Sins Of The Father

Chapter 2: The Gilded Cage

*Sophia's POV*

The contract felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my bag as I stumbled out of Cross Industries. My hands shook too much to call a taxi. I walked instead, needing the October cold to wake me from this nightmare.

My father was alive. In prison. A criminal.

My phone rang. Mom's facility. I almost didn't answer, but the thought of her alone, sick, maybe knowing all of this...

"Ms. Vale? This is Dr. Hamilton. Your mother's been asking for you. She's quite agitated."

"I'll be there in an hour."

The bus ride felt like traveling between two different worlds. From the gleaming towers of the financial district to the quiet streets of Richmond, where St. Mary's sat like a pretty prison among oak trees.

Mom looked smaller every time I visited. The cancer had eaten away at her until she was all bones and memories. But today, her eyes were sharp, desperate.

"Sophia." She grabbed my hand with surprising strength. "Did you get the job?"

"Mom." I sat on her bed, studying her face. "Why did you tell me Dad was dead?"

All the color left her face. Her heart monitor beeped faster.

"Who told you?" Her voice cracked like old paper.

"Alexander Cross."

She closed her eyes. A tear slipped down her cheek. "I tried to protect you. I tried so hard."

"From what? From knowing my father is a criminal?"

"From becoming a weapon." She opened her eyes, and the fear there made my stomach twist. "Alexander Cross didn't hire you for your talent, darling. He hired you for revenge."

"I know. He made that clear."

"No." She squeezed my hand harder. "You don't understand. There are things about your father, about what happened twenty years ago... promises that were made. Documents that were signed."

"What documents?"

The door opened. A nurse walked in, but something was wrong. She moved too smoothly, and looked around too carefully.

"Visiting hours are over," she said, though the clock showed only five PM.

"I just got here," I protested.

"I said they're over." Her hand moved to her pocket, and I saw the edge of something black. Not medical equipment.

Mom saw it too. "Go, Sophia. Go now."

I grabbed my bag, backed toward the door. The nurse watched me with eyes that belonged to a soldier, not a caregiver.

In the hallway, I ran. My heels clicked too loud, echoing my panic. The exit was just ahead when someone stepped out of a side room. Marcus Cross. Alexander's brother, but with kinder eyes.

"Ms. Vale. We need to talk."

"I don't need to talk to any more Cross men today."

"That wasn't a real nurse." He glanced back toward Mom's room. "Your mother isn't safe here. Neither are you."

"Your brother owns this building. If we're not safe, it's because of him."

Marcus laughed, but it sounded sad. "My brother owns the building, yes. But he doesn't control everything that happens inside it. Your father has friends, Ms. Vale. Friends who've been waiting twenty years for you to surface."

"My father's in prison."

"Prisons have phones. And Victor Ashford has had two decades to plan his revenge. Why do you think your mother kept you hidden? changed your name? Moved every few years?"

I thought about all the times we'd packed up suddenly. All the new schools, new towns. I'd thought Mom was running from grief. But she'd been running from him.

"What does he want?"

"What he's always wanted. To destroy my family. And now he has the perfect tool." Marcus stepped closer, and I smelled coffee and expensive wool. "You."

"I'm nobody's tool."

"No? You signed my brother's contract. You're living in his world now. And Victor knows Alexander's weakness." His eyes were too knowing. "He can't resist broken things. He needs to fix them or destroy them. And you, Ms. Vale, are very broken."

The words cut deep because they were true. I was broken. It had been since the day Mom told me Dad died.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because my brother is about to do something stupid." Marcus handed me a key card. "Penthouse elevator. He's waiting for you. There's something in the collection he needs to show you. Something that changes everything."

"Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't. But right now, I'm the only person telling you the truth." He started walking away, then turned back. "Ask him about the Monet. The one that burned twenty years ago."

I stood in the cold October evening, holding a key to a world I didn't understand. Behind me, my mother lay dying in a bed owned by a man who wanted to use me. Ahead, that same man waited with secrets that could destroy us all.

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

*Hello, daughter. We finally met. -V.A.*

My blood turned to ice. Victor Ashford. My father.

I ran to the street, key card clutched in my sweaty palm. A black car waited at the curb, engine running. The door opened.

Alexander Cross sat in the back seat, his face a storm.

"Get in."

"How did you…"

"Get in now, or your father's men will find you."

I looked back at the hospital. In the third-floor window, Mom's room, I saw the fake nurse watching me. She held something to her ear. A phone.

I dove into the car. Alexander pulled me against him as we sped away, and for a moment, I felt his heart racing as fast as mine.

"You got his message," he said. It wasn't a question.

"How did you know?"

He showed me his own phone. The message there made my blood run cold.

*You have something of mine. I have something of yours. Let's trade.*

Below was a photo. Alexander's father, older, grayer, but alive.

Standing next to my father.