Chapter 6
The rage that surged through Alexander was no longer a hot, explosive flash; it was a cold, absolute zero that threatened to freeze his very soul. He pushed past the doctor and strode back into the main living area. Sophia was sitting on the edge of the sofa, the hotel robe slipping slightly off her small shoulder, revealing three distinct, circular scars on her fair skin.
"Who did this to you, Sophia?" Alexander asked. He knelt in front of her, his voice kept carefully soft so as not to frighten her, though his hands were shaking with the effort of restraining his violent fury.
Sophia looked down at her hands, her eyes filling with tears. "The bad man. When I cried too loud for you, he said the fire would make me quiet."
Alexander closed his eyes, inhaling a sharp, ragged breath. He stood up, turning to Thomas. "Call the District Attorney. Call the Chief of Police. I want Richard Vance arrested tonight. I don't care what it costs."
Before Thomas could pick up his phone, the intercom on the penthouse wall buzzed loudly. Alexander walked over and pressed the button.
"Mr. Sterling," the front desk concierge’s voice crackled through the speaker, sounding deeply stressed. "I apologize for the intrusion, sir, but your mother is in the lobby. She has three private security contractors with her, and she is demanding to be let up to the penthouse. She claims you have kidnapped her legal ward."
"Legal ward?" Alexander barked a humorless laugh. "Send her up. But tell her security dogs to stay in the lobby. If they step on the elevator, my men will shoot them."
Alexander turned to Thomas and the doctor. "Take Sophia into the master bedroom. Lock the door. Do not come out until I say so."
"Daddy, don't let Grandma take me!" Sophia panicked, scrambling off the sofa.
"She is never touching you again, Sophia. Go with Thomas," Alexander commanded, offering a reassuring smile that felt like a mask on his face.
The moment the bedroom door clicked shut, the heavy double doors of the penthouse swung open. Victoria Sterling marched into the room. Her elegant evening gown was wrinkled, the pearl necklace gone, but the brittle, arrogant entitlement on her rosy face remained firmly intact.
"You have made a grave mistake, Alexander," Victoria hissed, stepping into the center of the room. "You embarrassed me in front of the entire city. And now you have stolen a child that I have legal custody of."
"You forged my signature on custody papers while I was in London," Alexander stated, his voice a lethal, quiet drawl. He slowly unbuttoned his suit jacket, his eyes locked on his mother. "And you used that fraudulent custody to sell my daughter to Richard Vance."
Victoria froze. The arrogant mask slipped for a fraction of a second, revealing the sheer panic underneath, before she forced it back into place.
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"I don't know what you are talking about," Victoria lied, her voice shrill. "Sophia is a disturbed child. Richard offered to run a specialized disciplinary program for her at his private estate. I paid him to fix her!"
"You paid him to torture her!" Alexander roared, closing the distance between them in two massive strides. He didn't strike her this time. He simply towered over her, his presence utterly terrifying. "There are cigarette burns on her back, Victoria! She was eating garbage from an alleyway! You sold your own granddaughter to a psychopath!"
