Alexander knew something was wrong the moment he walked through the front door. The house felt different, charged with tension like the air before a thunderstorm. Mrs. Chen met him in the foyer, her usually calm demeanor replaced by obvious distress.
"Mr. Steele," she began quietly, "your mother and Miss Martinez... they had words."
His blood ran cold. "Where are they?"
"Miss Martinez is in the garden. Your mother is in the guest wing, on the phone with someone in Paris."
Alexander dropped his briefcase and strode through the house toward the garden, his heart hammering against his ribs. He found Sophia sitting on the stone bench beneath the old oak tree, staring out at the roses with an expression that made his chest ache. Even from a distance, he could see the tension in her shoulders, the way she held herself too carefully upright.
"Sophia."
She looked up as he approached, and the sight of her face—pale but determined, hurt but unbroken, made something fierce and protective roar to life inside him.
"What did she say to you?" His voice came out rougher than he intended.
Sophia's smile was sad but steady. "Nothing I couldn't handle."
"That's not what I asked." He sat beside her, close enough that their thighs touched, and turned to face her fully. "Tell me what my mother said."
For a moment, she was quiet, and Alexander found himself cataloging everything about her the way the afternoon light caught the gold in her brown eyes, the soft curve of her mouth, the strength in her posture despite whatever his mother had put her through.
"She offered me five million dollars to disappear from your life," Sophia said finally, her voice matter-of-fact.
Alexander went completely still. "She what?"
"A very generous settlement, " she called it. All I had to do was quietly end our engagement and leave." Sophia's fingers found his, threading through them with familiar ease. "She also had investigators dig into my family's background. Apparently, she knows about my father's drinking problem and my mother's jobs and…"
"Jesus Christ." Alexander surged to his feet, rage coursing through him like wildfire. "She had you investigated? She tried to bribe you?"
Sophia caught his hand before he could storm back toward the house. "Alexander, wait."
"No." His voice was deadly quiet now, the kind of tone that made boardrooms fall silent. "She crossed a line. Multiple lines. And I'm going to…"
"She's your mother." Sophia stood as well, moving to stand directly in front of him. "And she loves you. She's wrong, and her methods are horrible, but she thinks she's protecting you."
Alexander stared down at her, stunned by her composure, by her ability to find grace even in this situation. "You're defending her? After what she just did?"
"I'm defending us," Sophia said firmly. "Because if we let her drive a wedge between us, she wins. If we let this turn into some dramatic confrontation that splits your family apart, she wins."
"And what about you?" Alexander cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs tracing the delicate line of her cheekbones. "What about what she put you through?"
Sophia leaned into his touch, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment. "I survived it. And more importantly, I passed my own test."
"What test?"
When she opened her eyes, they were bright with unshed tears but blazing with determination. "The test of whether I could choose love over security. Whether I could choose you and Emma and Ethan over the easiest path."
Alexander's heart clenched. "Sophia..."
"Five million dollars, Alexander. Do you know what that kind of money would mean to someone like me? What would it mean for my grandmother's care, for my family?"
He did know. He'd grown up with so much wealth that he sometimes forgot what that kind of security could mean to someone who'd grown up counting every penny.
"But I didn't even hesitate," Sophia continued, her voice growing stronger. "Because no amount of money is worth losing you. Worth losing this." She gestured between them, then toward the house where Emma and Ethan were probably doing homework. "Worth losing our family."
Alexander pulled her against him then, burying his face in her hair and breathing in the scent that had become synonymous with home. "I love you," he said, the words muffled against her neck. "God, I love you so much it terrifies me."
Sophia's arms came around him, holding him just as tightly. "I love you too. Which is why we need to handle this carefully."
"Carefully?" Alexander pulled back to look at her. "She tried to buy you off, Sophia. She invaded your privacy, insulted your family…"
"And I handled it." Sophia's voice was calm but firm. "I told her I couldn't be bought, that I was going to marry you whether she approved or not. I stood my ground, Alexander. But now you need to stand yours."
Alexander was quiet for a long moment, studying her face. "What are you asking me to do?"
"I'm asking you to choose," Sophia said simply. "Not between me and your mother, I would never ask that. But between the man you used to be and the man you've become. Between the son who might have let her manipulate him and the father who protects his family."
The truth of it hit him like a physical blow. His old self, the man buried in grief and guilt, might have found a way to rationalize his mother's behavior. Might have even been swayed by her arguments about class and social expectations.
But that man was gone, transformed by the love of the woman standing before him and the healing of his relationship with his children.
"There's no choice to make," he said quietly. "You are my family. You and Emma and Ethan. And no one, not my mother, not the board, not anyone gets to threaten that."
Relief flooded Sophia's features, followed quickly by something that looked like desire. "Alexander..."
The way she said his name, breathless and full of need, made the heat pool low in his stomach. "What do you need from me?"
"I need you to show me," she whispered, moving closer until her body was pressed against his. "Show me that we're stronger than her disapproval. Show me that what we have is worth fighting for."
Alexander's restraint snapped. His mouth crashed down on hers with desperate hunger, one hand fisting in her hair while the other splayed across her lower back, pulling her impossibly closer. She melted into him, her soft moan vibrating against his lips as she kissed him back with equal fervor.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Alexander rested his forehead against hers. "Inside," he said roughly. "Now."
They barely made it to his study before he had her pressed against the closed door, his mouth hot and demanding against her neck. Sophia arched beneath him, her fingers working frantically at the buttons of his shirt.
"The twins…" she gasped as he found that sensitive spot just below her ear.
"Won't be home for two hours," Alexander finished against her skin, his hands already sliding beneath her sweater.
What followed was desperate and claiming, a reaffirmation of everything they'd chosen over the easy path. Alexander worshipped her body with a reverence that bordered on religious, showing her without words exactly how precious she was to him, how deeply she'd embedded herself in his soul.
Afterward, as they lay entwined on the leather sofa, Sophia traced lazy patterns on his chest. "What are you going to say to her?"
Alexander's arm tightened around her. "The truth. That you're going to be my wife, that Emma and Ethan are going to have the mother they deserve, and that if she can't accept that, she's not welcome in our home."
Sophia was quiet for a moment. "It might change your relationship with her forever."
"Then that's her choice to make," Alexander said firmly. "I've made mine."
As if summoned by their conversation, Mrs. Chen's voice came through the intercom. "Mr. Steele? Your mother would like to speak with you in the formal dining room."
Alexander and Sophia exchanged glances, then began gathering their scattered clothes. The final battle was about to begin, but for the first time since his mother had arrived, Alexander felt completely certain of the outcome.
He had found his family, his future, his reason for living again. And no force on earth, not even Victoria Steele was going to take that away from him.