Chapter 4 - THE SHATTERED MIRROR
The words echoed in the grand, quiet hallway, bouncing off the walls and burying themselves deep into Sophia’s chest.
He is our son.
Sophia stared at the little boy holding the blue elephant. Her mind violently rejected the information, fighting against the thick, foggy wall her father had built in her memories.
"That's a lie," Sophia gasped, scrambling backward away from Adrian until her back hit the heavy wooden door. "I would know if I had a child. A mother doesn't just forget her own baby!"
Adrian stayed on his knees, his hands resting on his thighs. He looked at her with a profound, aching patience. "The mind will bury anything to survive, Sophia. Your father didn't just erase your memory. He erased me. We met when you were seventeen. I was a street kid, running numbers for your father's rivals. We fell in love. We hid it from everyone."
Sophia shook her head frantically. "No. No, I met you two years ago at a charity gala."
"You met me again two years ago," Adrian corrected softly. "When your father found out you were pregnant by a rival's runner, he dragged you to that private clinic. I broke in to save you. That’s what the photograph was. He had a gun to your head, threatening to kill you if I didn't drop my weapon. I dropped it. To save you."
Leo took a hesitant step toward Sophia. His small brow furrowed in confusion. "Dad? Why is the lady crying?"
"Because she’s confused, Leo," Adrian said gently. He looked back at Sophia. "After you passed out, my sister Elena intervened. She struck a deal with your father. She promised to take the baby and disappear, as long as your father let me live so I could work for him. Your father agreed. He wiped your mind, told you it was a tumor, and Elena took Leo."
Sophia’s chest heaved. She looked at her hands, remembering the deep, aching emptiness she had felt for years. A phantom grief she could never explain. She looked at Leo’s green eyes. Her eyes.
She slowly reached out a trembling hand toward the little boy.
Leo didn't flinch. He walked over and gently placed his small hand in hers. His skin was warm. Real. Alive.
A sudden, sharp pain flared in Sophia’s temples. A flash of memory pierced the darkness in her mind.
A sterile white room. The blinding glare of surgical lights. A woman in a black coat—Elena—looking down at her with a cruel smile. A baby crying. Her own voice, screaming for Adrian.
Sophia gasped, pulling Leo into her arms, burying her face in his soft curls. She wept, a deep, primal sound of a mother who had just found a piece of her soul she didn't know was missing. Leo stood perfectly still, patting her back with his little hand.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sophia sobbed, looking up at Adrian fiercely. "When we reconnected two years ago, why did you pretend we were strangers?!"
"Because if I told you the truth, the shock might have broken your mind permanently," Adrian said, standing up. "And more importantly, if your father knew your memories were returning, he would have killed you. I had to play his game. I worked my way up in his syndicate. I became his top enforcer. I became the monster he wanted me to be, all so I could get close enough to destroy him and get our son back from Elena."
"Elena raised him?" Sophia asked, wiping her eyes, her maternal instincts violently flaring.
"She used him as leverage," Adrian sneered, his hands balling into fists. "She threatened to kill him if I didn't funnel syndicate money into her private accounts. But three days ago, I finally found out where she was keeping him. I raided her compound. I took him back."
"That's why she crashed the wedding," Sophia realized, the pieces finally locking together. "She didn't come to ruin our vows. She came to expose you to the High Commission so they would strip your power. She wants Leo back."
"She wants the throne," Adrian corrected. "Leo is the only blood heir to the two most powerful families in the city. Whoever controls the boy, controls the future of the Commission."
Suddenly, the heavy silence of the manor was shattered by the shrill, jarring ring of a burner phone sitting on the mantlepiece.
Adrian’s jaw tightened. He walked over, picked it up, and pressed the speaker button.
"They found you quickly," a smooth, chillingly familiar voice echoed from the phone.
Sophia’s blood ran cold. It was her father. Marcus.
"Marcus," Adrian said, his voice flat, devoid of any emotion.
"You played a very long, very dangerous game, Adrian," Marcus chuckled over the line. "I must admit, I didn't think you had the stomach to marry the girl just to get the boy. But Elena showed the High Commission your little ledger. They know you've been stealing from them to fund your private war."
"I was stealing from them to buy back my son from your psychotic partner," Adrian shot back.
"Semantics," Marcus sighed. "The Commission has declared a blood hunt on you, Adrian. But I am a merciful man. I will give you one chance to walk away."
"I'm listening."
"Give me the boy," Marcus said coldly. "He has my blood. He is my legacy. Hand over the child, and I will let you and Sophia leave the country. You can go play house in Europe. But the heir stays with me."
Sophia’s grip on Leo tightened. "Never," she whispered fiercely.
Marcus heard her. "Ah, Sophia. My sweet, broken girl. I see Adrian has been filling your head with fairy tales. Do you really think he loves you? Do you really think he married you for romance?"
"Shut your mouth, Marcus," Adrian growled.
"Ask him, Sophia," Marcus taunted. "Ask your husband why he couldn't kill me tonight at the wedding. Ask him what I have that keeps him on my leash."
Adrian hung up the phone violently, the plastic cracking in his grip.
Sophia slowly stood up, placing Leo carefully behind her. She looked at her husband. The man who had saved her, lied to her, and brought her son back.
"What does he have, Adrian?" Sophia asked, her voice trembling but demanding.
Adrian looked away, unable to meet her eyes. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a small, heavy object. He placed it on the table.
It was a beautiful, vintage gold lighter. The metal was heavily scratched.
May you like
Sophia stared at it. It belonged to her mother. Her mother who had supposedly died of a heart attack when Sophia was twelve.
"Your mother didn't die, Sophia," Adrian said, his voice breaking. "Your father locked her away in a private asylum to keep her quiet about his syndicate ties. He holds her hostage. If I kill him, his men have orders to execute her."
