Chapter 17: Jealousy

Victoria Sterling had not slept. Not properly—not since the file had arrived. It sat open on her desk now, its digital pages glowing in the dim room as if waiting for her to stop pretending it meant anything else.

It meant everything.

◆ ◆ ◆

The hospital record blurred slightly as she stared at the screen once more.

Five years ago. The dates were precise, clean, and undeniable. Sophia Hart’s sudden disappearance from every corporate and civil registry aligned flawlessly with the pregnancy timeline. It was entirely too perfect to be dismissed as a mere coincidence.

Victoria leaned back slowly in her chair. Her reflection in the dark monitor looked immaculate, but her thoughts were chaotic.

Sophia hadn’t just vanished. She had reset her entire life around a secret she was never meant to keep hidden.

Victoria’s fingers tightened against the edge of the mahogany desk. And Alexander—Alexander had been right at the center of that timeline.

Her chest tightened with a sharp, uninvited pang of anxiety. No. That was the one conclusion she refused to complete.

◆ ◆ ◆

At Knight Holdings, Alexander noticed Victoria’s tension before she even spoke. She was controlled, as always, displaying her flawless posture and neutral expression. But something in her presence was off—tight at the edges, like a computer system running too many processes at once.

“Good morning,” she said as she entered his executive office.

“Victoria,” Alexander replied.

She didn’t sit immediately, which alone was unusual.

“You’ve been reviewing acquisition reports all night,” he noted, not looking up from his tablet. “That is highly inefficient for you.”

A faint, sharp smile touched her lips. “Concerned?”

“No,” he said simply. “Observant.”

The word landed with more weight than he intended.

Victoria stepped closer to his desk. “I assume you’ve been thinking about Ethan Hart again.”

Alexander’s pen paused for a mere fraction of a second. But Victoria saw it.

“Yes,” he said. There was no hesitation, no attempt to soften the admission. That, too, was a jarring shift.

“And Sophia?” she asked lightly.

His dark gaze lifted, locking onto hers. It wasn’t defensive or curious; it was entirely guarded. “What about her?”

Victoria’s smile remained in place, but the underlying tension tightened. “I just find it interesting how quickly she and her son have monopolized your attention.”

Alexander closed the digital folder in front of him. “Attention is not attachment, Victoria.”

But even as the words left his mouth, neither of them fully believed them.

◆ ◆ ◆

Sophia tried to maintain the rigid structure of her life, succeeding only in appearance. Work, Ethan, and their daily routine were her anchors; everything else was a dangerous distraction.

But Alexander Knight had woven himself into the background of her life without ever entering it directly in a way she could control. He wasn’t physically present, yet he lingered in every quiet gap—in Ethan’s endless questions, in the way her son smiled more whenever his name came up, and in the way Sophia sometimes found herself wondering what kind of man notices a child that closely yet keeps his distance.

She pushed the thought away every time it surfaced, but it always returned.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Why doesn’t Mr. Knight come over more often?” Ethan asked one evening. He was sitting cross-legged on the couch, tracing invisible geometric shapes into the fabric with his finger.

Sophia paused mid-motion while folding the laundry. “Because he’s busy, sweetie,” she said carefully.

Ethan nodded as if analyzing the data point. “But he came before.”

“Yes.”

“Then he liked it here.”

Sophia’s throat tightened. “That doesn’t always mean—” She cut herself off, holding back the rest of the explanation.

Ethan looked up, waiting. He didn’t push or demand answers; he was just entirely present in that quiet, intense way he always was when something truly mattered to him.

Sophia softened, setting the clothes aside. “It’s complicated, Ethan,” she said finally.

He repeated the word softly, testing its weight. “Complicated.”

“Yes.”

A heavy pause settled over the living room. Then, in a smaller voice, he asked, “Do you like him, Mommy?”

Sophia’s hands stilled completely. The question was too direct, too innocent, and far too dangerous.

“I think…” she began, then stopped. The truth was not simple enough to shape into words a five-year-old should hear. “I think he’s someone we need to be very careful around,” she said instead.

Ethan considered this piece of advice, then nodded. But his dark eyes didn’t fully accept the warning.

◆ ◆ ◆

Victoria did not need confirmation to act, but she required absolute certainty to justify her next move. So, she followed Sophia.

It wasn’t a difficult task. Sophia moved through the city like someone who believed she was invisible to the world—not out of strategy, but out of sheer exhaustion. It was as if she had stopped expecting attention from anyone who mattered.

Victoria kept her distance as Sophia picked Ethan up from the academy gates. And then she saw it: the sudden shift in atmosphere.

She watched Ethan run to his mother without a shred of hesitation. Sophia knelt immediately, brushing his dark hair back from his forehead, her expression softening into a look of raw warmth that Victoria found deeply irritating.

Ethan began talking rapidly, his hands moving to emphasize his words. Sophia listened as if his voice mattered more than anything else in her world.

Standing behind a parked sedan, unseen, Victoria clenched her jaw. That warmth, that absolute ease—it wasn’t a survival mechanism or a calculated arrangement. It looked like a genuine family bond, something she could not afford to let solidify.

◆ ◆ ◆

Alexander called later that evening, and Sophia nearly let the phone ring out. Ultimately, she swiped to answer.

“Hello?” she said carefully, her voice tight.

A brief pause echoed over the line before his deep voice broke the silence. “Did Ethan mention a scheduling conflict regarding the school visit?”

“Yes,” she said slowly, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I believe the academy shifted the timing.”

Another heavy pause stretched between them.

“I can adjust my schedule,” he said.

“You don’t need to do that,” she replied quickly, panic spiking in her chest. “It isn’t your responsibility.”

The statement hung heavily in the air.

“It isn’t?” Alexander asked quietly.

Something subtle and dangerous shifted in her chest. “No,” she said, forcing more conviction into her tone than she felt. “It’s just a casual visit.”

Silence took over the line. Then his voice lowered, dropping into a more intimate register. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Sophia’s breath caught in her throat before she could suppress the reaction.

“That’s all,” he added, as if correcting a tactical error.

But the amendment didn’t undo the damage. It only made the underlying chemistry between them undeniable.

◆ ◆ ◆

Victoria’s chief investigator called again late that night. His voice carried a different frequency this time—uneven, strained, and cautious, like a man stepping carefully around shattered glass.

“Ms. Sterling…”

“What did you find?” she demanded immediately.

The investigator hesitated before speaking. “I managed to locate a nurse who worked at St. Mary’s Medical Center five years ago.”

Victoria’s grip tightened around the receiver until her knuckles turned white. “And?”

“She remembers a high-profile patient matching Sophia Hart’s description,” the man continued, his voice dropping to a panicked whisper. “She said the pregnancy wasn’t just unusual; it was classified. High-level security clearance, private medical transfers, and entirely unmarked records.”

Victoria’s pulse slowed to a crawl. It wasn’t because she was calm; it was because she was terrified of the impending revelation. “And the father?” she asked, her voice a dead whisper.

Another heavy beat of silence bounced over the line. Then the words came. “The nurse remembers exactly who was standing outside that delivery room, Ms. Sterling.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Victoria lowered the phone, the call disconnecting with a soft click. Her reflection in the polished glass desk stared back at her—still, unmoving, and entirely pale.

And for the first time since the file had landed in her hands, she forced the terrifying thought into the open air, speaking it softly into the empty room.

“What if Ethan is Alexander’s son?”