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?"

months before I can even stand! He's

violently with the brutal

whispered, desperate

simply delusional?" Jack

Mom's ruined face? The doctor said she might never recover fully-Alzheimer's could set in from the trauma! Still doubt

clenched, fingernails biting into

within her. The Alex she

her

her thrown in jail! Simply because she dared to oppose

cold. "Clara... arrested?" she murmured, the last glimmer of

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

once, Sophia. But he's betrayed us

into pieces, replaced

evaporated, replaced by an overwhelming need for

another word, she snatched up her phone, dialed Alex's number, and hissed coldly when he

"Alex, explain yourself. Now."

and indifferent.

nearly killing my mother and Jack!" Sophia's voice trembled, fury barely restrained beneath her piercing

the bitter urge to tell her the truth-that Josephine had landed the blows on Jack, but admitting that felt cowardly, like shifting blame to an ally who'd stepped in

against the

trouble," he said, his

it. I just

You admit it's your fault they ended

through the room like

raised a brow, his voice dipping

you they provoked the

to nearly kill them?" Sophia's

rage bleeding

on. Don't exaggerate. It was just a shove—maybe a punch. You're

it. One hit each, no more. And

shaking. "My mother's arms and legs are broken! She has a concussion so severe she barely even knows who I

forward, her voice rising

insults you, and your answer is to beat them

hell kind of

you?"

straightened slowly, suspicion narrowing

didn't align with what he'd seen when Florence

really

you seriously questioning me right now?" Sophia's

the room.

and confused. I've seen her with my own eyes.