ALEX
I didn't waste time rushing out of my office. Tony didn't need to be told. He got up and rushed after me. I stepped out of my office like a man possessed, storming past my secretary’s desk. She looked up, startled, coffee in one hand, tablet in the other. “Cancel all my meetings,” I barked. Her eyes widened. “Sir, but the meeting with the CEO of C—” “Reschedule,” I cut her off without slowing down. “And if he doesn’t like it, I’ll deal with him myself.” I was already at the elevator, pressing the button like my life depended on it. Everything inside me felt weird. My hands wouldn’t stop clenching. My jaw was tight. My heart was pounding like I’d just run a mile in just a minute. Emma’s face wouldn’t leave my mind. Those tears. That broken expression when I accused her. The sound of her voice begging me to believe her. Fuck. Tony caught up with me, panting slightly. It felt like the elevator took forever to arrive at the reception. I hurried out, ignoring the curious looks my employees were sending my way. Soon we got to the parking lot, and I sloped into the driver's seat of my car while Tony took the front passenger seat. “Where are we going?” Tony questioned. “To the bar.” I answered, immediately starting the car and driving. He nodded in understanding but curiously asked, “What did you do to that waiter? Is he in jail!” I shook my head. He blinked. “Wait. You didn’t have him arrested?” I let out a sharp breath. “I couldn’t. If I pressed charges, Emma would’ve been implicated too. Her name would’ve come up in the investigation. If the press caught wind of it…” Tony nodded slowly. “It’d be a scandal.” “I made sure he got fired,” I added, my jaw clenched. “And I was going to make damn sure he never gets hired again. Not even as a toilet cleaner. But if he lied to me, then he'd better prepare himself.” We pulled up in front of the club ten minutes later. Getting out of the car, we walked straight in. The mingled smell of alcohol and smoke wafted over us. Since it was the afternoon, the place wasn't open yet. We headed straight towards the manager's office. An employee tried to stop us. “Excuse me, you guys can’t go in there just like—” I brushed past her and pushed open the office door without knocking. I was met with a sight I'd rather not see. The manager, a sleazy bastard named Patrick, had some girl in his lap. His hand was between her legs and she had her head thrown back in pleasure. Alex recognised the girl as one of the club dancers. They both jumped like guilty kids caught by their parents. The girl scrambled to pull her skirt down while Patrick buttoned up his shirt. “Mr. Miller!” he said, forcing a smile. “Well, this is a surprise.” He shoved the girl off his lap. She finally straightened her dress and ran out the door without a word. “Mr. Miller.” Patrick stood and extended his hand to me. The same hand that had been in places I'd rather not think of. I just stared at him until he lowered his hand awkwardly. “What can I help you with?” he asked. “I need access to the security cameras,” I said, cutting right to the point. “All of them. From six nights ago.” His smile faded. “Is this about that damn waiter?” “Yes.” He sighed and scratched his neck. “I assure you that I already fired that disgraceful scoundrel. I sent out his info to every decent place in town. He’s blacklisted, Mr. Miller. You don’t have to worry.” “I said I need access,” I repeated, my voice sharp. Patrick shifted. “That’s… complicated. We can’t just give that kind of access to anyone. Company policy. Security reasons.” I took a step forward, my muscles bunching with tension. His eyes widened, but before I could get to him, Tony grabbed my arm. “Easy,” he muttered. Then he stepped in front of me and faced Patrick. “Listen, man. Just give us the info. You know who this is. If you want to avoid trouble, don’t be stupid.” Patrick looked between the two of us, clearly weighing his options. His face turned pale. “Okay. Fine. I’ll take you into the CCTV room,” he said quickly, raising his hands. “Just… please, assure me your discretion. If this turns into a scandal, I’m screwed. My bosses—” “Save it,” I said coldly. Patrick instantly stopped talking and nodded. “Please come with me.” He moved to the door in a rush, practically tripping over himself. I followed close behind, my heart hammering harder with each step. I didn’t know what we’d find on those tapes, but it could change everything. After taking the elevator, we arrived at a steel door at the end of the hallway with a fingerprint scanner. He placed his thumb on it and the lock clicked open with a soft beep. We stepped inside. Two security guards were seated at a wide desk filled with monitors. One of them was slumped to the side, snoring lightly. The manager marched over and shook his chair hard. “Wake the hell up!” The guy jerked upright, blinking in confusion. “I wasn’t asleep—” “Don’t even start,” the manager snapped. I didn’t wait for their little drama to play out. I stepped forward and demanded, “Pull all the footage from six nights ago.” Both guards turned to look at the manager, confused. Patrick glared at them. “Do it. Just do what the gentleman says.” The two guards exchanged a look before going to work, tapping quickly at their keyboards. One of them asked, “Which camera angle are we pulling?” “Every angle,” I said. Tony glanced at me, puzzled. “What exactly are we looking for?” I didn’t look at him. My eyes were fixed on the screens as the footages started loading. “That night… I saw the bracelet on Emma’s wrist. I even complimented her and told her it still looked good after all these years.” I swallowed. “The waiter told me that they agreed that she would give it to him before she left the club.” I turned to the guard. “Pull the VIP lounge cameras. Between 9 and 10 p.m.” They scrolled through timestamps, clicking through several footages. The lighting in the VIP section was low, but I could still make it out. I was sitting at one of the booths. The waiter came and delivered the whiskey I had asked for. Not even a minute passed before Emma appeared, beautiful as always in black dress. She walked past my VIP booth, pretending not to see me. I knew she was pretending because the footage showed that she had her eyes on me even at the entrance. I had called out to her, and she had come to sit with me. She had told me she didn't know I was already at the club and I had teasingly called her a liar because I knew she didn't like such places. On the monitor, we talked and laughed while reminiscing some memories. I drank, but Emma only took small sips of a martini she ordered. A few minutes later, I began to feel dizzy which was unusual because it usually took more alcohol to get me even tipsy. I initially tried to ignore and continued talking with her, but after a while, I could barely keep my body upright. All that time, the bracelet was still on her wrist. Emma noticed my state and stood up, moving beside me. She insisted on taking me home and I finally agreed. I threw an arm around her shoulder and we headed for the door. We disappeared from that camera angle and reappeared in the hallway footage, the one leading to the elevator. The waiter came out of nowhere, crashing into us. He said something to Emma who said something back, smiling at him. When he walked away, the bracelet was gone from Emma's wrist. “Go back,” I said quickly. “And set it to normal speed.” The guard did as I asked, reversing the footage and slowing it down. Initially, it looked like Emma took off her bracelet and gave it to him during the collision. But something felt off. “Another angle,” I said. “Give me another fucking angle.” The guard scrolled and pulled another angle of the footage. We watched it play out again. I leaned closer to the screen, squinting. Then I realized. Emma didn't give the bracelet to the waiter. He removed it from her wrist while she was trying to keep me from falling down. He stole it from her. My mouth went dry. My chest felt tight like someone had shoved a fist between my ribs and twisted it hard. Emma had told me the truth.A storm of emotions twisted inside me as I stared into Stefano’s eyes. The Stefano I knew wouldn't do any of those things said in the police report, and he most certainly wouldn't threaten to take anybody's life.But why did the report talk about evidence being provided to back the accusations?I swallowed hard. “Why did that woman accuse you of those horrible things?”Stefano nodded resignedly, as if he understood why I couldn't blindly take his side.“After she tried to kill herself, I felt trapped," he said quietly. “So I stayed with her, fearing she would really kill herself if I left. I tried everything to love her as much as she loved me... if she actually did. But every day she got more bitter and we fought more and more.He looked down at his hands, rubbing his thumb over his palm like he was washing something off.“I would always apologise even though it was never my fault. Over time, I just got miserable until I couldn't do it anymore, so I broke up with her. I offered to le
For several seconds, absolute silence reigned, thick with tension as I slowly moved my gaze from Alex to Stefano.Stefano still hadn’t said a word, his eyes narrowed into infinitesimal slits, pinned on Alex. I looked back at Alex.The words he’d spoken kept ringing in my ears. And they made no sense. It had to be a joke. A very bad one.“What the hell is wrong with you, Alex? How can you even joke about something like that?” I fumed, my voice trembling with disbelief.“Do you really think I would joke about something like this?” Alex asked, looking at me earnestly, his brows furrowed in frustration.“If this isn’t a joke, then it has to be a lie. You’re just making this up,” I shot back, my chest heaving.Hurt flickered across his face, and guilt twisted in my stomach. Despite all his flaws, I knew he wouldn’t fabricate a grand lie about something so serious. So it had to be a mistake. That was the only explanation that made any sense.I shook my head. “What you just said about Stefan
I swallowed. Jealous?Sure, Hillary's sudden appearance had rattled me, considering everything she had stood for in the past, but that didn't mean I was jealous.Before I could throw that argument at Celia, I heard the twins yelling from the living room.“Daddy! Daddy!”My entire body went still.Liam’s voice rang clearer than Liana’s, and before I could blink, he came rushing into the kitchen, beaming.“Daddy’s here,” he said breathlessly. “He said to get you.”Celia arched a brow and sneered, “Probably done with his girlfriend now.”I ignored the tight twist in my chest and pushed my chair back. “Let’s go,” I told Liam softly, and followed him out of the kitchen.Alex stood in the living room, his hands buried in his pockets, his expression earnest. He looked up as I entered, his eyes meeting mine with something halfway between frustration and uncertainty.“Can we talk?” he asked.I gave a small shrug. “Sure.”He crouched slightly to face the twins. “Can you two give Mummy and me a
EMMAI stared at the rows of cereal boxes, but I wasn't really seeing them. My hands tightened around the handle of the shopping cart as the twins darted between shelves, their excited voices echoing through the aisle."Mummy, can we get this one?" Liam held up a garishly colored box covered in cartoon characters. I gave a vague nod, barely glancing at it before he tossed it in the cart."Liam already picked something. Can I get this?" Liana held up a different box."Sure, sweetheart," I said quietly.They both blinked at me, then exchanged a look. I knew they'd noticed I wasn't really present. I couldn't help it. My mind was stuck on what I'd seen outside Alex's office.Hillary Harris with her arms wrapped around him like she belonged there. The way she said my love had sounded so natural. And familiar. And Alex had let her.The ease of her presence. The way his arms hadn't immediately pushed her away. He hadn't even looked angry. Just stunned.Had she been in his life all this time
ALEXEverything had been going great. I'd just given the kids a tour of the company, which had brought us even closer. They both wished to do what I did when they grew up, and even though I knew they might change their minds as they aged, it still filled me with a deep sense of pride.But all that came crashing down when a familiar voice spoke and long-forgotten arms wrapped around me.I froze, my muscles going taut, mind racing.This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be her after so many years.I hadn’t seen her face in eight years, but I would have recognized that voice anywhere.Through the haze of my shock, I could make out Emma standing just a few feet away, staring.There was something raw about the way she looked at me in that moment. Something hollow. Before I could figure it out, she cleared her throat and stepped back.“We’ll go now,” she said quietly, as if she was afraid of breaking a moment apart. “The kids and I will continue to the supermarket.”Liam and Liana were alr
ALEXI was in my office reviewing some files when there was a knock. Without waiting for my call, the door opened and the person stepped in.I knew only one person who did that, so I didn't bother to look up.“Tony,” I muttered, flipping a page on the file.“Awn, I mean so much to you that you've even memorized my scent,” he said as he strolled in.Then he dropped himself into one of the chairs across from my desk like he owned it. “You need to hear what I overheard at the reception.”I looked up, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Do I?”He grinned. “Oh yes, you’ll want to hear this one. I heard three of your employees discussing that ever since you came back from your little getaway in Spain, you’ve been greeting people and smiling and saying good morning. And everybody is getting freaked out by it.”He barked out a laugh like this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard as he continued, “They’re trying to figure out if Alex Miller 'The Ogre' was replaced with Prince Charming.”I let o