Chapter 268

Chapter 268
Sophia wasn't the Virgin Mary. She wouldn't repay evil with kindness. But her disgust for Zephyr had nothing to do with Victoria—it was a woman's instinctive revulsion toward a man who only preyed on women.

She buried all that indignation deep down and negotiated with Zephyr very calmly, finally settling on a fifty-fifty split.

Zephyr finally relaxed. Looking at Sophia's rosy complexion and beautiful face, he felt the urge to get closer to her. So he opened his arms toward Sophia.

Just then, the elevator doors opened. Sawyer walked out and witnessed this scene. Fury shot straight to the top of his head. He raised his fist at Zephyr.

"I've warned you more than once to stay away from my sister. Are you deaf?"

Zephyr was 5'11", which was considered tall, but he was completely outmatched in front of Sawyer's 6'3" frame! Plus, Sawyer had a regular fitness routine while Zephyr constantly fooled around with women. Their physical conditions weren't even on the same level. So Zephyr couldn't put up any effective resistance and got brutally beaten by Sawyer.

Sophia looked as if she'd been frightened. She let Sawyer pummel Zephyr for nearly a minute before seeming to snap out of it and shouting to stop them. "Stop it! Stop fighting!"

In the time it took to say those useless words, Zephyr took four more punches and eight more kicks from Sawyer. He was nearly spun like a top.

If this continued, even if Sawyer didn't kill him, he'd cripple him. Only then did Sophia genuinely try to break it up. "Alright, Sawyer, did you forget what Mom told you? Listen to me!"

Only then did Sawyer let Zephyr go.

Zephyr collapsed on the ground like an exhausted dog and coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.

Sophia sent Sawyer back, then returned to Zephyr's side and asked worriedly, "Are you alright, Mr. Sinclair? I've already called an ambulance. Just hang on a bit longer!"

Zephyr's vision was full of stars. It took him a while to come to his senses. He said bitterly, "I won't let that bastard off. I'll make sure he rots in jail! Fuck..."

Sawyer understood the principle of not hitting the face. So Zephyr's handsome face remained intact, and his speech wasn't affected. Profanity poured out one sentence after another.

Now it was Sophia's turn to perform. She cried out, "No! Mr. Sinclair, are you sure you want to do this to my brother?"

Zephyr was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

He'd been beaten into this miserable state. Both his body and spirit had suffered greatly. Yet she was talking as if he'd done something unreasonable!

And if he remembered correctly, Sawyer wasn't Sophia's biological brother, was he?

Zephyr angrily asked his question.

Sophia said, "Didn't I explain this to you before, Mr. Sinclair? Sawyer and I may not be blood-related, but we're on the same household registration. He's no different from my biological brother! And the reason he treated you this way today is also because during this time..."

Her voice trailed off vaguely. Though she didn't say it outright, Zephyr understood.

He'd been terrible this whole time, trying to get something for nothing from Sophia. So her brother had come forward to teach him a lesson.

This logic definitely wasn't legal, but it sounded reasonable.

Sophia continued sobbing. "How about this—I won't ask for those two things you promised me earlier, Mr. Sinclair. As long as you're willing to settle, that's enough. What do you think?"

So humble and submissive?

Zephyr's heart felt blocked again.

He'd worked so hard for so long, only to have everything reset to zero after one beating? How could he accept this?

Thinking this, Zephyr couldn't help but pound the floor a few times in frustration, and ended up spraining his wrist.

At this point, the Stuart Group behind Sophia was like a carrot dangling in front of Zephyr, whetting his appetite and forcing him to take this beating for nothing.

"Fine, fine. After all, he's also my future brother-in-law, right?"

After thinking it through, Zephyr verbally took advantage of Sophia.

Sophia laughed. "You're so annoying, always smooth-talking! I have to waste so much breath to persuade you. If it were Ms. Brown, one look from her and you'd give in, wouldn't you?"

She's jealous!

After reaching this conclusion, Zephyr felt quite smug. If his injuries didn't prevent him from moving, he'd definitely have some physical contact with Sophia right now.

But this didn't stop Zephyr from coaxing her with practiced ease—in his understanding, women didn't have much vision. Being able to one-up another woman was enough to make them happy for a long time! So Zephyr's current strategy was to put down Victoria to win Sophia's favor.

Sophia could barely maintain the smile on her face.

She and Victoria did have a grudge, and not a small one. But she'd rather curse Victoria herself than listen to this scumbag Zephyr say things like Victoria looked older than her or Victoria's figure was worse than hers!

The ambulance's arrival rescued Sophia, who was about to lose her patience.

The medical staff carried Zephyr down on a stretcher.

Sawyer's blows were quite skillful. Maybe at first, when taking the beating, it didn't seem like much—you might even think he just looked fierce. But as time passed bit by bit, the pain would gradually spread.

When Zephyr was lifted onto the ambulance was his most painful moment. His face instantly turned deathly pale. Originally, he'd wanted to preserve his masculine image, using silent endurance and bulging veins to move Sophia's heart. But when the pain hit, he couldn't care about anything and screamed like a lamb being led to slaughter.

After examination, Zephyr was sent to a VIP room. His injuries weren't serious. He could be discharged after resting one night. To heal completely without a trace of injury would take at least three or four months.

After Zephyr fell asleep, Sophia stayed by his bedside for a while and took several photos from ambiguous angles that were hard to explain. She was thinking about how to leak them to Victoria in a not-too-obvious but just-right way when Victoria called.

Sophia immediately perked up and pressed the answer button.

"Zephyr, where are you? I sent you so many messages and you don't even know to reply? Are you getting a bit too full of yourself again?"

In front of Zephyr, Victoria could never change her condescending attitude. After all, she'd been his unattainable ideal for over a decade!

Sophia thought for a moment and answered very seriously, "Zephyr had an accident. He's in the hospital now. Do you want to come see him?"

Given Victoria's current level of hatred toward Sophia, there was no need to use any two-faced tone to provoke her. Speaking seriously and truthfully was enough to drive Victoria crazy.

Sure enough, Victoria wasn't very concerned about Zephyr's condition. Instead, she was extremely bothered by Sophia's presence. She viciously cursed Sophia as a homewrecker, calling her shameless and thick-skinned repeatedly.

The plan had already succeeded. Sophia didn't have a habit of listening to people curse her. So she quickly gave Zephyr's room address and hung up the phone.