Supreme Authority

Chapter 2

"Alexander, I divorce you and you leave with nothing."

The words hung in the hotel room.

Every face turned to the bed, waiting for him to break.

Alexander remembered this moment. The first time, he had shouted. He had pointed at Victoria and told them all she had set the trap. Nobody believed him.

So he had begged.

"If you really love me," Victoria had said, "kneel. In front of everyone."

And he had. On this carpet, in front of both families. He had crawled to her on his knees and kissed her leg like a dog begging its master, while the whole room laughed.

"Bark," Derek had said, her younger brother. "Go on. Bark for her."

And he had barked.

It changed nothing. She never forgave him for a sin he never committed. She divorced him that same afternoon.

He had had four hundred years to think about it. Four centuries of cultivation, and this carpet had followed him into every one of them.

Last time, he had begged for a marriage that was already over. This time he would sign with a smile, and let her find out later that there was nothing left to take.

He took a deep breath.

"Fine," he said quietly. "I'll sign the divorce papers."

The room went still. Brenda's mouth fell open. Even Victoria blinked.

"But not here," Alexander went on. "At the government office. Properly, so it's legal and nobody can say otherwise."

Victoria's eyes narrowed. "You're agreeing? Just like that?"

"Isn't that what you want?"

For a moment she studied him, as if she were looking for the trick. Then her red lips curved.

"Fine. The government office. Today."

"And one more thing." Alexander looked at the crowd in the doorway. "All of you, get out. Sophia and I need to put our clothes on. Then we'll go with you."

"Get out?" Beverly struck her cane on the carpet. "You don't give orders here, Alexander."

"Then stay and watch us dress, Grandma."

A gasp went through the Cavendish women. Chloe giggled behind her hand and turned it into a cough. The main branch's daughter never could hold in a laugh at someone else's ruin.

Beverly's face went hard as stone.

"You'll marry Sophia too," she said coldly. "Today. You've already dirtied her. No Cavendish girl walks out of a hotel bed without a husband."

Not for Sophia's sake. Alexander knew that voice. It was a woman saving the family's name, and Sophia was the one who had to pay for it.

Sophia made a small, broken sound under the blanket.

"Whatever," Alexander said. "Let us put our clothes on first. Can you all go out?"

Beverly stared at him a long moment. Then she turned and walked out. The family followed her, one by one. Margaret went with an arm around Victoria. Brenda went last, glaring back at her daughter.

His parents stood in the doorway a second longer.

His mother's eyes were wet. His father would not look at him at all.

Then they were gone too, and the door clicked shut.

Silence.

Sophia sat curled against the headboard, the blanket pulled up to her chin, staring at nothing. She was shaking.

"Don't look," she whispered.

"I won't." Alexander turned his back to her. "Get dressed, Sophia. It's going to be a long day."

Behind him, the bedsheets rustled.

He swung his legs off the bed. His head still swam, and his hands were slow and clumsy, but they worked now. He found his phone on the floor beside the wine glass.

His thumb was already moving as he went into the bathroom.

The divorce was not signed yet.

Until it was, every share of the Sinclair company was still in his name. The stock. The accounts. All of it.

Still his.

He pressed a name and lifted the phone to his ear.

It rang once.

"Mr. Sinclair?" Charles, his assistant, sounded half asleep. "It's very early, sir. Is something wrong?"

"Listen carefully," Alexander said, low and fast. "You only have thirty minutes to do all of this. All my company shares, I want you to move them into my father's name. My house, all my properties, you have to move them to my father. But put the transfer date as three months ago."

"What? Are you sure? You fought so hard to take it from your father."

"Don't question me," Alexander said. "You only have thirty minutes. Call my father. He knows what is happening. He will agree. Remember, the transfer date must be three months ago. All my properties. Nothing under my name. And you have to make it legal in thirty minutes."

"Alexander!" a voice yelled from outside. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"

"Charles, you have to do it. All my money, everything that you can control, send it to my parents!"

There was a pause on the line. Then the sleep was gone from Charles's voice.

"Understood, sir. Thirty minutes. If your wife's family finds out..."

"Then make sure they don't."

"They won't, sir."

He ended the call. He knew Charles. Thirty minutes would be twenty.

His hand closed tight around the phone.

In his first life, his parents had lost everything because of him. Their company. Their house. Their whole life's work, gone to Victoria with one signature. And later it all went to the man she married next. The two of them had been seeing each other behind his back for a year.

Only waiting to steal everything he had.

Let Victoria sign with a smile. Let her lawyers open the files tonight and find nothing. Not a car. Not a share. He wanted to see her face when they told her.

Not this time.

And this was only the first step. Spirit energy in this world was thin. To cultivate, he would need herbs, time and a quiet place, and every bit of it cost money. Money first. Then the body. Then, level by level, everything he had lost.

Victoria was fighting over a house. He was playing for the world.

Alexander walked out.

"Alexander?"

He turned.

Sophia stood by the bed, dressed again in the borrowed cream dress. Her face was white, her eyes red and swollen. She was holding the blanket against herself as if she were still cold.

"What is happening?" she asked.

"Let's just say someone trapped us here," Alexander said.

"Sophia, give me your parents' bank account. Now."

"What?"

"In a few minutes, I will lose everything, including my own money. I will send my last money to your parents. Think of it as my payment to you."

Then they heard someone banging on the door. "Quickly, get out! What are you waiting for?"

She stared at him as if she had never seen him before.

"Just do it. We don't have enough time."

Fists pounded on the door.

"Alexander!" Victoria's voice, sharp and impatient. "The car is waiting. I want this signed today, do you hear me? I'm not waiting another minute!"

Sophia quickly sent him her mother's account number.

And Alexander hastily opened his bank account and transferred every last cent he had.

At that moment the door suddenly burst open.

Victoria looked at Alexander. "What are you doing with your phone?"