Rick held the medicine out to Gordon with a look that bordered on desperation. "Sir, please take your medicine, alright?"


    "Take it, get some sleep, and you''ll feel better tomorrow," Rick coaxed gently. "Ms. Sophie will still be here tomorrow. Isn''t she always right in front of you?" Gordon felt a bit of the weight lift off his shoulders at Rick''s words.


    Yeah.


    She was still alive.


    Just as he had always pictured her.


    Beautiful, gracious, and smart.


    She was married now, supposedly happy.


    And she would be happy for the rest of her life.


    "Being Mrs. Aldridge is dangerous. Her current situation is the best oue I could have hoped for her," Gordon thought.


    He swallowed the medicine, feeling the bitter taste linger.


    Then, he leaned back on the bed, hoping for some light sleep.


    As if with the nightfall, he would be transported back to that day sixteen years ago.


    Back then, Sophie was just six.


    The Aldridge family goons had kidnapped her and Harold.


    His parents, in a frantic attempt to rescue Harold, were ambushed and tragically killed.


    At the same time, he had injured his legs trying to save Sophie.


    He held Sophie tight, crawling away from the chaos, looking at her unconscious, wounded form, and felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair for the first time in his life. He had never believed in any higher power.


    But in that moment, he prayed for her life, willing to give anything.


    When he finally came to,


    His parents were gone, Harold still not rescued.


    His legs were crippled, and Sophie was burning up with fever from her injuries and the trauma.


    The Aldridge family was in shambles.


    But he couldn''t fall apart.


    That year, the Aldridge family took a massive hit.


    He took up the reins his father left behind.


    He couldn''t visit Sophie, had no time for anything outside of work.


    He saved Harold and exacted revenge on their enemies.


    But Sophie, due to her fever, barely remembered anything before she turned six.


    He thought then,


    Maybe it was better she didn''t remember him.


    Being close to him was like inviting danger.


    Being the wife of someone from Aldridge family was never going to


    be


    be


    yor safe.


    He steeled his heart and stayed away for six long years.


    SWI


    During those years, he went through rehab and buried himself in work.


    By seventeen, he had officially taken over the Aldridge family.N?velDrama.Org owns all content.


    But even with all his power, he the Russell


    t Sophie from the ot


    outside.


    The Russell family fell apart; Sophie lost her parents.


    His little girl must have been in so much pain.


    But he couldn''t go to her.


    Years went by, and she fell in love with someone else.


    She got married.


    But her life wasn''t going well.


    He wanted to step in so many times, but he was just an insignificant man.


    Just a man with crippled legs, surrounded by dangers.


    What right did he have to interfere with her life?


    He could only watch her suffer, sinking deeper and deeper.


    He fell ill and never fully recovered.


    Yearster, she was expecting a child.


    Harold had alsoe into his own.


    The Aldridge family didn''t seem to need him anymore.


    In this world, there was nothing left that he cared for.


    That year, he passed away.


    But really, he had just given up on life.


    The constant scheming was exhausting; he didn''t enjoy it.


    The burden of leadership was tiring; he didn''t like it either.


    Closing his eyes felt like a relief.


    But fate had a twisted sense of humor.


    When he opened his eyes again,


    was back to the first month


    Sophie''s marriage.


    It seemed like there was still a chance to make things right...


    Maybe, everything could start anew.