CHAPTER FOUR

"You’re playing with fire, Alex."

I didn’t look up.

I kept my eyes on the screen, frozen on an image that had become too familiar—her, curled up on the couch, arms wrapped around her knees like they could keep her from falling apart.

“I’m definitely not playing,” I said.

Jace leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching me like I’d already lost my mind. “You built an empire by staying detached. Now you’re babysitting a woman you stole in a poker game and stalking her like a lovesick teenager.”

“She wasn’t stolen,” I said calmly. “She was handed to me. Mind your choice of words, Jace.”

Jace scoffed. “You’ve had tabs on her for three years. You’ve watched her every move. You knew where she shopped, who she spoke to, what time she got home. That’s not interest, Alex. That’s obsession.”

I turned then, slowly. “Careful.”

“I’m not judging,” he said, hands up. “I’m just saying—be careful. You’ve always been ten steps ahead. But this… this feels like something that could ruin you.”

“I’m not the one who’s going to be ruined.”

He didn’t say anything for a second. Just shook his head. “What’s the endgame here?”

I looked back at the screen. “She belongs here. Whether she sees it or not.”

---

By the time I walked back to her room, the house was silent.

I paused outside her room, fingers resting on the door handle.

I could hear her.

Soft, broken sobs muffled behind thick walls.

I pushed the door open quietly.

She didn’t hear me come in.

She was sitting on the floor, back against the bed, eyes red and raw. Her phone was on the carpet beside her like it had betrayed her too.

My chest tightened.

I should’ve felt satisfaction. I’d gotten what I wanted.

But all I saw was a woman breaking.

And I hated that I wasn’t the one who did it.

With a heavy sigh, I stepped in and she looked up fast finally noticing my presence.

When she saw me her palm hurriedly Wiped her cheeks and she Straightened like I hadn’t just caught her crying.

“Are you here to gloat?” she said, voice dry.

“No.”

“You probably should because you were right,” she hiccuped, “I'm a delusional idiot.”

“Your husband is a bastard.”

She laughed, bitter and sharp. “Took me this long to figure that out”

I took a few steps closer. “He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”

She scoffed. “You really expect me to believe you’re any better? You two are the same. Him, that woman on the phone, you... You are all the same - all in involved in treating me like I'm nothing but a property to be used at your will, and discarded at your will!”

Her breath hitched and i clenched my jaw when I saw her lip quiver slightly.

“I’m nothing like him.”

“You bought me.”

“I freed you, Sophia. From HIM. Because you deserved better.”

She shot up, eyes flashing. “This…is your idea of freedom? Another type of cage?”

“You will see with time that what I did was FOR YOU. And that's what makes me better…becausw Derek only wanted to use you for survival.”

That stopped her.

Just for a second.

I stepped closer, voice lower. “You think I brought you here to punish you? No. I brought you here because I see what you could be. What he kept buried.”

“I’m not yours to mold.”

“No,” I said. “But you could be something he’ll never see coming.”

She didn’t answer.

So I kept going.

“You want revenge? I can give it to you. I’ll make sure he never breathes easy again. You can take his money, his name, his reputation. I’ll put the entire world in your hands, Sophia. You can make him kneel. And beg. And bleed.”

She looked at me.

Not like she feared me.

Like she was starting to understand me.

And that… was exactly what I wanted.

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying Sophia,” I whispered with a smile, “that I can give you a real chance for revenge.”