The return

Sophia ~

Alexander came home two days early.

I was in the kitchen making coffee when I heard the elevator ding at six AM. My stomach dropped. He wasn't supposed to be back until Friday.

"Sophia."

I turned slowly, mug in hand. He stood in the doorway still wearing his business suit from Tokyo, his tie loosened, dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.

Good.

"Alexander. I wasn't expecting you until—"

"Where were you Monday night?" He cut me off, his voice dangerous and quiet.

"I told you. I had dinner plans."

"With who?" He moved closer, and I forced myself to hold my ground. "I called Jennifer. I called your parents. No one knew where you were."

"Because I didn't tell them." I took a sip of coffee, proud that my hands didn't shake. "I'm allowed to have privacy, Alexander."

"Not when you turn off your phone. Not when my security can't locate you. Not when you disappear for eight hours without explanation." His jaw clenched. "Do you have any idea what went through my mind?"

"That I might have left you?" I set down the mug. "That I might have finally found the courage to walk away?"

"That something might have happened to you." His hand caught my arm, not painful but firm. "That you might have been hurt. That I might have—" He stopped, his eyes blazing with something I'd never seen before.

Fear.

Alexander Wyndham was afraid.

"I'm fine," I said softly. "I had dinner with a colleague from my new job."

The words landed like a bomb.

"Your what?"

"My new job. At the Morrison Restoration Institute." I pulled free of his grip. "I start Monday."

His expression shifted from fear to fury in a heartbeat. "No."

"Excuse me?"

"No. You're not working there. You're not working anywhere." He pulled out his phone. "I'll call Morrison and tell him—"

"You'll do no such thing." I snatched the phone from his hand. "I already accepted the position. The contracts are signed. And you have no right to interfere."

"I have every right. You're my wife—"

"A wife you don't love. A wife you ignore. A wife you treat like a trophy to parade at galas." My voice rose despite my best efforts. "You don't get to control every aspect of my life, Alexander. Not anymore."

"This isn't about control—"

"It's entirely about control!" I slammed his phone on the counter. "You want me trapped in this penthouse, dependent on you, with nothing in my life but waiting for scraps of your attention. Well, I'm done waiting."

"Sophia—" He reached for me, but I stepped back.

"No. You don't get to touch me. You don't get to tell me what to do. And you definitely don't get to sabotage my career because it doesn't fit into your neat little world." Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "I've spent two years being the perfect wife. Now I'm going to be Sophia Chen again. With or without your permission."

Something cracked in his expression. "You think I don't care? You think I don't—" He stopped, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Why didn't you tell me you wanted to work?"

"Because you never asked." The simple truth hung between us. "You never asked what I wanted, Alexander. You never asked if I was happy. You never asked about my dreams or my passions or anything that mattered to me. You just assumed providing money and security was enough."

"I thought it was." His voice was raw. "I thought that's what marriage was."

"Marriage is partnership. It's caring about each other's happiness. It's—" I stopped, swallowing hard. "It's love, Alexander. Something you've never been willing to give me."

He stared at me like I'd slapped him. "I don't know how to give you what you want."

"I know." And that was the tragedy of it all. "That's why this will never work."

"So what? You're just going to leave? Start this new job and pretend our marriage doesn't exist?"

"I'm going to build a life that doesn't revolve around you." I met his gaze steadily. "You can either accept that, or you can make both our lives miserable fighting it. Your choice."

The silence stretched between us, heavy with unspoken words.

"Who was he?" Alexander's voice was deadly soft.

"Who was who?"

"The colleague you had dinner with." His eyes narrowed. "Was it a man?"

"That's none of your—"

"Was. It. A. Man?"

The possessiveness in his tone should have scared me. Instead, it ignited something reckless in my chest.

"Yes," I said. "Dr. James Chen. He's the assistant director at the institute. We had dinner to discuss my responsibilities."

"Chen." Alexander's expression turned glacial. "Any relation?"

"Distant cousin. Very distant." I grabbed my coffee, needing something to do with my hands. "Not that it matters."

"It matters." He moved so fast I didn't have time to react, caging me against the counter. "It matters because you're still my wife, Sophia. And I don't share what's mine."

"I'm not yours—"

"You are." His forehead touched mine, his breath warm against my lips. "You've been mine since the night we met. Since the moment I woke up with you in my arms and realized I'd made the biggest mistake of my life."

My heart stuttered. "What?"

"Letting you think this marriage meant nothing." His hands cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. "Letting you believe I didn't care. Letting you—"

His phone rang, shrill and insistent. We both froze.

He pulled it from his pocket, glanced at the screen, and his entire demeanor changed.

"I have to take this." He stepped back, already putting distance between us. "Don't leave the penthouse today. We're not done talking."

"Alexander—"

But he was already walking away, phone to his ear. "Elena, what's wrong?"

The name was a bucket of ice water.

I watched him disappear into his study, his voice dropping to that soft, concerned tone he never used with me.

And I realized nothing had changed.

He'd almost said something real, something true. But the moment Elena called, I ceased to exist.

I grabbed my purse and my new phone.

Alexander wanted me to stay? Too bad.

I had a life to build.

And this time, I wasn't asking permission.