Chapter 34: The Next Move

A silver Mercedes rolled into the Marriott's parking garage downtown right at 3 PM – exactly when Thomas Romano wanted. Sophia Chen was behind the wheel, a little shaky, watching the older guy get out of a black car a few spaces down.

Thomas looked every bit the big-shot businessman at 68. Perfect silver hair, an expensive suit hiding how frail he was getting, and a gold watch catching the light. But Sophia knew how to read the coldness in his eyes – so different from Elena's warm ones.

"You look awful," he said as they sat down in a quiet corner of the hotel restaurant. "When did you last sleep?"

"Kind of hard when your life's falling apart," Sophia shot back, stirring sugar into coffee she didn't even want. "They had breakfast together this morning. All three of them. Like some perfect family."

Thomas didn't react much, but Sophia saw his eyes tighten a bit. "Tell me about it."

"Mikel made pancakes. Dolphin-shaped for the kid. Bella laughed – actually laughed – at something he said." Sophia's voice got mean. "Emma hugged them both when they dropped her at school. It all looked..."

"Normal," Thomas finished. "Yeah, I saw the pictures."

"You're having them followed?"

"I'm documenting things. There's a difference." Thomas pulled out his phone, showing Sophia pictures that made her jealous and angry. "Check this out."

It was a picture of Mikel and Bella in her kitchen, standing close while they cooked. Another one showed all three at breakfast, Emma talking while her parents gave each other those looks.

"They look happy," Sophia said, hating how much it stung.

"Happiness built on lies," Thomas said, like it was nothing. "Elena's granddaughter thinks she can just walk back into Mikel's life and undo five years of crap. She thinks love wins."

"Maybe it does." It slipped out before Sophia could think.

Thomas laughed, a nasty sound. "Love wins? You're kidding me. Love's the easiest thing to mess up. You just need the right push at the right time."

Sophia looked at him, getting a bad feeling. "What kind of push?"

"The kind that makes people pick between love and keeping what's important safe." Thomas leaned in, whispering now. "Tell me, what would Bella Romano pick if she had to choose between being happy and keeping her kid safe?"

Sophia felt ice in her veins. "Thomas, you're not thinking of..."

"I'm not talking about hurting the kid," he said fast. "I'm just saying kids are a good way to get to people if you know how."

"What does that mean?"

Thomas slid a folder across the table. "Emma goes to Westwood Academy. Art on Tuesdays and Thursdays, playground from 2:15 to 2:45, after-school care until Bella or Mikel picks her up."

Sophia stared at the schedule, feeling sick. "Where did you get this?"

"The same way I got Bella's office codes, Mikel's emails, and the alarm system at that cute little house they're playing family in." Thomas grinned, like a shark. "Money talks, Sophia. And I have the kind of money people can't say no to."

"This is crazy. She's just a kid."

"She's Elena Romano's great-granddaughter and the weapon being used against me." Thomas's voice went hard. "For 30 years, I've watched my sister make an empire that should have been mine. For 30 years, I've been the 'bad' Romano while she played Mom."

He clenched his fists on the table. "And now she thinks she can use that kid to make a Romano-Sterling thing? She thinks she can finally get the business deal she's always wanted with her granddaughter's happy ending?"

"So, you're going to wreck a five-year-old's life to get back at your sister?"

"I'm stopping the weapon being used against me." Thomas leaned back, cold again. "Emma's the key to everything, Sophia. She's why Mikel and Bella are trying again. She's the future of both companies. She's Elena's big move for power."

"She's an innocent kid!"

"There are no innocent kids in families like ours," Thomas said flatly. "Emma was born into a world of power, money, and messing with people. She'll learn to deal with it, or she'll get crushed."

Sophia felt sick, staring at the details of Emma's day. "What are you planning?"

"Step one was trashing Bella in public – making her look like a mom keeping a kid from her dad. That didn't work because Mikel didn't buy it."

"Because he's changed," Sophia said quietly. "I've watched him for years, Thomas. He's not the same guy who..."

"Who you drugged and took pictures of five years ago?" Thomas's voice was soft and dangerous. "Yeah, I know everything about that. The Rohypnol, the setup, Bella finding out."

Sophia felt cold. "How could you..."

"Because I paid for it, you idiot. You think you did all that by yourself? You were 26 with no money and no friends. Someone had to pay for the drugs, the room, the photographer, leaking it to Bella's assistant."

The room seemed to spin. "You... you made me..."

"I gave you a chance to do what you wanted to do anyway," Thomas corrected. "You wanted Mikel. I wanted to stop Romano-Sterling from happening. We both got what we wanted."

"But I didn't get him!" Sophia said too loud, and people looked over. "I got nothing! He never loved me. Not even after..."

"Because you were a tool, not the goal," Thomas said, blunt as could be. "I used you to destroy his marriage. Once that was done, I didn't need you anymore."

Sophia stared, finally seeing how she'd been played. "Five years. I spent five years thinking that night meant something, that maybe he'd see me differently."

"And now you know better. So, what are you going to do with that?"

She thought about Mikel brushing her off, how happy he seemed with his family, the way he looked at Bella like she was his world.

"What's step two?" she asked quietly.

Thomas smiled, and Sophia knew she was dealing with the devil.

"Step two is making Bella see that choices have results," Thomas said. "That fixing her marriage might cost her something even more important than love."

"The kid."

"The kid's safety. Her school. Her trust in her parents." Thomas's eyes were cold and shiny. "Adults can take almost anything. But mess with their kids, and even the toughest people will do what you want."

"You want to scare a five-year-old."

"I want to scare her parents. Emma's just the easiest way to do it." Thomas pulled the folder back. "Bella thinks she can have it all – the empire, the husband, the kid, the fairy tale. I'm going to show her that those don't exist."

Sophia felt like she was on a cliff edge, and Thomas was offering to push her. But behind her was just the empty mess of her obsession.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing big. Nothing that points back to us." Thomas's voice was almost soothing. "Little things. A few calls to Emma's school with 'concerns'. Some pictures of her that might get to the wrong people. Tips to child services about the stress of being in such a public family."

"You want me to help you destroy that little girl's happiness."

"I want you to help me remind Bella that everything has a price. She can't just forgive and forget five years without paying for it."

Sophia thought about Emma's smile in the pictures, how happy she looked to have both parents. The kid seemed so safe, so loved, so sure that everything was okay.

"How do I know you won't hurt her?"

"Because hurting Elena's great-granddaughter would bring the whole Romano family down on me," Thomas said. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not an idiot. I want to scare them, not hurt Emma."

"And if Bella breaks?"

"Then Mikel loses her again, Emma grows up in a broken home, and Elena's plan falls apart." Thomas looked pleased. "And you, Sophia, get to know that if you can't be happy, neither can she."

The idea of shared misery was tempting. If Sophia couldn't have love, why should Bella?

"What about after?" she asked. "After we wreck their happiness, what happens to us?"

"You move on, hopefully learning that obsession is a waste. And I get to watch Elena realize her plans died with her granddaughter's marriage."

Thomas waved for the check, like the meeting was over.

"Think about it, Sophia. You can walk away and watch Mikel build a life with someone else. Watch him love other kids, celebrate with someone else, grow old with the woman who isn't you."

He knew how to hurt her.

"Or," Thomas said, "you can help me make sure that if you can't be happy, no one is."

Sophia stared at Emma's schedule, her routines, her innocent trust in the people who should be protecting her.

"I need time to think."

"You have until tomorrow morning. Then, I will do it with or without you." Thomas stood up, straightening his suit. "But Sophia, don't do anything stupid like warn them. I have people watching everyone. Any slip-up on your part would be... bad."

The threat hit her a moment later. Sophia felt like she had no choice.

"I'll call you tomorrow," she whispered.

"Great. And Sophia? Don't be dumb."

After Thomas left, Sophia sat, staring at her untouched coffee, wondering how she'd become someone who'd mess with a kid for revenge.

But whenever she felt bad, she remembered the pictures. Mikel makes pancakes for Emma. Bella laughed. The three of them looked like the family she wanted.

If she couldn't have that, maybe no one should.

Her phone buzzed. It was a text from a number she didn't know – Thomas, already watching:

*Remember, Sophia. Some get to have fairy tales, others destroy them. You get to decide which you are.*

Sophia deleted it and looked around at the other families. People who seemed to have what she'd fought for.

Maybe Thomas was right. Maybe some people didn't deserve to be happy.

Especially when their happiness was built on the mess of someone else's dreams.

Driving home, Sophia made up her mind. If Bella wanted to play happy families with the man who should have been hers, she was about to learn that some prices were too high to pay.

Even for love.

The fight for Mikel was about to become a fight for his daughter's safety.

And Sophia was going to win, no matter what.