Sins Of The Father

Chapter 4: The Sins We Inherit

*Alexander's POV*

I'd built my empire in control. Every deal is calculated, every move three steps ahead. But standing in that garage, watching James Harrington claim Sophia as his daughter, I felt my carefully constructed world shatter like expensive glass.

She stood frozen beside me, green eyes wide with shock. The bulletproof coat I'd given her made her look smaller, more fragile. I wanted to put myself between her and James, between her and the world. The urge was so strong it scared me.

"You're not taking her anywhere," I said, stepping forward.

James laughed, the sound echoing off the concrete walls. "Oh, Alexander. Still trying to play hero? Just like your father." His silver hair caught the fluorescent lights as he pulled out a folder. "I have legal documents that say otherwise."

"Forged documents mean nothing."

"Forged?" He opened the folder, revealing papers I recognized. My father's letterhead. His signature. "Your father signed these himself. A business deal, he called it. His son for my daughter. Of course, he didn't know Sophia was mine then. Neither did I." His smile turned cruel. "Imagine my surprise when Victor called me from prison. All these years, I had a daughter. And she was already married to you."

Sophia made a sound like a wounded animal. "You're lying."

"Am I?" James walked closer, and my security team tensed. But his men outnumbered mine three to one. "Your mother was mine before she was Victor's. One night, a mistake, she called it. But then she discovered she was pregnant. Victor offered to marry her, give her a name. He couldn't have children of his own, you see. Damaged goods from a childhood illness."

"Stop." Sophia's voice broke.

But James continued, enjoying her pain. "He raised you as his own. Taught you about art, about beauty. Shaped you into the perfect weapon. Not against me – he didn't know the truth then. Against the Cross family."

"Then why…"

"Why reveal it now?" James circled us like a predator. "Because Victor finally put the pieces together. The dates, the DNA test he had done secretly last year when your mother got sick. You're mine, Sophia. My blood. My heir."

I saw the moment she broke. Her knees buckled, and I caught her before she hit the ground. She felt too light, like fear had hollowed her out.

"Even if that's true," I said, holding her against me, "the marriage contract isn't valid. She was a child."

"A promised contract, waiting for her twenty-first birthday to be formalized. Which passed seven years ago." James pulled out another document. "All we need is her signature. Or..." He paused, savoring the moment. "We can do this the hard way. Your father is with Victor right now. One phone call, and Thomas Cross dies. The real death this time."

My phone buzzed. A photo from an unknown number. My father, older, thinner, but alive. Sitting in a warehouse, Victor Ashford beside him with a g*n.

"You bastard," I breathed.

"I'm a businessman. Just like you." James checked his watch. "You have five minutes to decide. Sign the papers, honor the marriage contract, and give me control of half your empire as her dowry. Or watch your father die on livestream."

Sophia pulled away from me, stood on shaking legs. "I'll sign."

"No." I grabbed her hand. "There's another way."

"What way?" She turned to me, tears streaming down her face. "Everyone's been lying to me. My mother, the man I thought was my father, now this man who says he's my real father. And you." Her voice cracked. "You knew about this contract, didn't you?"

I couldn't lie to her. Not when she looked at me with those broken green eyes. "I found it last week. I was trying to find a way to avoid it before…"

"Before you trapped me in your revenge plan?" She laughed, but it sounded like shattering. "God, I'm so stupid. I thought maybe, in that gallery, when you showed me your mother's paintings... I thought I saw something real in you."

"You did." The words ripped out of me. "Sophia, you did."

"Touching," James interrupted. "But time's up. What's it going to be?"

I looked at Sophia, really looked at her. Honey hair escaping from her bun, vintage blazer wrinkled from the day's chaos, eyes that saw through all my walls. She was supposed to be my weapon against Victor. Instead, she'd become something else. Something dangerous.

Something of mine.

"We'll sign," I said. "But not here. Somewhere public. Somewhere you can't disappear with her after."

James considered this. "The Shard. Restaurant on the thirty-second floor. One hour." He gestured to his men. "We'll be taking Sophia with us."

"No." I moved to block them, but Sophia put her hand on my chest.

"It's okay." She looked up at me, and I saw something in her eyes. Not defeat. Strategy. "I'll go with my... father." The word clearly hurt to say. "You get your father safe."

She was giving me an out. A chance to save my father while she sacrificed herself.

"Sophia…"

"One hour, Mr. Cross." She stepped away, toward James. "Bring the contracts you had me sign earlier. All of them."

I understood then. The restoration contract had clauses. Protections. She'd found something in the fine print, some way to fight back.

James took her arm, possessive, triumphant. "Smart girl. You get that from me."

They headed for a black SUV. At the last moment, Sophia looked back. Her lips moved, silent words meant just for me: "Trust me."

Then she was gone, red taillights disappearing into London traffic.

Marcus appeared from the shadows where he'd been watching. "You're really going to let her go?"

"I'm going to get our father." I pulled out my phone, started making calls. "And then I'm going to end this game once and for all."

"How?"

I thought about Sophia's eyes, the way she'd looked at those documents in the gallery, seeing patterns everyone else missed.

"By letting her play it." I headed for my car. "She's not Victor's weapon or James's daughter. She's something neither of them expected."

"What's that?"

I remembered her in the hidden room, understanding in seconds what had taken investigators years to piece together. The way she'd stood up to me when her mother was threatened. How she'd chosen to go with James to give me time to save my father.

"She's the one who's going to save us all."

My phone rang. Unknown number.

"Having second thoughts?" Victor's voice, amused. "I have to say, the girl's more interesting than I expected. James's daughter, raised as mine. Almost poetic."

"Where's my father?"

"Safe. For now. But Alexander... there's something you should know. Something even James doesn't know."

I waited, knowing Victor loved his dramatic reveals.

"Twenty years ago, your father didn't just fake his death. He made a deal. Protection for his family in exchange for taking the fall. But the person he made the deal with wasn't me."

"Then who?"

"The person who's been playing us all from the beginning. The one who wanted the Cross empire destroyed and used all of us to do it." He paused. "Your mother didn't die of cancer, Alexander. She was murdered. And the person who ordered it is sitting across from your wife right now, pretending to be her father."

The phone went dead.

I stood in the empty garage, rage building like a storm. James Harrington had killed my mother. And now he had Sophia.

I called Marcus. "Get every man we have to the Shard. Armed."

"Alexander, what's happening?"

"We're about to find out how much truth a room full of liars can survive."

I got in my car, speeding toward either salvation or destruction. But all I could think about was Sophia's face, the trust in her eyes when she'd said those silent words.

She was counting on me. And for the first time in my life, I was terrified of failing someone who mattered.