The Almighty Dominance

Chapter 242

"Pardon me, folks-out of the room, now. The patient needs quiet if she's going to heal."

The nurse herded them into the corridor, her heels clicking like a judge's gavel announcing adjournment.

Instead of dispersing, they clustered beneath the fluorescent lights still reeling from the bombshell that had just gone off in their lives.

"Can you believe it? Alex, of all people, is the Lancaster Group's silent bankroll!" Jack's uncle whispered, voice rough with intrigue.

"Think the guy's hiding some secret pedigree?"

"Alex?" Florence scoffed.

"I dug through every record-he's a nobody. Sure, he did a stint in the military, which makes him tough enough to hit Bella, but besides that he's an orphan with empty pockets."

Heads nodded; the story was too tidy to question.

One of the family suddenly asked, "Why are all of you looking down on Alex?"

"Looking down on him?" Florence laughed.

"Impossible. We simply don't care about him. We're not heartless. We don't prejudge people. Even if he's poor, we can't look down on him, right?"

"Yeah," another added.

"He came here to marry Sophia with nothing but the clothes on his back. He's just a poor guy without anything. We're going to do whatever it takes to keep him out of our family."

Once they labeled someone poor, there was no hope.

He would be forever marked unfit, never trusted; every mistake would be laid at

He was guilty-simply because he was poor.

his feet.

"Then there's Charles Kingston," someone murmured. "Didn't see that curveball coming."

Florence rolled her eyes. "Charles is drunk on love for Sophia-lying, scheming, anything to lock down her heart."

"Honestly," another relative chimed in, "a guy who torches his own reputation for love? That's the kind you hitch yourself to forever!"

"Take notes, people! He dumped Bella Kane flat-for Sophia, our Sophia. She ought to be thanking her lucky stars."

In a dizzying U-turn, the crowd vaulted Charles from villain to folk hero.

nearly everyone applauded the

family, there was

are rich, everything you say is considered right, and you're never wrong. Whatever you do is forgiven-it's the privilege of the

room, Sophia perched motionless on the mattress, her gaze hollow as

her cheek,

on herself, forehead pressed to

dam burst, ragged sobs ripping

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Chapter 242

the company

shed a tear through

she drowned in tears she'd

queued for miles, yet none had loved her with Alex's fierce,

devotion

gone, footsteps fading beyond

her own blindness, the epiphany arriving

if she called Alex now and

on a heartbeat longer-loved me a fraction more-I would've shown him I'd changed," she whispered

hourglass was

rattling cab, Alex let out

Sophia," he muttered, "and

reputation, women swarmed around him like a pack of

flirtations and flowery promises, not a single

might truly care, and that faint hope was why he lingered by

the end, however, her affection proved nothing more than a mirage, vanishing the instant he tried to hold

to yourself.

whispered, with

***

Bella sat sunk into the plush

her gaze distant and

in, his shoulders

eyes

"Yes," Bella replied softly.

more dancing through the night?" Bella inhaled deeply before letting out a

you, Dad? Why are you still here? Usually you

know I lost my

of

you hug

features softened with paternal warmth as he

chest, her words barely above a breath, "It's been so long since

Jericho muttered, a pang of guilt surfacing in his chest as he recalled endless days consumed by political

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