Sinclair was

Chapter 8 Ultimatums

The world didn’t stay quiet after my return. Since last night my phone had been buzzing relentlessly, the screen lighting up with notifications that seemed to be multiplying faster than I could swipe them away.

AVA SINCLAIR RETURNS FROM THE DEAD

SINCLAIR HEIRNESS ENGAGED TO ETHAN BLACKWOOD

SOPHIE SINCLAIR’S WEDDING OVERSHADOWED BY SHOCKING ANNOUNCEMENT.

My name had once again become a headline, not for my accomplishments, but for my return and most importantly my engagement.

I hadn’t checked Twitter, but Ethan had smirked when he scrolled through it earlier.

“Trending worldwide.” His exact words.

Sophie and Dominic’s faces from the wedding- captured in a dozen different angles- looked like they’d seen a ghost. My father, however, had been harder to read. He was calm. Too calm.

Which is why I wasn't surprised when the email arrived. Not from him, of course. Robert Sinclair never lowered himself to direct contact. It came from his assistant: Mr Sinclair has requested your presence tomorrow at 10: 00 a.m sharp. Location: Sinclair Estate. Attendance is not optional.

I stared at the message for a long time.

It was phrased like a business meeting, not like a father reaching out to his daughter who had been presumed dead for three months. That told me everything I needed to know.

I didn’t want to go. Every instinct in me screamed to stay away, to let the ashes of my old life smolder without ever stepping back into that house. But Ethan leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded, watching me hesitate.

“You should go,”he said, voice calm but edged.

I shook my head. “He doesn’t want me back. He wants to control me again.”

“Then don’t let him.” His eyes narrowed, sharp and deliberate. “You’re not the little girl he used to command, Ava. You’re different now. Stronger. This isn’t him summoning you. This is you walking in on your own terms.”

With that he left me thinking of his words, debating on whether I should go or not.

….

Sinclair Estate hadn’t changed at all. The long driveway lined through manicured hedges, the towering iron gates, the mansion standing cold and proud. Everything I’d once called home now felt like enemy territory.

The butler led me to his study. My father was already waiting, standing behind his desk, posture rigid, eyes burning with the same authority that had ruled my childhood.

“You’re late.” His voice cut through the silence like a blade.

“You summoned me, not the other way around. Be grateful I came at all.”

His head snapped up, eyes narrowing. “You dare speak to me that way after the disgrace you caused.”

“Disgrace?” I laughed bitterly. “You mean showing up alive at my stepsister’s wedding? Sorry, Father. I forgot funerals were supposed to be permanent.

His jaw tightened. “You had the world believe you were dead,” he said flatly. “And the spectacle you pulled at your sister’s wedding. Do you have any idea what that did to this family?”

I laughed, a sharp, humorless sound. “This family? You mean your reputation. Your image. Because from where I’m standing, it didn’t look like you were grieving too hard.”

His jaw tightened. “Watch your tone.”

“No.” My voice didn’t waver. “You watched me burn, and you moved on. Sophie took my place, Dominic by her side, and you smiled for the cameras like I never existed. So don’t talk to me about tone.”

The mask slipped for just a second. His eyes narrowed, his lips pressed into a hard line. “You think you know everything, but you don’t. What you pulled yesterday was reckless. You embarrassed this family in front of our partners, our allies, our shareholders.”

I stepped closer, matching his gaze. “I wasn’t trying to save your company, Father. I was reclaiming my life.”

His voice dropped, low and dangerous. “By aligning yourself with Ethan Blackwood?” He practically spat the name. “ Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

My chest tightened, but I didn’t back down. “ I know exactly what I’ve done.”

“Do you?”He said, his voice dripping of sarcasm. “He is the enemy, Ava. The Blackwoods have been working against us for years. And you- my daughter - chose to crawl into his bed, wear his ring and flaunt in public?”

Anger surged through me, hot and unrelenting. “You don’t get to decide who I align myself with anymore. Not after you abandoned me. Not after you let Sophie and Dominic-” I stopped, my throat closing around the memory.

For a flicker moment, his expression softened. But it hardened again. “You think this is abandonment? No. This is about betrayal. Yours.”

The words cut deeper than I expected.

“ You want to play games, fine, “ he continued, stepper closing. His presence was overwhelming, commanding, the same way it had been when I was a child. But I wasn’t that child anymore. “But you will not drag this family down with you. If you want to stay a Sinclair, you will end this… farce with Ethan Blackwood immediately.”

My breath caught. “And if I don’t?”

Then he said the words, the words I never thought he would ever say.

His eyes were ice. “Then you are no longer my daughter. No name. No inheritance. No place in this family. You’ll be erased. Permanently.”

“So it’s up to you, dear daughter, to choose.”