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 told me Alex 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.

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

"Enough lies," Sophia warned icily. "Tell me exactly 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 I gave it to you. Say you found it yourself."

"Fine," Sophia snapped impatiently. "Give it to me now."

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 frame Alex? Why drag me into 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 became the 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.

"Tell me the truth, Aunt Clara. I have connections at Hilton-I can have the truth dragged out of them myself. Did Alex really frame you and send you to prison?"

Clara hesitated, the lie catching in her throat.

Sophia narrowed her eyes, voice dangerously low.noveldrama

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

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

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

"Alex warned me not to buy from them. It turned out they were selling me tainted goods. Hilton's manager framed me and had me arrested."

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

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

"The Chief?" Sophia repeated slowly, suspicion and realization mixing in her gaze. Clara bit her lip hard, shame spilling out with her next words. "It was Alex. Alex vouched for me and got me released."

"So Alex never framed Clara at all—it was you two who cooked up this filthy lie to slander him?" Sophia's words were ice-cold, her voice barely holding steady. Florence bristled, doubling down. “Slander? If he wasn't guilty, why'd he step in to save her? He must've felt ashamed!"

"That's right!" Jack snarled from behind. "If he had nothing to hide, why would he help her?"

“Enough!" Sophia's scream echoed, raw and full of anguish.

Her entire body trembled as years of pent-up fury exploded in a storm of words.

"Why do you hate Alex so fiercely? What has he ever done to deserve this constant torment? Six months-Six goddamn months-he's been nothing but patient, humble, and honest."

"But you! You twist every kindness

into cruelty, every truth into a lie. Are

you so consumed by your own

s that you can't even see

the goodness standing right in front

of you?"

After that tirade, Sophia couldn't take another second. Her chest tight with

emotion, she flung the door open and stormed out into the harsh afternoon sun.

The daylight burned her eyes as she climbed into her car, slamming the door with a trembling hand. Tires screeched as she sped down the road, the golden light streaking across her tear-stained face.

But no matter how fast she drove, she couldn't outrun the storm raging inside her.

She regretted everything.

She regretted her reckless outburst. She regretted falling for her mother's venomous lies. But most of all, she regretted turning her back on Alex-the one

soul who never stopped caring.

And as the weight of it all crashed down, her tears fell hard, unrelenting.

"Alex... I love you..."