Sofia's Point of View
I said that without turning around. The door closed with a soft click, and my hand shook on the knob. My heart was beating fast, but not because I was scared. It was because of what I had just said and the mixed feelings that were tearing me apart.
I wanted to destroy him and help him at the same time.
No one is framing you from the outside. Someone is pursuing you from within.
I said that line to make him worried and confused.
It worked. I could see it in his eyes - that moment when he understood what I meant.
But as I went upstairs and locked myself in the guest bathroom, something inside me felt twisted. I wasn't sure if I had meant it as a warning or if I was asking him to be careful.
I splashed cold water on my face.
I held onto the sink until my knuckles turned white, staring at a face I barely knew. The same woman who came here to get revenge - her strong wall was now breaking apart.
My phone buzzed. I didn't need to look at the screen to know who it was.
Victor.
I answered on the second ring, making sure Josh wasn't sneaking up on me again.
"Your time is ticking Sof." Victor's voice had always been stern and sarcastic.
"Something happened recently. A strange woman gave me a particular drive that could expose something about Josh but I'm not sure." I spoke quietly.
"He saw the flash drive. The papers. I told him that someone might be getting into his father's files."
"You what?" Victor asked. I could tell he was angry.
There was a long silence between us, confused about why he was triggered.
"You warned him?" I felt my back get stiff when I heard the cold anger in Victor's voice.
"He already knew someone was after him. I just told him to look closer."
"Sofia." His voice became sharp. "I don't think you understand how serious this is. We're not just trying to shake Josh up. We want to destroy his reputation, and you just gave him a chance to escape."
"He's not stupid. He would have figured it out anyway."
"He's not stupid," Victor repeated, making fun of me. "Maybe he'll figure out who put the Blackwell Files on his computer. Who has been looking into Cassandra Vale? Who came into his house with the poison?"
"Wait. So you're behind all this? " I asked, shocked. "But why?"
"If you don't bring me solid proof that he's guilty, then I'll destroy you first." He digressed from my question.
My throat felt dry.
"You said I had time," I managed to say.
"You did. But now you're protecting him."
"I'm not—" I said.
"Don't lie to me," his voice cut through my words. "You think I haven't noticed the way you look at him? How your voice changes when you talk about Eliza. Sofia, you're losing focus."
The words hit hard. I took a deep breath.
"We had a deal."
"And you're about to break it."
He hung up. My hands were shaking as I looked at the black screen. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears like slow, mean drumming.
I arranged a meet-up with him via text in an old greenhouse on the edge of Old Mill Road two hours later. I had to meet him.
The air smelled like wet dirt and rotting plants. The glass roof was broken, and vines were growing through the cracked windows. It was a place where people went to disappear.
Victor stood under a rusty metal archway, cigarette smoke floating around him.
"You're late," he said after staring at me for a while.
"You threatened me," I replied.
He didn't deny it. He breathed out slowly. "You need to remember who you're dealing with."
"No." I stepped closer. "I needed to remember why."
"What?" I saw the anger in his eyes.
"You said this was about justice. That Josh was responsible for my father's downfall. That he caused Laurent Holdings to fail."
"He was."
"Then why does this feel so personal?" I crossed my arms and looked at his face. "You want more than just exposing him. You want to ruin him. Embarrass him. Hurt him. What's your real problem with him?"
The silence between us got thicker like smoke.
"You hate him," I whispered.
"Of course I do." He admitted it. "He was the golden boy. Always, because he's smarter and well-poised. Our father gave him everything while I worked hard in the background."
I couldn't breathe. "Your... father?"
Victor's eyes got wider. He didn't mean to say that.
"You're Reynolds," I whispered.
He tightened his jaw.
"Half-brother. Born outside marriage. Hidden. Like a dirty secret. Our father paid my mother to stay quiet and gave me scraps while Josh got the whole business."
"And now you want it back," I said quietly.
"I want what's mine. I'm his first son."
"Then say that!" The words burst out of my mouth. "Don't hide behind my pain and suffering. Don't use my father's death like a chain around my neck."
He came closer, and I felt threatened by his presence.
"Josh did kill your father. He bought out the company after making sure your father had no other choice and carefully taking over Laurent Holdings. Sofia, I told you the truth. I just gave you the pieces so you could see the whole picture."
"But I'm the one getting hurt for it," I said, throwing my hands up.
"You agreed to this," he snapped back.
"I agreed to justice, not to be your tool in a family fight."
Victor smiled coldly and meanly. "It's too late to feel sorry now."
"No. It isn't. Not if I leave right now," I said, moving closer.
"You won't."
"Why?" I challenged him by tilting my head.
Slowly and carefully, he dropped the cigarette and stepped on it.
"Because you know my plan. And if you leave right now, I'll make sure Josh sees every message you've ever sent me. Every secret, every lie. Every time you planned his destruction while pretending to care about him."
I felt sick in my stomach.
"Bring me evidence," he said in a deadly calm voice. "Something I can use to embarrass him in public. Financial papers. A confession. Anything real. It's hidden somewhere in that house. You have three days."
His smile became hungry. "Or I'll destroy both of you and your sweet little daughter, Eliza."
He disappeared into the fog like a ghost leaving the broken greenhouse.
I stood there for what felt like hours, my heart pounding against my chest, my hands sweaty.
Victor was going crazy. I could see that his reasons were emotional and poisonous, not smart.
This had nothing to do with fairness or truth. It was about anger that had lasted longer than common sense, power, and control. And I was caught in the trap that he had made.
I came home in complete silence. Josh's office door was tightly closed. Eliza was sleeping peacefully upstairs.
The house that once felt cold now felt like something precious I might lose. I poured myself some water in the kitchen and stared at the wall, breathing hard.
If I gave Victor what he wanted, I would ruin Josh.
If I didn't, he would ruin me - and maybe Eliza too.
The question that scared me the most kept being asked by a voice deep inside that I had been desperately ignoring:
What if Josh isn't the bad guy?
What if he's just another person who inherited a curse that has been passed down from men like mine and Victor's father?
I walked to the office door, raised my hand to knock, and then stopped. There were voices inside. I held my breath and leaned in.
Josh was speaking urgently, "We have to be careful. If someone's already broken into the files, the Cassandra documents are in danger."
Another voice answered - older, male, and strangely familiar, but I couldn't figure out who it was.
"Josh, we should have destroyed them years ago. This was always going to catch up with us. What got burned?"
"It's not just Reynolds Enterprises at risk if the wrong person sees those files," the man continued. "It's everything we've built - the board, and your inheritance. Someone has been setting you up, and they're doing it from the inside."
My fingers shook as they touched the door frame. Josh spoke again, his voice rough with tiredness.
"She doesn't know. Not yet. But she's smart. How long before she finds out?"
"Hopefully long enough for us to deal with this quietly." The other man replied.
"Good. That's how it should be. The less she knows, the safer she'll be."
I backed away from the door, fear and anger spinning in my head. What did they need to hide? What files were so dangerous that they thought about burning them?
And why did I feel like I was being protected - not like a burden, but like a wife?
The floorboard creaked under my weight. The voices inside went quiet.
My heart stopped. I heard footsteps coming toward the door.
I ran to the kitchen, my bare feet silent on the wooden floor.
When Josh came out of his office, I was standing at the counter with a glass of water, looking perfectly innocent.
"Sofia?"
His voice was careful and questioning.
"Everything okay?"
I turned to face him and forced a smile that felt like broken glass.
"Of course. I just couldn't sleep."
He studied my face for a long time. I wondered what he saw there.
Guilt? Fear? The face of a woman who had just heard him talking about her like she was a problem that needed to be handled?
Finally, he asked, "Is the guest room comfortable enough?"
"Perfect." The lie came easily now.
"Josh?" I called him.
"Yeah?"
"Whatever you're dealing with... if you need help, you can trust me." I knew that was a lie. I needed to get something from him.
His eyes lit up with something, surprise, maybe even hope.
But then that careful mask he wore so well took over again.
"Thank you, Sofia. Really."
As he went upstairs, I was left alone with my racing thoughts and the terrible realization that everything I thought was true was falling apart.
In three days, Victor would expect me to have evidence that would destroy Josh Reynolds.
But the information I was gathering suggested that I might be the one getting destroyed.
The tea I'd been serving wasn't the only poison in this house.
It was in all my lies, all my fake tender moments, and all the times I'd looked into Josh's eyes and pretended my heart wasn't breaking.
I now had 72 hours to decide who would drink from the cup first.