Chapter Six ALEXANDER

CHAPTER SIX

**ALEXANDER**

The FBI set up in Sterling Hotels' conference room within two hours. Agent Sarah Chen no relation to Sophia's family, she'd clarified immediately had a team tracing the car service that picked up my father.

"The vehicle was registered to a legitimate company," she said, pulling up traffic camera footage. "But the driver used a fake license. We tracked them to a warehouse in Newark, then lost visual."

"How long ago?" I asked.

"Ninety minutes."

Ninety minutes. Enough time to move him anywhere, do anything. My hands were shaking. I shoved them in my pockets.

Sophia was on her phone across the room, speaking rapid Mandarin. She'd been making calls since we landed, reaching out to contacts I didn't know she had.

"My father needs medication," I told Agent Chen. "Heart condition. If he doesn't get it"

"We're working as fast as we can, Mr. Sterling."

Victoria arrived, looking pale. "The Zhao Group's lawyer just called. They're demanding you honor the contract or they'll sue for breach. Fifty million in damages."

"Let them sue."

"Alexander, the board"

"The board can fire me if they want. I'm not signing." I looked at her directly. "And I need you to do something for me. Something that can't be traced back to Sterling Hotels."

Victoria's expression shifted. In all our years working together, I'd never asked her to cross legal lines. "What?"

"Sophia has a list of shell companies connected to the Zhao Group. I need you to freeze their assets. All of them. Use whatever connections you have. I don't care how."

"That's illegal."

"So is kidnapping my father."

She held my gaze for a moment, then nodded. "I'll make some calls."

Sophia ended her conversation and crossed to me. "Wei knows where your father is."

"Your uncle? How"

"He just tried to call me. Wanted to have lunch, catch up, discuss family matters." Her smile was cold. "He's never called me before in my life. He's fishing to see what we know."

Agent Chen looked up sharply. "Did you answer?"

"No. But I'm going to call him back and agree to meet."

"Absolutely not," I said. "You're not walking into that."

"He won't hurt me. I'm his niece, and more importantly, I'm still valuable to whatever deal my mother made." Sophia's voice was steady. "But he might slip up. Give me something we can use."

"Or he might grab you too and use you as additional leverage," Agent Chen said. "I can't authorize a civilian going into a potentially hostile situation."

"I'm not asking for authorization."

I stepped between them. "Sophia, this is insane. We have the FBI. We have resources. We don't need you to"

"Your father has maybe four hours before they move him somewhere we'll never find him. Maybe less." She met my eyes. "I can buy us time. I can make Wei think I'm on their side, that I'm here to convince you to sign."

"And if he doesn't believe you?"

"Then I'll improvise."

Agent Chen's phone rang. She stepped away to answer it, and I grabbed Sophia's arm. "This isn't your responsibility. You don't owe me this."

"I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it because Wei helped destroy my life once, and I want to watch him go to prison." She pulled free. "Besides, you said you wanted to prove you're different from the man I married. Here's your chance. Let me do this instead of trying to protect me like I'm breakable."

"I'm trying to protect you because people who cross the Zhao Group end up dead."

"I already died once. I'm not afraid of it happening again."

The certainty in her voice shook something loose in my chest. This wasn't the broken woman from my dreams. This was someone who'd clawed her way back from death itself and turned her rage into something sharp and purposeful.

"Fine," I said. "But you wear a wire. And the moment things go wrong, we pull you out."

Agent Chen returned. "We got a hit on one of the shell companies. Large cash withdrawal three hours ago from a bank in Chinatown. Security footage shows two men matching the description of your father's abductors."

"Can you trace them?"

"We're pulling footage from surrounding cameras now." She looked at Sophia. "If you're serious about meeting with Chen Wei, we can set you up with surveillance equipment. But Mr. Sterling is right—this is dangerous."

"I understand the risks."

"Do you?" Agent Chen's expression was hard. "Because if they realize you're working with us, they won't just kill you quickly. They'll make an example."

"They already made an example of me once. That's why I'm here."

Twenty minutes later, Sophia was wired and miked, a tiny camera disguised as a lapel pin on her jacket. She'd chosen a public restaurant in Midtown for the meeting. Crowded, visible, harder to disappear someone.

"I'll have agents at three tables," Agent Chen said. "You feel threatened, you touch your left ear. That's the signal."

Sophia nodded. She was calm. Too calm.

I followed her into the hallway. "You don't have to do this."

"We've established that I do."

"Sophia" I didn't know what I wanted to say. Thank you felt inadequate. Be careful felt patronizing. Don't die felt too honest.

She tilted her head, studying me. "You're actually worried about me. That's new."

"Of course I'm worried. If something happens to you"

"You'll feel guilty. I know. You've made that very clear." But her expression softened slightly. "I'll be fine, Alexander. I've been planning my revenge for three years. I'm not going to die before I see it through."

"Is that all this is? Revenge?"

"What else would it be?"

I didn't have an answer for that either.

She touched my arm briefly. "If I get your father back, you owe me something."

"Name it."

"The truth. All of it. Everything you remember from the other timeline, no matter how ugly." Her eyes were hard. "Deal?"

"Deal."

She walked away, and I watched her go, this woman I'd apparently destroyed once and was now trusting with my father's life.

Agent Chen appeared beside me. "She's either very brave or very stupid."

"Both," I said. "Definitely both."

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: "Your father says hello. Sign the contract by midnight or say goodbye."

Attached was a photo. My father, tied to a chair, very much alive but terrified.

I showed it to Agent Chen. She swore softly and made a call.

The clock was ticking.