Chapter 143 Sophie’s Plan
Charles's words were like a bucket of cold water, dumped right over Arthur's heart that had been muddled for so long.
Those thoughts he'd deliberately ignored, all his self-deception, shattered in an instant.
He finally faced up to his own absurdity, faced up to everything he'd destroyed with his own hands.
"I get it."
His voice was low, carrying an exhaustion and clarity he'd never had before. "I'll clean up everything that needs to be dealt with."
Charles watched as the fog in his eyes gradually cleared, replaced by solemnity and regret, and knew his words hadn't been wasted.
He said nothing more, didn't press or interrogate, just nodded lightly.
Some truths only need to be touched upon.
To truly wake up, Arthur had to do it himself.
Back at the empty villa, Arthur stopped when he passed the garden, his gaze sweeping over the flower beds.
This used to be Aria's favorite place. Every plant and tree had been chosen and planted by her own hands.
But after Sophie's tantrum, the place had been torn apart, every trace she'd left cleaned away completely.
He'd been so troubled back then that he didn't even have the energy to have it maintained, letting the garden fall into neglect.
Now standing here again, all that remained was chaos and desolation.
Arthur's chest tightened.
He finally understood—what he'd lost wasn't just flowers, but her efforts, their past...
He immediately contacted a gardener, sent over photos of all the flowers Aria had planted before, and had the gardener track down the same varieties.
Some flowers were out of season, hard to find on the market. He had people search everywhere, willing to pay any price, no matter how much trouble it took, as long as they could find exact matches.
Workers busied themselves turning soil and planting while Arthur stood watching.
He watched bit by bit as the garden returned to how it used to be, with only one thought in his mind.
He wanted to replant everything she'd lost, everything he'd destroyed, piece by piece.
Even if it took all his strength, even if she was already far away.
Sophie first noticed something odd about the garden one night when she came home late.
As she passed by, she caught sight of tools left by gardening workers in what had been a desolate, abandoned garden. The soil had been freshly turned, and in the corner sat several potted seedlings waiting to be planted—she could vaguely tell they were expensive varieties.
She paused, her heart sinking inexplicably, though her face remained expressionless.
As she handed her coat to a servant, she casually lifted her chin toward the garden, her tone flat and emotionless. "What's going on with the garden?"
The nearby servant didn't dare hide anything and quickly answered in a low voice, "Mr. Grant ordered it a couple days ago. He said to restore the garden properly, and even had people find the same flowers that were planted before. Some varieties are hard to find, so Mr. Grant specifically had them brought in from out of town at high prices..."
As the words fell, Sophie's fingertips curled slightly, her hands at her sides tightening imperceptibly.
How could she not remember.
This garden had been filled with Aria's favorite flowers, every plant and tree personally selected and tended by Aria.
Last time when she threw her fit, she'd destroyed those flowers completely, along with the last traces Aria had left in this villa, all cleaned away.
Back then, though Arthur had lost his temper, he hadn't had it restored, letting the garden lie neglected for a long time.
But now, he was restoring the garden, even tracking down the exact same varieties.
It seemed that bitch Rachel couldn't replace Aria's place in his heart either.
A wave of mockery and venom surged in her heart, almost breaking through the calm she was deliberately maintaining.
But Sophie just pressed her lips together lightly, finally only humming softly in acknowledgment, asking nothing more, not questioning him like before, not even showing a trace of displeasure.
Ever since Arthur had quietly stripped away the people she'd planted in the villa and even the company, removing all the power she could rely on, she'd long lost her voice in this household.
Now she only kept her hollow title of Mrs. Grant thanks to that old life-saving favor.
If this were before, she would have been hysterical, would have smashed those seedlings, would have forced Arthur to give her an explanation.
But now, she couldn't.
Sophie suppressed the turmoil in her heart, deliberately lowering her presence, like an insignificant invisible person, quietly turning toward the stairs.
To outsiders, it looked like the fallen Mrs. Grant had finally learned her place.
To Arthur, it seemed she'd finally recognized reality and stopped making trouble.
Only Sophie herself knew that this quiet wasn't surrender, but a more dangerous lurking.
The less attention she drew, the more Arthur would let his guard down, giving her time to quietly chip away at his shares in the shadows, gather her own forces, and weave a web strong enough to let her rise again—all while Rachel kept Arthur distracted and occupied.
As for this garden, as for the traces Aria left behind...
A cold gleam flashed through Sophie's eyes.
When she truly held power, forget one garden—even the person Arthur cared about most, she'd find a way to make disappear forever.
But what she didn't know was that Arthur had noticed.
During that period, his frequent lapses in company affairs weren't because Rachel had disturbed his focus—he'd deliberately left openings.
He coldly watched Sophie's encroachment, watched her reach step by step into the power that should have been his.
He felt guilty.
That guilt stemmed from the life-saving favor years ago.
That year she'd thrown herself in front of him without hesitation, taking that fatal bullet for him. That debt was too heavy to measure with simple love or hate.
He'd given her everything material, given her the dignity of being Mrs. Grant, but the one thing he couldn't give her was the love she wanted.
Watching Sophie's current behavior, Arthur thought perhaps she'd never cared about him as a person.
Perhaps in her calculations, he was just a stepping stone. What she wanted was real power and money, something tangible she could grasp, that sense of security that let someone stand tall.
If that was the case, then he'd give it to her.
Since he couldn't give her love, he'd repay her with power.
So he chose to indulge her.
He tacitly allowed those executives to switch sides, allowed those shares to change hands, and even when Sophie deliberately maneuvered in front of him, he just turned a blind eye.
He treated it as repayment, as belated compensation.
But Arthur didn't know that some people's greed couldn't be simply satisfied.