so she followed it up with what she hoped looked like a happy smile.

Well, at least a polite smile.

Sacha was going to flip out if the detective kept talking to her. He hated that he was a semi-regular here. But Detective Maran was no fool.

He knew who she was. And he likely knew what happened out the back. But so far, he hadn’t found any proof.

And Sofia wasn’t about to be the one who helped him in his quest for the truth.

“I came in for dinner. That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Of course not. Has Emma seen you to a table?” she asked.

It was quieter now, which is why Sofia had taken a break. It wasn’t like she could really concentrate anyway.

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