BOOK II.
Four months have passed since Ashton and Ria's relationship fell into ruins. He's convinced that she hates him and she believes he never loved her. Giving up on each other, they attempt to mend their loneliness in the arms of their past; Ch...
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"STILL NOT SURE how I feel about my half-brother being a criminal." Sophia wonders around Ashton's hotel living room, examining the mess of things Ria's already left scattered across the coffee table. "Or my best friend's boyfriend."
Ashton rubs his neck and trails after her as she finds a seat. "Or that you even have a brother."
"That too." She points at him knowingly as he finds a spot on the sofa next to hers. "I also discovered that I have a half-sister." She expresses it so casually as she kicks her feet out.
His eyes widen and he sits forward. "R-really?"
"Yeah. My dad just likes to make families and not tell me about it. It's honestly a mess."
"I'm sorry." Ashton folds his hands over his knees, unsure how he should approach this situation. This is the first time he's had Sophia alone and his first attempt at having a relationship with a family member. The foreign feel of it drives electric nerves through his entirety. "How'd you find out about her? What's her name?"
Sophia ruffles up her already poofy hair and exhales her mental fatigue. "Her name is Amber. She lives in a different part of the city. I just...I decided to snoop through my dad's past and found my original birth certificate with your mom's name on it. I also found one that said Amber Tucker. I dug a little deeper and it turns out he was married before leaving his wife when I was in my teens. Guess he felt bad for living a double life."
"That's pretty shitty. How could he do that for so long?"
"I don't know!" She tosses her hands up and purses her lips. "Guess it's just as bad as your mom lying about having me and pretending you didn't have a sister for decades."
Ashton tries to ignore the way Sophia says his mom. As if they don't share the same mother. Perhaps she doesn't mean to disregard him as her sibling, but in a way, it sort of feels like she is.
"So besides having awful parents, what else do we have in common," he jokes.
"Well, we love the same women." She attempts to smile to which he does the same. "Ria and Dea. Their names are even the same." She laughs. "Holy shit."
"They're both Italian," he adds. "Are you sure you're not just a duplicate of me?"
She rolls her eyes and waves this off. "I'm older than you. If anything, you're just my male clone."
"We're both artistically superior."
"Cocky. I like that." Sophia nods and her smile grows. "I guess you're not so bad for a guy who used to kill people."
A grimace contorts his expression and his limbs weaken as he slouches into himself. Delicacy aligns his tone as he says, "Yeah. I guess so."
"I'm sorry! Is that a sensitive subject? I was trying to make light of it, but I guess that's pretty insensitive."
