CHAPTER FIVE

*SOPHIA*

The private jet was already fueling when we arrived at Teterboro. Alexander had made three more calls to his father with no answer. His jaw was tight, hands clenched.

"He always answers," Alexander said. "Always."

I didn't tell him that in my timeline, James Sterling had been unreachable for six hours before they found his body in a hotel room. Heart attack, the coroner said. Induced by stress, Eleanor had whispered at the funeral, looking at me like I'd killed him myself.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Alexander demanded as we boarded.

"Your father signed the contract. Three months later, the Zhao Group demanded off-book payments. When he refused, they threatened to expose fabricated evidence of corruption. He paid to protect the company. It went on for two years before"

"Before they killed you to send a message."

"Car accident. Brake failure. Very convenient, very clean." I buckled in as the plane started taxiing. "But I think they miscalculated. They thought your father would crumble. Instead, he went to the FBI. Started cooperating. Two weeks later, the heart attack."

Alexander was silent for a long moment. "Why didn't he tell me any of this?"

"Because you were too busy blaming me for everything wrong in your life." The words came out harsher than I intended. "Sorry. That's not helpful right now."

"No, it's accurate." He pulled out his laptop. "I'm going through the Zhao Group's corporate structure. If they're a front, there should be red flags."

I watched him work, this version of Alexander I'd never known. Focused, decisive, actually listening. It was disorienting.

"Found something," he said, turning the screen. "Three shell companies in the ownership chain, all registered in the Cayman Islands within six months of each other. The principal contact for all three is the same person."

"Who?"

"Chen Wei. Does that name mean anything to you?"

My stomach dropped. "That's my uncle. My mother's brother."

Alexander's eyes snapped to mine. "Your mother set this up?"

"I don't know. We're not close, my mother and I. But Wei..." I'd met him once at a family gathering. He'd been polite, charming, and something about him had made my skin crawl. "He's connected. Always has been. My mother used to joke about how he could get anything done in China, no questions asked."

"And your mother arranged your marriage to me."

The pieces clicked together with sickening clarity. "She sold me. Not just to Eleanor for political favors. To Wei for business access."

"Which means if I break the engagement, if we expose this"

"My mother loses everything she positioned me to gain." I felt cold. "And Wei loses his entrée into Sterling Hotels."

Alexander was already dialing. "James, it's me. Don't sign anything. I'm serious. Get out of that room right now."

I could hear his assistant's voice, tinny through the phone. "Sir, your father left his phone at the hotel. I'm trying to reach his security team-"

"Send them to his location immediately. Tell them he's in danger."

Alexander hung up and made another call. "Victoria, I need you to pull every file we have on the Zhao Group deal. Everything. And get our legal team ready to kill the contract."

Victoria's voice was sharp even through the speaker. "Alexander, what's going on?"

"Corporate espionage. Possibly worse. I'll explain when I get back." He ended the call.

The silence between us felt heavy.

"Your mother really would sacrifice you for a business deal?" he asked quietly.

"You married me for one."

"That was different."

"How?"

He didn't have an answer.

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: "Stop interfering."

I showed it to Alexander. His face darkened.

"They know we're onto them."

"They've probably known since you started making calls." I deleted the message. "The question is whether they'll back off or double down."

"In your timeline, they doubled down."

"Yes."

Alexander's phone rang. James, finally. "Sir, I've reached your father's security team. They're at the meeting location, but-"

"But what?"

"Your father isn't there. The Zhao Group representatives say he left twenty minutes ago. Took a private car to the airport."

"Which airport? We're at Teterboro."

"They said JFK, sir. But his flight plan filed from Teterboro. I'm trying to track-"

The call cut out.

Alexander tried calling back. Nothing. He tried his father's phone. Voicemail.

"This is wrong," I said. "Everything about this is wrong."

"We're landing in forty minutes. I'll have every resource-"

"Alexander, they took him. They took your father, and they're using him as leverage to make you sign that contract."

"Then I'll sign it. I'll give them whatever they want."

"And then they'll own you. They'll own Sterling Hotels. They'll drain the company dry and disappear." I grabbed his arm. "You can't give in."

"I can't let them kill my father!"

"If you sign, they'll kill him anyway. Once they have what they want, he's a liability." My throat tightened. "I know how these people work. I've spent three years studying how to destroy them."

"Then tell me how."

"We need proof. Hard evidence they can't buy or bury. And we need to find your father before they realize we're not playing their game."

Alexander stared at me, and I saw the moment he made his choice. Not the easy one. Not the one Eleanor would have told him to make.

"My head of security is former FBI," he said. "If anyone can track my father, it's him. And I have a contact at the Bureau who owes me a favor."

"Will they move fast enough?"

"They will if I make it worth their while." He was already typing out messages. "I'm offering full cooperation on the Zhao Group investigation. Complete access to Sterling Hotels' records. Everything."

"Your board will crucify you."

"Let them try."

For the first time since my rebirth, I looked at Alexander Sterling and saw someone I might not need to destroy.

"Okay," I said. "Let's save your father."

CHAPTER SIX

*ALEXANDER*

The FBI set up in Sterling Hotels' conference room within two hours. Agent Sarah Chen no relation to Sophia's family, she'd clarified immediately had a team tracing the car service that picked up my father.

"The vehicle was registered to a legitimate company," she said, pulling up traffic camera footage. "But the driver used a fake license. We tracked them to a warehouse in Newark, then lost visual."

"How long ago?" I asked.

"Ninety minutes."

Ninety minutes. Enough time to move him anywhere, do anything. My hands were shaking. I shoved them in my pockets.

Sophia was on her phone across the room, speaking rapid Mandarin. She'd been making calls since we landed, reaching out to contacts I didn't know she had.

"My father needs medication," I told Agent Chen. "Heart condition. If he doesn't get it"

"We're working as fast as we can, Mr. Sterling."

Victoria arrived, looking pale. "The Zhao Group's lawyer just called. They're demanding you honor the contract or they'll sue for breach. Fifty million in damages."

"Let them sue."

"Alexander, the board"

"The board can fire me if they want. I'm not signing." I looked at her directly. "And I need you to do something for me. Something that can't be traced back to Sterling Hotels."

Victoria's expression shifted. In all our years working together, I'd never asked her to cross legal lines. "What?"

"Sophia has a list of shell companies connected to the Zhao Group. I need you to freeze their assets. All of them. Use whatever connections you have. I don't care how."

"That's illegal."

"So is kidnapping my father."

She held my gaze for a moment, then nodded. "I'll make some calls."

Sophia ended her conversation and crossed to me. "Wei knows where your father is."

"Your uncle? How"

"He just tried to call me. Wanted to have lunch, catch up, discuss family matters." Her smile was cold. "He's never called me before in my life. He's fishing to see what we know."

Agent Chen looked up sharply. "Did you answer?"

"No. But I'm going to call him back and agree to meet."

"Absolutely not," I said. "You're not walking into that."

"He won't hurt me. I'm his niece, and more importantly, I'm still valuable to whatever deal my mother made." Sophia's voice was steady. "But he might slip up. Give me something we can use."

"Or he might grab you too and use you as additional leverage," Agent Chen said. "I can't authorize a civilian going into a potentially hostile situation."

"I'm not asking for authorization."

I stepped between them. "Sophia, this is insane. We have the FBI. We have resources. We don't need you to"

"Your father has maybe four hours before they move him somewhere we'll never find him. Maybe less." She met my eyes. "I can buy us time. I can make Wei think I'm on their side, that I'm here to convince you to sign."

"And if he doesn't believe you?"

"Then I'll improvise."

Agent Chen's phone rang. She stepped away to answer it, and I grabbed Sophia's arm. "This isn't your responsibility. You don't owe me this."

"I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it because Wei helped destroy my life once, and I want to watch him go to prison." She pulled free. "Besides, you said you wanted to prove you're different from the man I married. Here's your chance. Let me do this instead of trying to protect me like I'm breakable."

"I'm trying to protect you because people who cross the Zhao Group end up dead."

"I already died once. I'm not afraid of it happening again."

The certainty in her voice shook something loose in my chest. This wasn't the broken woman from my dreams. This was someone who'd clawed her way back from death itself and turned her rage into something sharp and purposeful.

"Fine," I said. "But you wear a wire. And the moment things go wrong, we pull you out."

Agent Chen returned. "We got a hit on one of the shell companies. Large cash withdrawal three hours ago from a bank in Chinatown. Security footage shows two men matching the description of your father's abductors."

"Can you trace them?"

"We're pulling footage from surrounding cameras now." She looked at Sophia. "If you're serious about meeting with Chen Wei, we can set you up with surveillance equipment. But Mr. Sterling is right this is dangerous."

"I understand the risks."

"Do you?" Agent Chen's expression was hard. "Because if they realize you're working with us, they won't just kill you quickly. They'll make an example."

"They already made an example of me once. That's why I'm here."

Twenty minutes later, Sophia was wired and miked, a tiny camera disguised as a lapel pin on her jacket. She'd chosen a public restaurant in Midtown for the meeting. Crowded, visible, harder to disappear someone.

"I'll have agents at three tables," Agent Chen said. "You feel threatened, you touch your left ear. That's the signal."

Sophia nodded. She was calm. Too calm.

I followed her into the hallway. "You don't have to do this."

"We've established that I do."

"Sophia" I didn't know what I wanted to say. Thank you felt inadequate. Be careful felt patronizing. Don't die felt too honest.

She tilted her head, studying me. "You're actually worried about me. That's new."

"Of course I'm worried. If something happens to you"

"You'll feel guilty. I know. You've made that very clear." But her expression softened slightly. "I'll be fine, Alexander. I've been planning my revenge for three years. I'm not going to die before I see it through."

"Is that all this is? Revenge?"

"What else would it be?"

I didn't have an answer for that either.

She touched my arm briefly. "If I get your father back, you owe me something."

"Name it."

"The truth. All of it. Everything you remember from the other timeline, no matter how ugly." Her eyes were hard. "Deal?"

"Deal."

She walked away, and I watched her go, this woman I'd apparently destroyed once and was now trusting with my father's life.

Agent Chen appeared beside me. "She's either very brave or very stupid."

"Both," I said. "Definitely both."

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: "Your father says hello. Sign the contract by midnight or say goodbye."

Attached was a photo. My father, tied to a chair, very much alive but terrified.

I showed it to Agent Chen. She swore softly and made a call.

The clock was ticking