From His Fake Wife to Billionaire Heiress Chapter 307: Terms of Survival

A heavy weariness settled into Lucas' bones as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sophia... it's not that simple."

After a long moment of contemplation, he forced the words out. "Grandpa has... issued an ultimatum. He wants me to send you and Jeremy away. Far away."

Sophia stared, her world splintering. "What?"

This was far crueler than being kept in the shadows.

To be sent away?

It meant every ounce of patience, every moment she'd endured, would be rendered meaningless.

She and her son would be cast aside by the Ashfords like yesterday's trash, their existence erased.

"On what grounds?" Fury and desperation tangled in her voice. "I gave him his first grandson! How can he do this to me? Is there really no other way?"

Watching her crumble only fueled the storm of frustration churning inside Lucas. His tone grew grim. "I suspect this is his leverage. Even if no one else threatens my position, he'll hold this over me. If you two don't go, the inheritance is off the table."

A suffocating silence filled the study, broken only by the soft, steady patter of Sophia's tears hitting the polished floor.

Just as despair threatened to swallow her whole, Lucas spoke again, his voice edged with a hesitant note. "Maybe... there's another path."

Her head snapped up, eyes locking onto his.

He avoided her gaze, the words deliberate and slow. "I-If Riley agrees to legally adopt Jeremy. To raise him as her own, making him the legitimate, undisputed heir in Grandpa's eyes... he might reconsider."

Let Riley raise my Jeremy?

Her own flesh and blood, calling another woman "Mother"?

The idea was a poison worse than death.

Yet, the alternative was exile, a final goodbye to her dreams of the Ashford name.

As if reading the war on her face, Lucas added quietly, "But we both know how Jeremy feels about Riley. He'd never accept it."

Paradoxically, that reminder ignited a cold, sharp clarity within her.

Yes, Jeremy's hatred for Riley was common knowledge.

But a child's mind could be guided, reshaped. Her own future, however, was slipping through her fingers in real time.

She was backed against a cliff's edge with only one way forward.

She had to survive here, no matter the cost.

Sophia wiped the tears from her face with a shaky hand, her expression hardening into resolve. "No, I'll find a way to make Riley agree."

The sheer certainty in her tone instantly put Lucas on guard.

He studied her, his brow furrowing. "What are you planning to do to Riley?"

He might use Sophia to handle Alexander, but he would not permit any harm to come to Riley.

Not while she remained his wife in name and a valuable asset.

Her face fell, replaced by a look of profound hurt.

A bitter, sorrowful smile touched her lips. "What do you think I can do? Beg. Jeremy is my son, a part of me. If I fail, and she takes him in but treats him poorly behind closed doors... he's so young."

Her voice trembled with manufactured maternal anguish. "Don't worry, Lucas. For our child, I'll swallow any pride, endure any humiliation. I'll go to her and plead for a shred of mercy, for a path that lets us live."

She presented the perfect picture of a mother willing to sacrifice everything.

Exhausted and besieged on all fronts—Alexander's threat, his grandfather's demands, the crumbling inheritance—Lucas lacked the energy to dissect her performance.

He craved a solution, any solution that worked.

Deep down, a selfish wish lingered: for Riley to remain forever ignorant, the docile, supportive wife she'd always been.

But that ship had sailed.

Sophia was a live grenade; she'd pulled the pin with Caleb, and Riley could be next.

If Sophia could somehow convince Riley to accept Jeremy, securing Caleb's approval and the inheritance in one move, it was a disturbingly convenient outcome.

With a weary wave of his hand, he gave his tacit consent. "Fine. Try it your way."

A mask of fragile gratitude settled over Sophia's features.

"Thank you. For you and Jeremy, I'll do anything," she whispered before turning to leave the room.

Lucas watched her slender, seemingly defeated figure disappear, blind to the venomous hatred that contorted her features the moment the door clicked shut behind her.

*****

The next morning arrived after a sleepless night for Lucas.

Under a gray dawn sky, he drove to the hospital, a container of carefully prepared soup from the housekeeper resting on the passenger seat beside him.