Sophia raced through the city streets, her heart hammering painfully against her ribs as she rushed back to the Lancaster mansion.
A phone call had plunged her world into chaos-Jack and her mother, Florence, had been viciously attacked.
Panic gnawed at her as she burst through the front door, desperation etched across her face.
The butler, visibly shaken, met her immediately, his usuallyposed demeanor shattered.
"Miss Sophia! Thank God you''re back! Have you heard? Your mother and Jack- they''ve been brutally assaulted!"
"What? Assaulted?" Sophia gasped, her voice tight with shock. "What happened? Tell me now!"
"There''s no time to exin! Go upstairs-quickly. Your mother needs you!" he urged, practically shoving her toward the staircase.
Sophia bounded up the stairs, dread wing at her throat.
Her thoughts tangled into knots—how could something like this happen?
She flung open the door to Florence''s room and froze, horrified.
Florencey pale as death, eyes zed with pain, head swathed in heavy bandages. Beside her, Jack appeared broken and battered, limbs encased in ster, bruises darkening ominously beneath his own bandages.
Bloodied towels littered the bedside table, stark reminders of violence.
"Mom! Jack! My God, what happened?" Sophia''s voice trembled, horror twisting her features.
Florence''s gaze flickered weakly toward her daughter, her voice frail but dripping with bitter theatrics.
"Sophia, my dear girl... You made it just in time. If you''de anyter, you''d only see me in a coffin." She broke into a theatrical cough, eyes darting sideways to gauge Sophia''s reaction.
"Who did this?" Sophia''s voice iced over with fury. "Tell me right now!"
Florence''s eyes narrowed, a venomous spark igniting as she spat the name.
"It was Alex-that animal! We went to him innocently, just to buy back a bit of the root he stole from ra. Instead of cooperating, he spewed insults, calling us beggars and worse."
"When I confronted him, he flew into a rage and hit us! That monster nearly killed us!"
"Impossible," Sophia said.
"What''s impossible? Look at us-look at your brother!"
Jack stirred weakly, his voice strained and filled with righteous indignation.
"Sophia, open your eyes! Look at the damage he''s done. Is this the man you defend, the one you believed in?"
"He shattered my bones-doctors say it''ll be months before I can even stand! He''s a monster, Sophia!"
Sophia staggered back, disbelief colliding violently with the brutal evidence before her eyes.
"Alex... he couldn''t..." she whispered, desperate for some shred of reason.
"Are you blind or simply delusional?" Jack hissed, bitterness soaking every syble.
"Is my broken body not enough proof? Or Mom''s ruined face? The doctor said she might never recover fully-Alzheimer''s could set in from the trauma! Still doubt him?"
Sophia''s fists clenched, fingernails biting into her palms, drawing blood.
Her world blurred as confusion and rage battled within her. The Alex she knew was gentle, caring-could he truly hide such cruelty?
Florence sensed her hesitation, striking harder.
"That''s not all. He framed ra and got her thrown in jail! Simply because she dared to oppose him. Sophia, wake up! Your ex-husband has be a ruthless viin."
Sophia''s blood ran cold. "ra... arrested?" she murmured, thest glimmer of hope fading fast.
Jack sneered viciously, relishing Sophia''s pain. "That''s right. ra went to confront him about the Emerald Elixir. Next thing we know, she''s locked up, used of theft. Charles recorded everything-call him yourself if you don''t believe me."
Florence coughed dramatically again, wracked with exaggerated pain. "We trusted him once, Sophia. But he''s betrayed us all. You must see him for the snake he truly is!"
Sophia stood motionless, her heart shattered into pieces, reced by an icy, burning rage.
Doubt evaporated, reced by an overwhelming need for answers.
Without another word, she snatched up her phone, dialed Alex''s number, and hissed coldly when he answered:
"Alex, exin yourself. Now."
Alex stood motionless, eyes icy and indifferent. "Exin myself? For what exactly?"
"For nearly killing my mother and Jack!" Sophia''s voice trembled, fury barely restrained beneath her piercing re.
He felt the bitter urge to tell her the truth-that Josephine hadnded the blows on Jack, but admitting that felt cowardly, like shifting me to an ally who''d stepped in for his sake.
Instead, he leaned against the desk casually, feigning disinterest.
"They came looking for trouble," he said, his voice disturbingly calm.
"They started it. I just finished it."
"So you admit it! You admit it''s your fault they ended up like this?" Sophia''s tone
sharpened, her outrage slicing through the room like a de.
Alex raised a brow, his voice dipping lower, dangerously quiet.
"I already told you they provoked the fight."
"And that gives you the right to nearly kill them?" Sophia''s voice cracked, the
weight of disbelief and rage bleeding through every word.
Alex scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. “Come on. Don''t exaggerate. It was just a shove—maybe a punch. You''re blowing this way out of proportion."
He honestly believed it. One hit each, no more. And now she was turning it into a tragedy.
Sophia''s fists balled at her sides, shaking. "My mother''s arms and legs are broken! She has a concussion so severe she barely even knows who I am!"
She took a step forward, her voice rising like a storm.
"Is this what you think justice looks like, Alex? Someone insults you, and your answer is to beat them into a hospital bed? Do they have to die for you to feel even a flicker of guilt?
What the hell kind of moare
you?"
Alex straightened slowly, suspicion narrowing his eyes.
The extent of the injuries she described didn''t align with what he''d seen when Florence left-she had been walking, perfectly fine.
"Is it really that bad?"
"Are you seriously questioning me right now?" Sophia''s voice thundered through
the room.
"My mother is lying in a bed, broken and confused. I''ve seen her with my own eyes. And you dare suggest I''m exaggerating?"
Alex exhaled slowly, the weight of her voice pressing through the phone.
"If you''ve already made up your mind, then why are we even having this
conversation? You''ve decided I''m guilty-end of story."
Sophia''s breath hitched before she exploded. "Guilty? Of course you''re fucking guilty!"
Her voice cracked through the speaker like ss shattering.
"And now you''re just brushing it off?
Like it''s nothing? You think you can
in
just walk away after what you did? My mother could die, Alex. Jack might never be the same again You have to take responsibility, you heartless bastard!"
A long silence hung between them-thick, suffocating.
Then Alex''s tone dropped, cold and sharp as steel.
"Fine. Let''s say I did exactly what you think I did. I''m the viin. I''m the monster. What now, Sophia? You want me to be responsible? Alright. Tell me what the hell do you want from me?"
The line buzzed with silence for a second-then Sophia''s voice came back, trembling, but louder, fiercer.
"What do I want?" she spat. "I want you to act like a goddamn human being for once!"
Her voice cracked again, the fury copsing into something rawer, more fragile.
"I want you to stop tearing my family
apart. I want you to stop acting like
everyone around you the
novel.ne
doesn''t
Just give them what they need?peace, root, an apology-something that involve violence for once in your life."
Alex held the phone tighter, jaw clenched. The silence on his end was louder than anything he could have said.
Sophia''s breath hitched-then she choked out thest words, voice breaking under the weight of her grief.
"I believed in you, Alex. I defended you. Why couldn''t you just be the man I thought you were?"
Another pause. Static hummed between them. She waited-waited for anything.
But Alex said nothing.
Pride and pain sealed his lips shut, even as something inside him cracked.