Supreme Authority

Chapter 5

"What happened?" Victoria said. "Who did this?"

She looked at her brother. Derek sat on the step with his head tipped back, blood on his shirt, one eye already swelling shut.

"Who else?" Margaret cried. "That bastard Alexander! Derek saw the ring on Sophia's hand and only wanted to give it back to her. That was all! And Alexander turned around and said Derek was stealing it. Then he beat him! My poor boy only did what was right!"

She cried harder, as if she were the one who had been hit.

Victoria did not ask if it was true. She did not care if it was true.

She looked at Derek's swollen face the way she looked at a contract. Then the corner of her red mouth lifted.

"Did anyone see it?"

"Everyone saw it!" Margaret pointed at the pavement. "That woman over there even filmed it on her phone!"

"And Max?"

Max stood by the car with his hands folded. He had seen the slap. He had not seen the ring.

He nodded.

"Good," Victoria said.

Margaret stopped crying. "Good?"

"A man beats my brother on the steps of the government office. In broad daylight. With a video and a head of security as witnesses." Victoria checked her phone while she talked. "That's assault, Mom. Assault costs money."

"He doesn't have any money. You took it all."

"Then he'll go to jail. Either way, he pays." Victoria turned to Max without looking at him. "Find the woman with the phone. Buy the video. I don't care what it costs."

Max looked over at Beverly's car. In the back seat, Beverly gave one small nod.

Max went. Victoria did not thank him.

"And he's already holding hands with his new little wife!" Margaret said. "An hour after the divorce!"

"Let her have him." Victoria laughed, short and cold. "A beggar for a beggar. They deserve each other."

She watched Derek spit blood onto the step.

"Take him to the hospital. Get a doctor to write down every bruise. Every single one. I want it all on paper."

"Victoria," Derek groaned, "it hurts."

"Then it'll be worth more."

---

On the east side of the city, the streets were narrow and the buildings were old. Laundry hung from the fire escapes. A bus coughed black smoke at the corner.

Sophia's phone rang in her bag.

She took it out and looked at the screen. Her face went pale.

"It's Victoria," she said.

Alexander held out his hand. After a second, she gave him the phone.

"Alexander," Victoria said. Her voice was calm. That was worse than shouting.

"What do you want?"

"Did you hit my brother just now?"

"I did. But..."

"That's all I needed to hear." He could hear her smile. "I have a witness. I have a video. And I have a brother with a broken nose. Do you know what that means?"

Alexander stopped walking.

In his first life, he had begged this woman to listen to him. This time he knew there was nothing to listen to. She had never wanted the truth. She only wanted the price.

"Tell me," he said.

"Derek's hospital bill. His pain. His face. Two hundred thousand dollars, by tomorrow night." She paused. "Or you kneel to him in front of my whole family, and beg. Otherwise..."

Two hundred thousand. In his first life, he could never have paid it. Now he could pay it a hundred times over and not even feel it. She thought she had him trapped. She had no idea.

She was busy pricing her brother's nose. He was busy planning how to win back four hundred years of power. They were not even playing the same game.

"Otherwise what?" Alexander said. "You'll call the police on me? Or hire somebody to break my legs?"

"Both, if I feel like it. You have nothing now, Alexander. No money, no lawyer, no family that wants you. Who's going to stop me?"

"Two hundred thousand," he said. "For a nose that was already ugly."

"You think this is funny?"

"No. I think you're cheap." He almost smiled. "Anyway, I did hit your brother. So do whatever you want."

"You..."

He hung up.

For a moment neither of them spoke. A dog barked somewhere above them. The bus pulled away.

"Two hundred thousand dollars," Sophia whispered. "Alexander, she'll really do it."

"I know." He handed her the phone. "She's done worse."

"She'll go after my parents next. Aren't you going to apologize?"

"For what? For getting your ring back?"

Sophia looked down at his closed hand. Then she looked at him for a long time, as if she was trying to understand who he was.

"Come on," she said finally. "It's this way."

---

The building was three floors of old brick with a laundromat at the bottom. The windows were fogged. Warm, soapy air rolled out of the open door, and the dryers inside thumped and turned.

Sophia led him up a narrow staircase at the side. The steps creaked under every foot.

"It's small," she said, without looking back.

"I just spent the night in the best suite at the Ashbury Grand," Alexander said. "Look how well that went."

Sophia made a sound that was almost a laugh. She put her hand over her mouth to stop it.

At the top of the stairs there was one door with a chipped brass number on it.

Before Sophia could reach for the handle, the door flew open.

Brenda stood there in her slippers, a dish towel in one hand. Her eyes went from her daughter, to Alexander, to their joined hands.

Her face turned a deep, ugly red.

"Oh no," she said. "Oh, no, no, no. That man is not sleeping under my roof."

Behind her, Danny, Sophia's father, looked up from the kitchen table, then quickly looked down again.

Sophia did not let go of Alexander's hand.

"Then I'm not sleeping under it either, Mom."

"How dare you!" Brenda said. "I don't care. This man is poor, and he is not staying here. You marrying him is already a big loss to me. Do you think I like losing? You were supposed to marry one of the rich men already waiting in line, and I could at least have gotten a half-million-dollar dowry."

"Have you checked your bank account?" Alexander asked suddenly.

"Check what?"

"I sent you my dowry this morning."

Brenda rolled her eyes. "You're kidding, right? You have nothing."

"Yes, I have nothing after the divorce. But I sent the dowry before the divorce. It was still my money."