The Almighty Dominance

Sophia's brow knitted tightly, the haze lifting from her mind as clarity pierced through her confusion.

Her gaze sharpened, landing accusingly on Jack.

"You toldAlex shattered your hands and feet," she snapped, eyes burning like smoldering embers.

"Now you're saying The Thugs hit you? What's the truth, Jack?"

Florence sprang up, her voice shrill with urgency. "Sophia, it was Alex who attacked Jack first, then hired thugs to

finish the job! Can't you see the truth?" "That's right!" Jack growled, desperation sharpening the edge of his

voice. "Sophia, how can you doubt your own family-your mother and brother-for a nobody like Alex? He nearly

killed us!"

Disgusted, Sophia spun on her heels, storming from the room, fury and doubt wrestling within her.

She moved swiftly to find Barco, her mother's trusted driver, but the moment their eyes met, Barco visibly paled,

his feet scrambling to escape.

"Stop right there!" Sophia commanded, her voice a cold blade slicing through the air.

"I'm the head of Lancaster now. Take one more step and you're finished!"

Frozen in place, Barco reluctantly turned, sweat pooling on his forehead as he bowed stiffly.

"Miss Sophia," he stammered, avoiding her piercing stare.

"Why were you running?" Sophia's voice was dangerously soft, a quiet storm brewing beneath.

"l—I remembered an urgent errand," Barco muttered weakly, eyes pinned firmly to the ground.

"Enough lies," Sophia warned icily. "Tellexactly what happened to my mother and Jack."

Barco's throat tightened visibly, his nerves fraying at the edges. He hesitated, struggling under the weight of the

truth he had been warned never to reveal.

Finally, he croaked, "I can't say it outright. But there's a dashcam in the car—it recorded everything. See it

yourself. Just please, don't tell your mother | gave it to you. Say you found it yourself."

"Fine," Sophia snapped impatiently. "Give it tonow."

Barco fumbled with shaking fingers, quickly transmitting the footage through his smartwatch.

Sophia received it, her pulse accelerating as she pressed play, a dark dread seizing her heart.

The video flickered to life, revealing Jack and Florence perfectly unharmed as they exited Alex's clinic.

But their expressions twisted into venomous rage as they confronted the hired thugs. Faint, angry voices rose

from the footage.

"You worthless idiots!" Jack snarled viciously. "I paid you to take Alex down, and you couldn't even touch him! I'm

not paying losers like you!"

"You better cough up the cash!" a thug spat back menacingly.

"We did our part; it ain't our fault your target was tougher than you thought. Pay us as agreed."

"I don't want to pay! If you want money, go back to Alex who hit you take it from him," Jack barked.

"That's your fault useless bastard!" Florance added.

"You bastard! How dare you refuse to pay after all we did? Guys, teach them a lesson!" the thug shouted, and

the other two lunged forward, fists swinging.

The savage retaliation unfolded on camera-blows landing, curses erupting, chaos exploding in every frame.

Sophia's heart thundered painfully in her chest.

The bitter sting of betrayal surged, choking her breath.

Her entire life she'd trusted them, believing the steadfast lesson drilled into her-

that family was sacrosanct, their intentions pure.

But here, brutally, indisputably, they had betrayed her trust.

They had lied. Worse still, they had manipulated her, twisted her anger toward Alex, who was innocent in all of

this.

Swallowing tears of rage, Sophia stormed back to confront them. She flung open

the door with brutal force, glaring fiercely at Florence and Jack.

"So, you've both been lying to me?" Her voice quivered, raw and sharp with betrayal. "What was it all for?"

Florence recoiled, eyes wide with feigned innocence. "What are you talking about, Sophia?"

"Don't pretend!" Sophia roared, her voice cracking under the weight of her rage.

"I saw the dashcam footage. It was those thugs who beat you! Why frAlex? Why draginto your filthy

lies?"

Jack's face twisted, venom dripping from every word.

"It's Alex's fault! He hit the thugs. When they couldn't handle him, they turned on us. All of this is because of

him!" Jack shouted.

"No, Jack," Sophia hissed, her voice trembling but steady.

"It's because you didn't want to pay the thugs you hired, so they turned on you. Stop lying to me-I know the

truth!"

Jack fell silent.

Sophia's eyes glistened with bitter tears as her voice cracked with disbelief. "Why are you two so hell-bent on

tearing us apart? What did Alex ever do to deserve this?"

"Done? That arrogant little snake owes us respect he owes us everything!" Florence thundered, her mask finally

slipping, exposing the venom she'd hidden beneath.

Sophia shook her head slowly, grief twisting through her heart.

"Why?" she demanded, her voice trembling with rage and sorrow. "Why did you lie to me?"

"Sophia, don't you dare accuse us!" Florence shot back, eyes blazing with righteous indignation.

"That selfish ingrate owed us. And if he refused to play by our rules, shouldn't we have taught him a lesson? Who

the hell is he to strike back?"

Sophia's face twisted in disgust. "You're unbelievable. Both of you."

She'd always known her mother's ruthless streak, but this malicious distortion of reality took her breath away.

It was Florence's own vicious meddling that triggered this war, yet she spun the story until Alex becthe

villain.

Florence thrust her chin out

defiantly. "Fine, maybe we acted

rashly-but that arrogant fool isn't innocent either! If he hadn't set Clara up, do you think we would have

confronted him in the first place? He had it coming!"

Sophia turned sharply, her eyes drilling into Clara.

"Tellthe truth, Aunt Clara. | have connections at Hilton-I can have the truth dragged out of them myself. Did

Alex really fryou and send you to prison?"

Clara hesitated, the lie catching in her throat.

Sophia narrowed her eyes, voice dangerously low.

"Think carefully. If you dare lie again, | swear I'll drag every ugly truth into the

open. And trust| haven't forgotten your past betrayals."

Clara's voice was barely audible, her face pale and defeated.

"Alex warnednot to buy from them. It turned out they were sellingtainted goods. Hilton's manager

framedand hadarrested."

"Then how did you get out?" Sophia demanded, her stare merciless.

"The Chief of Hilton Pharmaceuticals vouched for me. He knew | wasn't involved."

"The Chief?" Sophia repeated slowly,

suspicion and realization mixing {9

her gaze. Clara bit drip hard

shaine Dhiftthg out with her next

words. "It was Alex. Alex vouched for