2 Years Ago...
January 2016
The New Year arrived and with the the realization that she was starting to feel more alone than before. Sofia saw most of her friends leaving town, getting jobs, attending new graduated courses, and with all that came less time to be with her or maybe she was just having too much time with nothing to do, getting paranoid about it.
But was still one of her fears, being alone, excluded from everything. Which was happening in her family as well, until her parents decided to have a serious talk with her. Katherine wasn’t too happy about it, you could see it in her face, the frown on her forehead, the looks she was exchanging with Stefan - She didn’t want her only daughter involved. Stefan on the other hand, while trying to built a strong relationship with Sofia noticed the sadness that was starting to surround her and thought she should stand by his side - and was with that he mainly convinced Katherine to talk to Sofia, that and the fact that the young brunette should be able to protect herself.
“Sofia please sit down.”, the words came out of Stefan’s mouth as if an order was being given, even with that fantastic ‘please’ in the middle of the sentence. The brunette did it anyway, remaining in silence, analyzing her parents’ expressions and only interrupted with her father’s question, “What do you know about my work?”
Her eyebrows quickly rised, she wasn’t expecting that question, “For real..?..ahum, ok, you own some banks and something else that neither you, mom or even straight-up-Kyson don’t wanna tell me but clearly is related to your ‘death-faking-incident’ “, the brunette replied as a smirk formed on her lips.
Stefan rolled his eyes hearing her last words before speaking, “Since you’re never letting that go I think it’s time you know what I really do. Listen carefully love because I’m going back to the time your mother and I got together for the first time...”.
And with that the explanation Sofia waited for came, along with all it’s implications.
Stefan explained to the young brunette his double life, how from a young age he had start making some dirty works to gain power as a drug dealer and even passing along some forbidden potions to other warlocks and witches back in San Francisco. The way he spoke about the explosion that he used to fake his own death and how it hurted him to leave the woman he loved at the time with his daughter made Sofia’s own feelings about that incident tremble. Could he really just have been protecting that at the time? Was she being unfair to him? A few questions started rising in the brunette’s mind but it didn’t stop there because the story continued.
Sofia heard him talking about the life he lived in London, how he met his partner Kyson Hart and how the Lightwood’s empire was created over the cover up with a large bank agency to hide their dark business. Stefan told her that he never lost track of them, to make sure they weren’t in danger but he knew that his enemies were always looking for a way to hurt him. He told her that he was informed of their departure to the Southamptons, as well as the incidents that caught his attention: Katherine’s meetings with Frank for secret business, as well as the news about her getting transported to the hospital after a strange attack that year.
The mention of the attack made Sofia shift on her seat. It had been a while since it happened but she realized her father didn’t know who was the werewolf that did it. Good. It wasn’t for him to know. As for her mother’s meetings with the other guy, the brunette recalled that she stopped seeing the man for a few months now - the answer came right away with no filter or lies, Stefan had killed Frank. He was one of his enemies after all and was trying to mess with Katherine’s mind, no matter which who Stefan was at the time, he said he wasn’t going to let that man get anywhere close to the Blye’s women.
“You know...this is...a lot of information for sure but I don’t get it, why having this conversation now?”, Sofia inquired trying to not sound as confused as she was.
“Simple love, I want you to help me run things.”, Stefan answered calmly, “You’re a young bright witch that doesn’t have a job, lot’s of free time, very smart... and you’re my daughter, not today but one day all I have goes to you, I want you to learn. I want you to know what can come for any of us and I want you to know how to protect yourself from those people.”. Katherine got up abruptly and walk out to the kitchen, and with that Sofia got certain of her mother’s disapproval of this conversation.
The brunette’s expression changed, was now a mixture of seriousness with confusion, “Let me see if I got it right: You’re asking me if I want to help you break the law and go to the dark side of the world?”.
“I wouldn’t say ‘break’, I prefer ‘bend’ the law at our needs.”, the man replied with a smirk on his lips, “There’s a large world out there and I don’t need to tell you how dark it can be, you’ve seen pieces...I just want you to see it all and be prepared Sofia.”.
“How did you convice my mother to be okay with this... with this.. criminal activities..”, the question left the girl’s lips with a small taste of pain. The woman she grew up with, her mother, the most loyal and rightful person she met. How could she be okay with all of this? She got involved in dark matters before but...
“Sofia, your mother is no saint. Although if we are being honest, she’s not on board with bringing you in, you’re still her baby girl no matter how much you fight. I don’t want you to answer right now, I want you to think, sleep on it and when you’re ready to give me an answer, I’ll be here.”.
“What happens if I accept?”
“You will start training, studying and I’ll be there with you. With time, you will have access to everything we do and who knows if we don’t expand our business... But I also want you to know that if your answer is ‘no’, it’s alright. It’s your life Sofia and in no way we want to control it, but you will still need to learn how to protect yourself from those people.”.
The conversation continued with Sofia’s remaining questions about the work itself, what it consisted, what had been done and some of the plans for the future. Was it criminal? Yes. At the same time, it was her family and we can’t choose family so it wasn’t an easy decision that Sofia had in her hands.