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

colliding violently with the brutal

she whispered, desperate for some

simply delusional?" Jack hissed, bitterness soaking

my broken body not enough proof? Or Mom's ruined face? The doctor said she might never recover fully-Alzheimer's could set in from

fingernails biting into her palms,

her. The Alex she knew was gentle, caring-could he

sensed her hesitation,

in jail! Simply because she

she murmured,

right. Clara went to confront him about the Emerald Elixir. Next thing we know,

wracked with exaggerated pain. "We trusted him once, Sophia. But he's betrayed us all. You must see him for

motionless, her heart shattered into pieces, replaced by an

by an overwhelming

her phone, dialed Alex's number, and hissed coldly

"Alex, explain yourself. Now."

and indifferent.

nearly killing my mother and Jack!" Sophia's voice

had landed the blows on Jack, but admitting that felt cowardly, like shifting

leaned against the desk

for trouble," he said, his voice disturbingly

it. I just finished

your fault they ended up like

slicing through

a brow, his voice dipping lower, dangerously

already told you they

right to nearly kill them?"

and rage bleeding

exaggerate. It was just a shove—maybe a punch. You're blowing this

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

arms and legs are broken! She

her voice rising like a

beat them into a hospital bed? Do they have

hell kind

you?"

suspicion narrowing his

align with what he'd seen when Florence left-she had been

really that

you seriously questioning me right now?" Sophia's voice

the room.

mother is lying in a bed, broken and confused. I've seen her with my own eyes. And you dare suggest