Upstairs, Sophia was still trying to calm her nerves when Nathan Cole’s name flashed on her phone.
“Well, well, you little tramp…”
She held the phone away from her ear. Typical. Nothing good ever came out of his filthy mouth.
When he finally ran out of insults, Sophia took a slow breath. “Now will you tell me? My family—where are they?”
A mocking laugh came through the line.
“You think I don’t know what you’re planning? Not nearly enough. Wait for my call.”
Her hand tightened around the phone. Rage burned behind her eyes, but she swallowed it down. She couldn’t risk angering him—not yet.
She was about to hang up when his voice turned low again.
“Relax. Once you’ve got Kane wrapped around your finger, I’ll let you see them.”
The line went dead.
Sophia sank onto the bed, defeated. She knew he’d never keep his word.
After a moment, she dialed another number—the one person she still trusted.
“Lily Brooks,” she whispered when her friend finally picked up, voice thick with sleep.
“Who the hell—wait. Who just called me Lily-Baby? No one calls me that except—” Her tone suddenly sharpened. “Who are you?”
Sophia’s throat tightened. “It’s me, Lily. It’s Sophia. I…I died.”
Lily’s fingers trembled on the phone. “You’re kidding me—are you a ghost?”
Sophia laughed weakly. “Not exactly. I died…and then I came back.”
Half an hour later, after Sophia had poured out everything—the betrayal, the rebirth, the plan—there was stunned silence on the other end. Then came a scream loud enough to make Sophia jerk the phone away.
“Oh my God—it really is you! Then tell me—which side of my butt has the mole?”
“Left.”
“And how old was I when I had my first sex dream?”
“Seventeen. About the school’s golden boy. You woke up saying he wasn’t that great.”
“Ahhh—stop! Don’t remind me!”
Her friend’s shrieks dissolved into laughter and tears. Sophia’s chest ached—she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this.
When Lily finally calmed down, Sophia cut to the chase. Nathan Cole would never tell her where her family was. She needed Lily’s help to find them.
Lily agreed immediately. But before hanging up, she added softly,
“Sophia, get out of there. Stay away from Alexander Kane. If it weren’t for him, you’d still be alive in that last life.”
Sophia fell silent. Her heart twisted painfully, but she forced a promise.
“I will.”
They set a time to meet next week. Then the call ended, leaving the room dark and heavy.
Sophia lay back, eyes closed. Somehow, her new life felt even harder than the last.
The next morning, Nathan Cole held a stack of freshly printed photos and headed for the Kane Corporation. But again, a black car followed him from the moment he left the hotel.
“Damn it. Who keeps tailing me?”
His driver frowned. “Want me to handle it, boss?”
“No. Not yet,” Nathan muttered. “Stay sharp from now on.”
The man nodded, curious. “By the way, how did you get the Kane Corporation’s CEO to agree to meet?”
Nathan smirked. “Told him I wanted to discuss my sister. He couldn’t say no to that.”
Half an hour later, in a private suite downtown, Alexander Kane sat on a leather sofa, sipping his coffee with that same calm detachment.
He hadn’t wanted to meet Nathan at all—but the man had used Vanessa Cole’s name as bait. The resemblance between that woman and someone from his past had been… uncanny. Against his better judgment, he’d agreed.
He intended to find out what game the siblings were playing.
Before leaving the house, he’d even told Sophia to keep tutoring Little Boat’s homework.
What he didn’t know was that, the moment he was gone, chaos had erupted at home.
With Alexander out of the house, Sophia felt freer than ever—no cold stares, no walking on eggshells. She enjoyed a quiet breakfast, even planning to stop by Café Verona later to meet Lily.
But after finishing her meal, she realized she hadn’t seen Little Boat all morning.
“Strange,” she murmured. “Sleeping in because Daddy’s not home?”
She went upstairs and knocked on Ethan’s door. The boy was curled up under the covers, face flushed red.
“Hey, sleepyhead! Time to wake up! Homework’s waiting!”
She tugged at the blanket—and froze. His brow was furrowed, and his skin burned to the touch.
“Oh God, Little Boat, you’ve got a fever!”
“Get away from me! Don’t touch me, you awful woman!” Ethan croaked weakly, but his body trembled with exhaustion.
Sophia ignored the words. She ran for the first-aid kit, grabbing a thermometer, fever patch, and some cold medicine. Sitting on the bed, she gently lifted him into her arms, coaxing him to swallow some water and pills.
“You listen here,” he muttered between breaths, “just because you help me doesn’t mean I like you.”
Sophia smiled faintly. Stubborn brat.
He didn’t realize that this gentle care—something he’d never known from a mother—was softening his heart in ways he couldn’t name.
For the first time, Ethan Kane didn’t see Sophia Reed as a scheming woman trying to get close to his father.
Maybe—just maybe—she wasn’t as terrible as he thought.
