“Money…Money, money, money.” Sophia laughs like a child. “This is bigger than money. This is about years of hurt. Of Ravenshaw men thinking they can do whatever they want, without consequence.”
“Sophia, I don’t understand. You came to me for help; you ran from your job at The Residence. Why did you not tell us who you were?”
“When I came to you, all I was focused on was taking Bernard and Thomas down. You hated them, and I didn’t want you to hate me. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own.” She steps over Kaleb’s body so that she’s standing on the opposite side of the room. “Turns out fate had it covered and stole all my fun.” She clearly has no idea thatfateis standing right here in this room.
“You couldn’t have predicted this.” I look down at my son, who she now wants dead.
“No, but I knew how much you hated this family. I figured, given time, you would have been useful to me. Stealing that necklace was just going to be the start. But instead of making sure we obliterated the family name, you decided to help make it stronger.” All her attention goes to Benjamin, and the hate she projects makes me shudder.
“Sorry, Grace, I’m stopping the legacy; it all ends here. Kiss your little boy goodbye.”
She points the gun towards my son, and just as I’m about to turn my body to protect him, her head gets thrust back, and a blade slices across her throat. More blood splatters the walls, painting my skin as her body drops to the floor with Jack still clutching her head by the ponytail in his hand.
“Everyone okay?” he checks, releasing her and the knife, and dropping his hands to rest on his knees so he can catch his breath.
“We’re fine…” I promise, kissing our little boy's head, then watching the relief on his face turn to horror when he sees who the person lying at his feet is.
JACK
“No, no, no! Gracie, I’m sorry. I thought she was going to hurt you. I…” I look between her and Kaleb’s body in confusion. “She had a gun, it was pointing?—”
“Shewasgoing to hurt them.” Cecelia interrupts me. “Jack, did you know she was your sister?” She sounds so calm and sympathetic, it’s not like her at all.
“Mywhat?” I sink to my knees and take Sophia’s head in my hands, observing what I’ve done and feeling sick.
“I’ve never… I’ve not killed a…She’s just a girl.” I manage to form some of the words that are going around my head. Knowing how much Sophia meant to Gracie. She was her friend; she would never have hurt her.
“Jack...” Cecelia shocks me, lowering herself and resting on her knees beside me, before grabbing my face in her hands. “She was going to kill your son.” She stares at me in the eyes, fiercely. “You protected your family; it doesn't matter if she was male or female. It was her or him.” She looks up towards my little boy.
“What were they doing here? Did you know who she was?” I look to Cecelia, hoping she knows all the answers.
“I had no idea who she was, but she seemed to be a very disturbed young lady. She wanted revenge,” she explains, almost looking as if she feels sorry for her.
“She was my sister?” I check that I heard that part right, again. None of it seems real. Cecelia carefully stands back up and moves towards Gracie. I’m even more surprised when she takes our son from her arms and urges her to comfort me. She’s not even glanced at him since he was born.
“Jack, I swear I didn’t know either; all this time, she never mentioned it,” Gracie assures me, as I stand up and wrap my arms tightly around her.
“I should never have left you alone.” I can’t imagine how scared she must have been.
“We could never have predicted this. We thought any threat had disappeared with Jonah.” She does her best to spare my feelings. “Sophia was so sweet and kind. It was all a con.” My poor girl looks exhausted.
“A con for what?” I’m still so confused.
“She wanted to bring down your family; destroy the legacy. She came to us knowing we hated what your father had done. I guess she assumed we’d help her…”
“Instead of destroying it, you procreated.” I’m shocked when I see the smile Cecelia pulls at our son as she rocks him in her arms.
“Here.” She hands him over to me. "We need to make this look like a fight between the two of them.” She sighs as she looks down at both the bloody bodies on the floor. “I think we should tell the police that it was self-defense. Kaleb came here with a gun while Sophia was visiting Gracie and the baby. We managed to make it into the panic room, and when he opened the door, he slit her throat.” She takes Jack’s knife from the floor and wipes the handle clean in her skirt before placing it in Kaleb’s hand.
“Sophia spent the final seconds of her life defending us and shot him.” Her plan sounds believable. I can’t help being impressed.
“Where was I during all of this?” I ask, checking our son over for injuries, and feeling so relieved I got here when I did.
“Doing duke duties.” The way Cecelia looks at me has me wondering if she knows where I really was today. I’m unsure how much she knew about my father’s businesses.
“When were you going to tell me about the list?” Gracie turns her head to look at me, and she doesn’t look impressed.
“You know about the list?” I narrow my eyes.
