CHAPTER ELEVEN *SOPHIA*

CHAPTER ELEVEN

*SOPHIA*

The arrests started forty-eight hours after we went to the FBI. Catherine was first, led out of her office in handcuffs while cameras rolled. She didn't look at me as they put her in the car. I watched from Isabelle's gallery, feeling nothing.

"You okay?" Isabelle asked.

"I expected to feel vindicated. I just feel empty." I turned away from the television. "Three executives from Sterling Enterprises were arrested this morning. The DA is talking about RICO charges."

"Alexander?"

"Clean so far. He wasn't involved in the illegal deals. But his father might face charges for obstruction."

My phone buzzed. Unknown number. I answered anyway.

"You destroyed our family." My aunt's voice was vicious. "Catherine is facing thirty years because of you."

"She's facing thirty years because she committed crimes for twenty years."

"She gave you everything. We took you in when your father died, raised you, paid for your education"

"She sold me to the Sterlings like property and murdered me when I became inconvenient. In another life." I hung up before she could respond.

Isabelle touched my shoulder. "You sure you want to stay in Seattle? Your family will make your life hell."

"Let them try. I died once already. They can't do worse than that."

But she was right. Over the next week, my family came out in force. Uncles calling me a traitor. Cousins posting on social media about my betrayal. My mother's lawyer issuing statements painting me as a vindictive daughter seeking attention.

The art world was worse. Gallery owners who'd courted me suddenly couldn't return my calls. Three exhibitions canceled my pieces. A review in Seattle Art Monthly called my work "derivative manipulation posing as depth" and questioned whether my previous success had been bought with family money.

Marcus Chen, my cousin who'd helped expose the Zhao Group, was one of the few family members who reached out.

"I'm getting disowned too," he said over coffee. "Apparently turning in criminals makes you the bad guy when they're family."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. But I didn't expect to lose everything." He stirred his coffee. "My trust fund is frozen. My mother won't speak to me. Half my friends think I'm a traitor."

"Welcome to the club."

"Is it worth it? The revenge?"

I thought about Eleanor's letter, about becoming what I hated. "I don't know yet. Ask me in a year."

Alexander's life was imploding differently. Sterling Enterprises stock crashed. Board members resigned. Clients pulled contracts. His father was indicted on three counts of conspiracy and obstruction. The mansion was seized as evidence.

We met at the diner again, both of us looking exhausted.

"Victoria's leading the board coup," he said. "They're voting tomorrow to remove me as CEO."

"Will they succeed?"

"Probably. I'm the face of the scandal. Doesn't matter that I wasn't involved in the crimes." He laughed bitterly. "I'm being punished for doing the right thing."

"That's usually how it works."

"My father's lawyer says he'll probably get five years minimum. House arrest if he's lucky." Alexander rubbed his face. "I keep thinking about that other timeline. How I destroyed you for years and faced no consequences. Now I try to do better and everything falls apart."

"The universe has a sense of irony."

"Is that what you tell yourself? When your entire family hates you?"

"I tell myself they hated me before. They just pretended not to." I pushed a folder across the table. "Eleanor's lawyer contacted me. She left you a letter too. It was in the safe deposit box."

Alexander opened the envelope. Read in silence. Finally looked up with something like horror.

"She knew. About the other timeline. About everything."

"What?"

"Listen: 'Alexander, if you're reading this, you've chosen Sophia over family. Over legacy. Good. You were weak in that other life, the one you dream about. You let me make you into something small and cruel. In this life, you're finally becoming dangerous in the right ways. Don't waste it.'" He put down the letter. "How did she know about the dreams?"

"Maybe she was having them too. Maybe whatever sent me back affected more people than I realized." I took the letter, read the rest. Eleanor's final words were characteristically brutal: 'Protect Sophia from herself. She'll try to self-destruct out of guilt. Don't let her. She's the only person I ever met who matched me, and she's better than I ever was. Make sure she survives to realize it.'

"She respected you," Alexander said.

"She destroyed me in another life."

"And felt guilty enough in this one to try to make amends. In her twisted way." He took back the letter. "She also left instructions for accessing a separate account. Fifty million dollars. She wants us to use it to help the people our families hurt."

"That's blood money."

"So give it to them with interest. Use it to make restitution. It's not enough, but it's something." He looked at me. "Or we could both walk away. Let the money sit there. Refuse to engage with her manipulation even from the grave."

I thought about it. About Eleanor's final game, trying to control us even in death. About the easy path of refusing everything she touched.

"No. We take the money and do something actually good with it. Not because she wanted us to, but because the people who were hurt deserve compensation." I stood. "But I'm doing it alone. You need to focus on saving whatever's left of your company."

"There's nothing left to save. Victoria's got the votes."

"Then start something new. Build something that isn't corrupted from the foundation."

"With what capital? I'm about to be broke and unemployable."

"You're a Sterling. Even disgraced, you have connections and knowledge." I grabbed my coat. "Or you could wallow in self-pity. Your choice."

He caught my arm as I turned to leave. "Why do you keep pushing me away?"

"Because every time we're together, we make each other's lives worse. In the other timeline and this one."

"Or maybe we're supposed to make each other better. Maybe that's the whole point of getting a second chance."

"That's a pretty thought. But I've seen how our story ends. I become a ghost and you become a monster. I'm not doing that again."

"We already changed the story. We're both alive. Both choosing differently."

"And both alone. That's the part we can't change." I pulled free. "The board vote is tomorrow at two. Make sure you have a plan for after. Because you won't have Sterling Enterprises to hide behind anymore."

I left before he could argue. Went home to my apartment, which felt emptier every day. The painting I'd been working on the woman who'd stopped screaming stared at me from the wall.

I picked up a brush and added something new. A door opening behind her, light spilling through. Not escape exactly. Just possibility.

My phone rang. Agent Morrison.

"Catherine Chen is cooperating," she said. "Giving up names, evidence, everything. She's trying to reduce her sentence."

"How many years is she looking at?"

"With cooperation? Maybe ten. Out in seven with good behavior."

Seven years. Not enough for what she'd done. But something.

"There's more," Morrison continued. "She claims you were involved in planning the Sterling kidnapping. Says you knew the exact details and deliberately withheld information to manipulate the situation."

My stomach dropped. "She's lying."

"Is she? Because her lawyer has emails between you and an FBI analyst. You asking specific questions about response times, hostage situations, how quickly agents could mobilize."

I closed my eyes. I had asked those questions. Had wanted to know how much danger Robert would really be in, how to time my intervention.

"I was gathering information to help."

"Or to calculate acceptable risk. Her lawyer is painting you as a co-conspirator who traded Robert Sterling's safety for leverage over his son." Morrison's voice was careful. "They're pushing for charges. Reckless endangerment at minimum."

"I saved his life."

"After letting him get kidnapped. The DA is reviewing the evidence. You should get a lawyer."

She hung up. I sat in my empty apartment and realized Eleanor had won after all.

She'd given me revenge and power and then arranged for it to destroy me anyway.