Chapter 3 *SOPHIA*

CHAPTER THREE

*SOPHIA*

I shouldn't have said that. The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I'd made a mistake.

Alexander's face went pale. "What do you mean, 'haven't done it yet'?"

"Nothing. Forget it." I turned away, but his hand caught my wrist. Not hard, but firm enough to stop me.

"Sophia."

The way he said my name made my stomach twist. Soft. Concerned. Like he actually gave a damn. In my previous life, he'd never said my name like that. It had always been perfunctory, distracted, or worse absent entirely.

I yanked my hand free. "Don't touch me."

Victoria stepped between us, her smile sharp. "Darling, I think we should go. Clearly, we're not welcome here."

"I'm not talking to you," Alexander said without looking at her. His eyes stayed locked on mine. "Sophia, please. I don't understand what's happening, but"

"You're having dreams, aren't you?" The words came out before I could stop them.

His whole body went rigid. "How do you know that?"

Because I was having them too. Because the timeline was bleeding and I didn't know how to stop it. Because somehow, impossibly, he was remembering things that hadn't happened yet.

"Lucky guess," I said flatly. "Now get out."

I walked away before he could respond, before I could see whatever expression was on his face. My hands were shaking.

Marcus found me in my office ten minutes later. "What the hell was that about?"

"Alexander Sterling is what that was about."

"Yeah, I got that part." He closed the door and leaned against it. "You want to tell me why you're treating him like he murdered your dog?"

"He did worse."

Marcus waited. He'd always been good at that letting silence do the work.

I sat down heavily. "You asked me three days after my birthday if you'd believe me if I said I'd done all this before."

"I remember."

"I died, Marcus. Ten years from now. I married Alexander Sterling, and it destroyed me, and I died running away from him." The words tumbled out faster now. "I woke up on my eighteenth birthday with all of it in my head. Every moment. Every betrayal. And now he's having dreams about it, which means I'm not crazy, which means"

"Okay, stop." Marcus held up his hands. "You're saying you time-traveled?"

"I'm saying I got a second chance, and I'm not wasting it on him again."

My brother studied me for a long moment. "The art thing. The gallery. The way you knew exactly which pieces to buy. You've been using future knowledge."

"Yes."

"And Alexander Sterling is going to do something that makes you hate him this much?"

"He already did it. Just not in this timeline."

Marcus ran his hand through his hair. "This is insane."

"I know."

"But you're not crazy. I've watched you for two years. You've changed, Sophia. You've always been three steps ahead of everyone, like you're reading from a script only you can see." He paused. "I believe you."

I felt tears prick my eyes. "Really?"

"Really. Which means we need a plan, because if Sterling is starting to remember too, this gets complicated."

He was right. I'd assumed I was the only one carrying memories forward. But Alexander's dreams meant the timeline was unstable. And if he was remembering, who else might be?

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: "We need to talk. I'm not leaving until we do. - AS"

I looked out my office window. Alexander's car was parked across the street.

"He's waiting outside," I told Marcus.

"Want me to call the cops?"

"No. I need to handle this." I grabbed my coat. "But stay close. If I'm not back in twenty minutes, come looking."

Alexander was leaning against his car when I stepped outside. Victoria was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your shadow?" I asked.

"I sent her home. This conversation is private."

"There is no conversation."

"You knew about my dreams. You said I haven't done something yet. You told me you know how this story ends." He pushed off the car, taking a step closer. "Either you're psychic or something impossible is happening. And I don't believe in psychics."

"Believe what you want."

"I dream about you crying in a hospital. About losing a baby. About my grandmother tearing you apart at family dinners. About you driving off a cliff in the rain." His voice cracked slightly. "About you dying. And I wake up feeling like I failed you, even though we've barely spoken. So tell me I'm crazy. Tell me these are just stress dreams. Please."

The raw pain in his voice hit me harder than I expected. This Alexander the one who didn't know what he'd done yet was showing more emotion than the man I'd married ever had.

"They're memories," I said quietly. "You just don't know it yet."

"That's impossible."

"So is dreaming about someone's death before it happens."

He stared at me. "You died?"

"In another timeline. Another life. And you were there. Not physically, but you were the reason I was on that road, in that storm, with divorce papers in my hand."

"We were married?"

"For three miserable years."

Alexander took a step back like I'd slapped him. "I don't understand."

"You married me for my family's political connections. Kept Victoria around as your emotional crutch. Let your grandmother destroy my confidence piece by piece. Ignored me when I lost our baby. And when I finally couldn't take it anymore, when I tried to leave I died."

"No." He shook his head. "No, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't"

"You did. You were cold and distant and cruel in ways you didn't even realize because I wasn't a person to you. I was an asset." I felt the old anger rising, hot and bitter. "So yes, Alexander. You haven't done it yet. But you will if I let you close enough. And I won't make that mistake again."

"I would never hurt you like that."

"You already have."

We stood there in the cooling night air, the truth hanging between us like a physical thing.

Finally, Alexander spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "If this is real if I really did those things then let me fix it. Let me be different."

"You can't fix something that hasn't broken yet."

"Then let me prove I never will."

I laughed, sharp and bitter. "You want redemption for sins you haven't committed? That's not how this works."

"Then how does it work, Sophia? You get revenge on me for a future that doesn't exist anymore? You hate me forever for things I might never do?"

"Yes," I said simply. "Because I can't risk being wrong about you twice."

His jaw tightened. "What if I'm having these dreams for a reason? What if this is the universe giving us both a second chance?"

"The universe didn't give me a second chance so I could fall for you again. It gave me one so I could save myself from you."

Alexander's phone rang. He ignored it.

"I'm not giving up," he said.

"You should."

"I've watched you for months. I've seen the way you command a room. The way you look at art like it matters more than money. The way you don't need anyone's approval, especially mine." He took another step closer. "The woman I see now is nothing like the broken person in my dreams. Which means you already saved yourself. So what are you really afraid of?"

That he might be right. That I might still feel something. That history might repeat itself no matter how hard I fought.

His phone rang again. This time he answered.

"What?" His tone was sharp. Then his face changed. "When? I'll be right there."

He hung up, already moving toward his car.

"What happened?" I asked despite myself.

"My grandmother. She collapsed. They're taking her to Presbyterian."

Eleanor Sterling. The woman who'd made my first life hell. Part of me wanted to feel satisfaction. Instead, I felt nothing.

Alexander paused with his hand on the car door. "Come with me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because in your timeline, you married into this family. Which means you know things about them I don't. And right now, I need" He stopped, looking vulnerable in a way I'd never seen. "I need someone who won't lie to me about what's coming."

Every instinct screamed at me to walk away. But the look in his eyes reminded me of something I'd forgotten: before everything fell apart, before the cruelty and neglect, there had been moments when I'd thought I saw something real in him.

I'd been wrong then.

But maybe, in this timeline, I could use his desperation.

"Fine," I said, opening the passenger door. "But I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because I want to watch Eleanor Sterling face her karma."

Alexander's expression was unreadable as he started the car.

"Fair enough. But Sophia? Whatever happened between us in that other timeline I'm going to prove it doesn't have to happen again."

I didn't answer. Because the truth was, I was starting to worry he might actually try.

And even worse I was starting to wonder if I wanted him to succeed.