Chapter 58
Sophie sat on the edge of the porch steps, the dawn barely stretching across the city sky. Her bare feet were chilled against the concrete, but she didn’t move. She didn’t want to wake Ethan. She didn’t want to break the silence.
She just wanted to think.
Or stop thinking.
She wasn’t sure which.
Alexander stepped outside with two mugs. He handed one to her without speaking.
She took it, fingers wrapping around the warmth like it was the only solid thing left in her world.
“I didn’t sleep,” she murmured.
“I know,” he replied softly. “I didn’t either.”
They sat in silence.
Sophie watched the light slowly spill onto the street. “He looks peaceful, doesn’t he?”
Alexander nodded. “Completely.”
“I wonder how long it will last.”
“As long as we protect it.”
Sophie turned her head, studied his profile. “You say that like you’re staying.”
“I am.”
She swallowed hard. “You don’t have to.”
“I know.” His voice was quiet, steady. “But I want to.”
She looked down at the cup in her hands. “I don’t know what this means for us.”
“Neither do I.” He glanced at her. “But I know what I want it to mean.”
Sophie didn’t respond right away.
The truth sat like a weight between them. Heavy. Undeniable.
He still loved her.
And she… didn’t know how to protect him from everything that came with her.
“Alexander—”
“Don’t push me away again,” he interrupted, gently but firmly. “You don’t have to do it alone anymore.”
Sophie closed her eyes. “You say that, but Nikolai—”
“I don’t care about him.”
“He’s Ethan’s father.”
“No. He’s a name on a paper. A memory from a night he manipulated you. He’s biology. That’s it.”
“He’s more than that,” she whispered. “He’s power. Control. He doesn’t let go.”
“I don’t either,” Alexander said. “And if he wants a war, he’s going to learn that very quickly.”
She looked at him, something flickering in her chest.
“Do you still love me?”
He met her gaze. “I never stopped.”
Sophie’s throat tightened. “Even after everything I did?”
“You did what you had to do,” he said. “And if I were in your shoes, I would’ve made the same choice.”
Her eyes burned.
“Then what now?”
“We breathe,” he said. “We build again. We figure it out.”
She let out a small, shaky breath. “It’s not going to be easy.”
“It never was.”
A quiet moment passed.
Then—her phone buzzed on the porch beside her.
She stared at it, hesitant.
Alexander looked too. “Do you want me to check it?”
“No.”
She picked it up, read the screen, and went still.
“What is it?” he asked.
Sophie stared at the message.
Her voice was flat when she read it aloud. “‘You shouldn’t have lied to him. I told you. Truth always finds its way back.’”
Alexander’s jaw clenched. “Nikolai.”
There was no doubt.
“He’s already watching us,” she said, voice hollow.
“I’ll increase security. I’ll speak to Lisa. We’ll set up surveillance and get the team—”
“Alexander.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t want Ethan to live in fear.”
“He won’t.”
“He already might.”
He reached for her hand. “Then we make it safe. We don’t run. We control the narrative.”
“I don’t want a narrative,” she said. “I want a life.”
“And you’ll have it.”
The front door creaked softly.
Both turned.
Ethan padded out in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes, hair tousled.
“Mama?”
Sophie stood quickly, setting her cup down. “Hey, sweetheart.”
Ethan blinked up at her, then at Alexander.
“Are you staying for breakfast again?”
Alexander smiled, crouching to his level. “Would you like that?”
Ethan nodded enthusiastically. “We could make pancakes like last time.”
“Only if I get to flip them,” Alexander said.
Ethan giggled. “You burned the last ones.”
Sophie knelt beside them, brushing Ethan’s hair gently. “Go wash your face, baby. I’ll start the mix.”
Ethan yawned and shuffled back inside.
Alexander stood.
Sophie stood with him.
“That,” he said quietly, “is the reason we fight.”
She nodded.
But the tension hadn’t left her.
She glanced down at her phone again.
Another message appeared.
This one was worse.
“Tell him. Before I do.”
Her blood ran cold.
Alexander saw her reaction. “What now?”
She turned the screen toward him.
He read it.
Then looked up, something dark forming in his expression.
“You know what this means,” he said.
“Yes,” she whispered. “He’s coming for more than just Ethan.”
Alexander took the phone from her hand, deleting the messages.
“We handle this together.”
She stared at him.
“I mean it,” he said. “No more secrets. No more silence.”
“Then there’s something I need to tell you.”
Alexander stilled.
Sophie took a breath.
“When I found out I was pregnant… it wasn’t just the timing. Or the guilt. Or the confusion.”
“What was it?”
“I thought about telling you,” she said. “So many times.”
“But?”
“But Viktor convinced me not to. He said it would destroy you.”
Alexander’s hands clenched.
“He told me your company would fall. That your board would never trust you again. That they’d see you as unstable, reckless.”
“So he used me as a weapon.”
Sophie nodded. “And I believed him.”
Alexander stepped closer. “You were scared.”
“I still am.”
He cupped her face. “But I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
He leaned in, forehead resting against hers.
“We’ll tell Ethan the truth. Slowly. Carefully. And we’ll deal with Nikolai when the time comes.”
She exhaled shakily. “I’m scared of what he’ll take.”
Alexander’s voice was steel.
“He won’t take anything. Not from you. Not from me. And not from our son.”
She closed her eyes.
And for the first time since this started—
She believed him.