Chapter 4 4

Alexander Kane POV

I stared at the threatening text messages, my blood turning to ice. But not because of the blackmail. Because I recognized the number.

Caroline.

My so-called fiancée had been watching us last night. She'd seen me hold Sophia, seen the way I'd looked at her, and now she was using it as a weapon.

"Alex?" Sophia's voice was small, worried. "What do we do?"

I forced my expression to stay calm even as rage burned through my veins. "Let me handle this."

But inside, my mind was racing. Three years. For three years, I'd kept my feelings buried so deep I sometimes convinced myself they weren't real. Three years since Sophia's twentieth birthday party, when she'd walked into that ballroom in a silver dress, no longer Marcus's little sister but a woman who took my breath away.

That night, watching her debate politics with senators twice her age, seeing her laugh at something Marcus said, I'd realized the truth that terrified me: I wasn't just fond of Sophia Martinez. I was completely, hopelessly in love with her.

A woman seven years younger than me. My best friend's sister. A woman I could never have without destroying everything I cared about.

So I'd done what I had to do. I'd gotten engaged to Caroline Harrison, buried myself in work, and pretended Sophia didn't exist. It was the only way to keep everyone safe.

Now Caroline was threatening the one person I'd sworn to protect.

Another text arrived: "Tick tock, Alexander. Noon at the Carlyle. Don't disappoint me."

"I need to go out for a while," I told Sophia, my voice carefully controlled.

Her eyes widened with fear. "You're going to meet them?"

"I'm going to end this." I moved toward her, unable to stop myself from cupping her face gently. "Stay here. Don't answer the door for anyone except Marcus or your father."

"Alex, what if it's dangerous? What if...."

"Nothing will happen to you," I said fiercely. "I promise you that."

The way she looked at me in that moment, trusting, vulnerable, beautiful, nearly broke my control. I wanted to tell her everything. That she was the reason I couldn't sleep at night. That every woman I'd ever dated was just a poor substitute for her. Seeing her with Ethan had been torture for three long years.

Instead, I stepped back. "I'll be back soon."

The Carlyle Hotel's lobby was nearly empty at noon. I spotted Caroline immediately, sitting in a corner booth like a spider in her web. Still beautiful, still dangerous, still everything I should want in a wife.

Everything except the one thing that mattered.

"Alexander." She smiled as I approached, the perfect senator's daughter. "Right on time."

"What do you want, Caroline?" I didn't sit down.

"So rude. Sit. We need to discuss our future."

I remained standing. "Our engagement is a business arrangement. Nothing more."

Her smile turned sharp. "Oh, but it could be so much more. Especially now that I know about your... weakness."

"Sophia Martinez is Marcus's sister. Nothing more."

"Please." Caroline laughed, pulling out her phone. "I have twelve photos from last night. The way you held her, the way you looked at her. Should I show you my favorite?"

She turned the screen toward me. It was a photo of me wrapping my jacket around Sophia, my hand on her cheek, my expression completely unguarded. Anyone could see the truth written on my face.

I was in love with her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Caroline's voice was poison sweet. "I'm sure the tabloids would love this story. 'Tech Billionaire Alexander Kane's Secret Affair with Best Friend's Sister.' They'd have a field day."

My hands clenched into fists. "What do you want?"

"Simple. I want what was promised to me." She leaned forward. "A real engagement. I'm moving into your penthouse this week. We appear in public as a loving couple. And you stop hiding from me like I'm some business contract you signed."

"No."

"No?" Her eyebrows rose. "Then I guess little Sophia will wake up tomorrow to find her face on every gossip site in America. 'Martinez Beauty Heiress in Love Triangle After Cheating Scandal.' Her family's reputation, her career prospects, her entire life, ruined."

The blood roared in my ears. "You touch her, and I'll destroy you."

"You can't destroy me, Alexander. My father is a senator. My family has connections you can't imagine." Her smile was cold. "But I can destroy her. One phone call, and every reporter in New York will be camped outside wherever she's hiding."

I stared at this woman I was supposed to marry, seeing her clearly for the first time. She wasn't just calculating, she was cruel.

"Why?" I asked quietly. "Why do you want a marriage with a man who doesn't love you?"

Something flickered in Caroline's eyes, hurt, maybe, or just wounded pride. "Because I'm tired of being second choice to a girl who doesn't even know you exist."

"This isn't about Sophia."

"Everything is about Sophia!" Caroline's mask slipped, showing the fury underneath. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I don't see the way you've avoided me for three years? The way you look right through me at every event?"

She stood up, her movements sharp with anger. "I've spent three years planning our wedding while you've been pining after some little girl who was engaged to someone else. Well, now she's free, isn't she? How convenient."

"Caroline...."

"No." She held up a hand. "You made me a promise, Alexander. A public engagement, a wedding, a life together. I've held up my end of the bargain. Now it's time for you to hold up yours."

"And if I refuse?"

Her smile returned, cold and calculating. "Then tomorrow morning, Sophia Martinez becomes the most hunted woman in New York. Photographers outside her building, reporters calling her friends, her family business dragged through the mud. Is that what you want for your precious princess?"

The answer was simple. I'd rather die than let Sophia get hurt because of my feelings for her.

"What exactly are you proposing?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"I move into your penthouse by Friday. We attend the Harrison Foundation Gala together next week as an engaged couple. We set a wedding date." Her eyes glittered with victory. "And you stop treating me like I'm invisible."

"And Sophia?"

"Sophia is safe, as long as you play your part." Caroline picked up her purse, satisfaction written all over her face. "Oh, and Alexander? No more midnight rescue missions. No more private breakfasts. No more playing hero for Marcus's little sister."

She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Because I'll be watching. Always."

As she walked away, her heels clicking on the marble floor, I felt the walls closing in around me. I'd spent three years trying to protect Sophia from my feelings, and now I was trapped in an engagement that would keep us apart forever.

But at least she'd be safe.

My phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "By the way, darling. I have cameras watching your penthouse, too. Sweet dreams."

I stared at the message, ice flooding my veins. Caroline wasn't just blackmailing me, she was watching Sophia right now.

I ran for the exit, my heart pounding. I had to get back to her. I had to make sure she was safe.

But as I reached my car, one thought echoed in my mind: Caroline Harrison wasn't just dangerous, she was obsessed. And obsessed people did desperate things.

What had I just agreed to?