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.

everyone applauded the

the Lancaster family, there was

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

motionless on the mattress, her gaze hollow

the first tear tracked across her cheek, after the tremor set

herself, forehead pressed

the dam burst, ragged sobs ripping from

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Chapter 242

hadn't wept when the

shed a tear through

in tears she'd never allowed

a headline-making CEO, suitors queued for miles, yet none had loved her with Alex's fierce, selfless

singular devotion set

now... he was gone, footsteps fading beyond

wept at her own blindness, the epiphany

even if she called Alex now and laid everything bare,

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

hourglass was

in the back of a rattling

he muttered, "and none of

swarmed around him like a pack of treasure hunters stumbling upon the

promises, not a single one of them

he believed Sophia was different-her delicate kindness hinted that she might truly care, and

end, however, her affection proved nothing more than a mirage, vanishing

yourself.

whispered, with sorrow

***

days later, at Kane Villa, Bella sat sunk into the

gaze

in, his shoulders

you okay?" he asked, eyes scanning her with

"Yes," Bella replied softly.

why are you still holed up in your room?" Jericho pressed. "No more parties, no more dancing through the night?" Bella inhaled deeply before letting out a sigh that seemed to bear the weight of

are you still here? Usually you

know I lost my position as governor.

moment of

you

paternal warmth as he drew her into

melted against his chest, her words barely above a breath, "It's been so long

surfacing in his chest as he recalled endless days consumed by political

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