Chapter 44 Chapter 44
Damien’s POV
I stared at my daughter, waiting for her to deny it, to tell me that Hailey was lying, that this was all some terrible misunderstanding.
But the guilt was written all over Sophia’s face.
“Sophia,” I said again, my voice dropping to something dangerous. “Answer me. Did you leak that video? Did you tell the mafia families about Hailey’s pregnancy?”
She flinched at my tone, and I saw her throat work as she swallowed.
Then, to my shock, she broke.
Tears streamed down her face as she collapsed onto the couch, her body shaking with sobs.
“She’s trying to replace Mom!” Sophia cried, her voice breaking. “Don’t you see that? That college slut is trying to take Mom’s place, and you’re just letting her!”
The word ‘slut’ made my jaw clench so tight I thought my teeth might crack.
“Sophia….”
“Mom devoted her entire life to you!” she continued, her voice rising hysterically. “She loved you, supported you, stood by you through everything! And now you’re just going to let some gold digger come in and tarnish everything Mom worked for? Everything she sacrificed?”
I could see the pain in my daughter’s eyes, the genuine anguish of a girl who’d lost her mother too young and never properly grieved.
But I could also see Hailey standing there, her face pale, her good hand pressed protectively over her stomach, her eyes filled with hurt and fear.
Hailey, who’d been shot at today because of information my daughter had leaked. Who was being hunted by dangerous men because Sophia had painted a target on her back.
“You’re being selfish,” I said, my voice hard. “You’re so consumed by your own pain that you can’t see what you’ve done.”
“I’m protecting our family!” Sophia shouted.
“By putting innocent lives in danger?” I demanded. “By leaking private information to our enemies? By making Hailey and her friend targets for assassination?”
“She’s the one who got pregnant!” Sophia shot back. “She’s the one who trapped you!”
“No one trapped me,” I said firmly. “What happened between Hailey and me was between us. It had nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me!” Sophia screamed. “Because now there’s going to be another child! Another person taking your attention away from me! Just like always!”
The raw pain in her voice cut through my anger for a moment, and I saw clearly what I’d been too busy to notice.
My daughter was broken. Had been broken since her mother died. And I’d been too consumed with running my empire to see it.
But that didn’t excuse what she’d done.
“I never expected you to endanger an innocent child,” I said quietly. “The baby Hailey is carrying is your sibling, Sophia. My blood. Your blood. And you put them in danger.”
“Good!” Sophia spat, her tears turning to venom. “I hope they die! I hope that baby never gets born! In fact, if I ever get the chance, I’ll kill it myself with my own hands!”
The room went deathly silent.
I saw Hailey’s face go white, her hand instinctively moving to cover her stomach more protectively.
Then she turned and stormed out of the room, her footsteps echoing down the hallway.
I wanted to go after her, to make sure she was okay, but I couldn’t move. I was frozen by the sheer horror of what my daughter had just said.
“Sophia,” I said, my voice so cold it could have frozen fire. “What you just said is unforgivable.”
“I don’t care!” she screamed. “I hate her! I hate that baby! I hate all of this!”
“You hate it because you’re selfish,” I said. “Because you can’t see past your own pain long enough to realize you’re destroying lives. You’re putting people in danger. You leaked information to the Black Vultures, for God’s sake. Do you have any idea what they could have done to Hailey and Benita today?”
“I don’t care!” Sophia repeated.
“Well, I do,” I said, my voice rising now. “I care that my daughter has become so consumed by hatred that she’d threaten to murder an unborn child. I care that you’ve endangered two innocent young women. I care that you’ve compromised our security by leaking information to our enemies.”
“Damien,” my mother’s voice cut in, stepping forward. “Perhaps we should all calm down and discuss this rationally….”
“Rationally?” I turned on her, my fury finding a new target. “Mother, you’ve been undermining Hailey since the moment you arrived. You’ve made it clear you think she’s beneath us, that she doesn’t belong here. And now Sophia has taken that contempt and weaponized it into attempted murder!”
“That’s not fair,” Isabella protested. “I never told her to…”
“You didn’t have to!” I shouted. “Your attitude, your treatment of Hailey, it gave Sophia permission to see her as disposable. As someone who could be eliminated without consequence.”
“I was trying to protect you,” Isabella said, her voice rising. “That girl is a liability, Damien. She’s going to get you killed!”
“No,” I said, my voice dropping to something dangerous. “What’s going to get me killed is having a family I can’t trust. Having a daughter who leaks information to my enemies and a mother who encourages her contempt for the woman carrying my child.”
“Damien, you’re being unreasonable,” Isabella said.
“Am I?” I challenged. “Because from where I’m standing, I’ve raised a monster who doesn’t care about my blood or my happiness. Who threatened to murder my unborn child with her own hands. And you’re standing here defending her!”
“She’s grieving!” Isabella protested.
“We’re all grieving!” I roared. “I lost my wife. Sophia lost her mother. But that doesn’t give either of you the right to destroy innocent lives in the name of that grief!”
“Damien….”
“Don’t mum, don’t try to justify what Sophia has done….”
“Dad.. I…”
“I’m disappointed in you Sophia, never knew you can engage innocent life because of your selfishness.”