The Almighty Dominance

Sophia raced through the city streets, her heart hammering painfully against her ribs as she rushed back to the Lancaster mansion.

A phone call had plunged her world into chaos-Jack and her mother, Florence, had been viciously attacked.

Panic gnawed at her as she burst through the front door, desperation etched across her face.

The butler, visibly shaken, met her immediately, his usually composed demeanor shattered.

"Miss Sophia! Thank God you're back! Have you heard? Your mother and Jack- they've been brutally assaulted!"

"What? Assaulted?" Sophia gasped, her voice tight with shock. "What happened? Tell me now!"

"There's no time to explain! Go upstairs-quickly. Your mother needs you!" he urged, practically shoving her toward the staircase.

Sophia bounded up the stairs, dread clawing at her throat.

Her thoughts tangled into knots—how could something like this happen?

She flung open the door to Florence's room and froze, horrified.

Florence lay pale as death, eyes glazed with pain, head swathed in heavy bandages. Beside her, Jack appeared broken and battered, limbs encased in plaster, bruises darkening ominously beneath his own bandages.

Bloodied towels littered the bedside table, stark reminders of violence.

"Mom! Jack! My God, what happened?" Sophia's voice trembled, horror twisting her features.

Florence's gaze flickered weakly toward her daughter, her voice frail but dripping with bitter theatrics.

"Sophia, my dear girl... You made it just in time. If you'd come any later, you'd only see me in a coffin." She broke into a theatrical cough, eyes darting sideways to gauge Sophia's reaction.

"Who did this?" Sophia's voice iced over with fury. "Tell me right now!"

Florence's eyes narrowed, a venomous spark igniting as she spat the name.

"It was Alex-that animal! We went to him innocently, just to buy back a bit of the root he stole from Clara. Instead of cooperating, he spewed insults, calling us beggars and worse."

"When I confronted him, he flew into a rage and hit us! That monster nearly killed us!"

"Impossible," Sophia said.

"What's impossible? Look at us-look at your brother!"

Jack stirred weakly, his voice strained and filled with righteous indignation.

"Sophia, open your eyes! Look at the damage he's done. Is this the man you defend, the one you believed in?"

shattered my bones-doctors say it'll be months before I can even

back, disbelief colliding violently with

she whispered, desperate for some shred

simply delusional?" Jack hissed, bitterness soaking every

broken body not enough proof? Or Mom's ruined face? The doctor said she might never recover

biting

battled within her. The Alex she

her hesitation,

all. He framed Clara and got her thrown in jail! Simply because she dared to oppose him.

she murmured,

sneered viciously, relishing Sophia's pain. "That's right. Clara went to confront him about the Emerald Elixir. Next thing we know, she's locked up, accused of theft.

once, Sophia. But

heart shattered into pieces,

replaced by an overwhelming need for

phone, dialed Alex's number,

"Alex, explain yourself. Now."

motionless, eyes icy and indifferent.

my mother and Jack!" Sophia's voice

tell her the truth-that Josephine had landed the blows on Jack, but admitting that felt cowardly, like shifting

against the desk casually, feigning

for trouble," he said,

it. I just finished

it! You admit it's your fault they ended up like

outrage slicing through the room like a

raised a brow, his

told you they provoked the

to nearly kill them?" Sophia's voice

disbelief and rage

a dismissive hand. “Come on. Don't exaggerate. It was just a shove—maybe a punch. You're blowing this way out

hit each, no more. And now she was turning it into

mother's arms and legs are broken! She has a concussion so

a step forward, her voice

looks like, Alex? Someone insults you, and your answer is to beat them into a

hell kind

you?"

suspicion narrowing his

injuries she described didn't align with what he'd seen when Florence left-she had been walking, perfectly

really

me right now?" Sophia's voice

the room.

in a bed, broken and confused. I've seen her