•Night Angel•

CHAPTER LXIV - 02:40

-When you see this («•••»), play the song above!-

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29th January 2009. 17:30. Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. Paris, France.

Third Person POV

Sophia was outside her father's room reading a book. Tony was sitting beside her, checking some stuff on his phone. Michael was sitting across from them on the other couch, reading a book as well.

They were waiting for Pierre and the family lawyer to come out from Antoine's room. Without fail Pierre had been coming to the hospital everyday since Antoine was admitted. He would stay the whole day and leave at night or sometimes stay all night as well.

Per Antoine's request, he asked for the family lawyer to go see him. Antoine wanted to make sure all of his affairs were in order before he left this world. He had a plan that could only work with Pierre's help. Antoine's fortune was just like Howard's. Unmeasurable. As fast as money was invested in something, it came back quickly and sometimes at double or triple. There was never a specific number to their fortune, it would just increase and increase.

Because of that, he needed things taken care of. He knew that once he left, not even all the money in the world could make Sophia miss him a little less or her mother. He knew that she never cared about that. Sophia was not one to prioritize money or anything. Despite the fact that she grew up having everything, she never took advantage of that or her position.

In the last few days, she knew that once her father was gone, all of the responsibilities of Dumont Industries would go to her. All the money, everything. And she didn't feel ready for it. Not at all.

Growing up in Daylight, she had a lot of tasks and lessons, which included sociology, psychology, economy, history, a little bit of medicine, engineering, but Pierre had given her one more class, apart from all the other girls. A class that she took with Pierre himself, which was, business. Pierre had been teaching her about business, how to run a company, what movements to do, how to manage one. All of this, requested by Antoine as well.

He wanted his daughter to be prepared for everything when she grew up, including how to run a company in case he was no longer able to. Sophia had taken the lessons without asking questions.

Now, as she was sitting in the hospital waiting lounge, waiting for the family lawyer to finish with her father and uncle, she knew what those lessons were for.

She knew now that all of those classes had a purpose at the end of the day. They were preparing her to take over the Industry when the time came. She was capable enough to do it. She had the preparation and the tools. But she wasn't ready. Not because she couldn't, but because she was not sure how to do it without her dad.

She was 21, for Christ's sake. She couldn't run a company at 21. Tony had managed to do it, but he had Obadiah, and as bad as he was, he did help Tony along the way. Of course, only because he wanted to take over and for his own benefit, but he still did. Besides, she was an agent. She worked for S.H.I.E.L.D and the I.I.S.A, sometimes even for the D.G.S.E if she was requested. How was she going to manage working for everything? How was it going to be possible for her to juggle between agencies at the same time she ran a company?

She did not want to leave her job as an agent. That's what she worked for so hard all of her life. She was not going to throw that out of the window.

But neither was she going to let her father down, leaving the company.

With her thoughts scrambled on her head, she had been reading the same page for the last 10 minutes. Tony noticed this and furrowed his eyebrows, turning to look at his little sister. Usually Sophia reads faster than an average person, which is what surprised the billionaire beside her. Just days before, he had noticed her mind was somewhere else, so he asked her what was going on.