SOPHIA

The laptop screen glowed in the dim cabin light, my mother’s face smiling at me with a warmth that now felt utterly perverse. Cain’s father — my stepfather — sat beside her, his hand resting casually on her thigh. They looked… proud.

“Sweetheart, don’t look so shocked,” Mom said softly, her voice carrying that same gentle tone she used when I was a child. “We saw how you looked at Cain from the very first family dinner. We knew you needed someone strong enough to handle you. To *own* you.”

Cain stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders, thumbs stroking the edge of the collar around my throat....