Page 21 of Chasing Sophia

“It’s my pleasure.” I hate to rush the old gentleman, but there are more pressing things on the line. There’s been a pressure in my chest since Sophia’s performance. She looked like an angel sitting at the piano with nonstop tears rolling down her cheeks. It took all my willpower not to march up to the stage and hold her in my arms, protecting her from everything.

But she’s hurting because of me.

“I’d like to meet the participants and congratulate them on their great performance personally,” I tell him.

“Really? They’ll love that.” He’s already turning toward what I assume is the green room. “This way, Mr. Miller.”

My heart thuds in anticipation, forming and erasing explanations to tell Sophia that my intention was never to hurt her, but nothing seems apt.

In the green room, I exchange smiles with all the performers, while my brain scans every corner to find my blue-eyed girl.She isn’t here. Fuck! Did she leave alone for home? I know she arrived in a taxi that was sent by the organizing committee for the performers, as there’s no bus running on New Year’s Eve. Is she walking back home in the cold and snow?

I make an excuse of taking an international call and leave the venue, but just before getting inside my car, I catch sight of blue silk billowing in air. Hope balloons inside me before flattening as Nicoleta walks up to me.

“Mr. Miller, we haven’t been properly introduced.” She offers me her hand, and when I look at it with plain disdain, she runs it over some invisible crease on her dress.

“I just saw you in the green room, Nicoleta.”

But she speaks right through me. She would have been fired on the spot for such audacity if she were my staff. “For the love of God, I can’t fathom why you pretended at Miss Tee’s party. If anything, it would have given Sophia a free pass to the first spot in tonight’s performance. You lied to her too, didn’t you?”

I ignore her question and instead reply to the burning feeling in my chest. “She doesn’t need my help in getting selected for anything.”

“Does she know that? Or does she think she was chosen because the great Ashcroft Miller played his hand?”

My entire life has been a practice in patience and hiding my true feelings, especially my fears in front of others, but after my parents’ death, this is the moment I’ve felt most scared. I give one last look to Nicoleta before getting inside my car and driving away. Even when I can’t see her in the rearview mirror, her words haunt me as I drive in the direction of Sophia’s house.

Snow flurries make it difficult to see as I search for blue silk amidst the blinding white, but it doesn’t take long. I bring my car—my beloved McLaren, and not William’s borrowed Fiat—to a walking speed.

“Soph, get in the car.”

When she looks at me, there’s no surprise in her eyes, only hurt. “Go away, Asher. Or shall I say Ashcroft?”

All the words I was practicing during the drive fall short, and I’m left tongue-tied as she carries on with her march. I catch up to her. “Please, Soph. It’s too cold to walk without a coat. Let’s talk in the car.”

“I want to hear nothing.”

“Okay, then let me drive you home. I promise I won’t say a word.”At least not on the ride. When she almost slips on the slippery sidewalk, all my control drowns. “If you don’t get into the car, I’ll physically deposit your sweet ass inside.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“I’m one microsecond away from stepping out.” If looks could kill, her angry eyes would burn me alive, but I’ll bear her wrath to save her from an injury on ice any day. “Now, Sophia.”

My molars grind to the point of hurting when she gets inside and releases a shudder. I blast the heat to full and pick up speed. I need to get her home soon, because she’s definitely not going to accept my coat from the backseat.

“Where are you going?”She turns in the passenger seat as I remove my seat belt after parking outside her apartment.

“Inside. We’re going to talk.” I wait for her under the overhang of her porch.

“Asher, there’s nothing more I need to hear.” The anguish and loss of feistiness in Sophia’s voice churns my insides. She should fight back like always and call me out on my arrogance.

“Don’t make decisions and opinions based on one night, Soph. You’ve known me for weeks now.”

She closes her eyes, and I hate the lone tear that finds an escape.

It feels like someone has pushed a thousand daggers inside me when she flinches as I graze her cheek with the back of my hand. “Do you remember when I told you I’d never lie to you?”

“There was no truth between us, Ash, and it would be stupid of me to think we can build something on a foundation of lies.”

“I was just trying to show you that not every rich man is the devil, Soph.”

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