Chapter 6.

Our footsteps echoed across the red carpet of the five-star hotel ballroom where the business exhibition was being held. The silence left behind by Kael’s earlier reaction still lingered in my mind, but the tiny fingers of Darren, nestled in my grasp, served as an anchor that kept me calm.

Lidya walked half a step beside me, occasionally checking the digital tablet in her hand to confirm the event schedule.

“Madam Aluna,” Lidya called softly in a professional tone, “Mr. Kael from Gostav Group has just sent an urgent request to the organizers to reschedule a private discussion with us before the main event begins.”

I matched her pace, drawing a short breath that felt steady in my chest. My heartbeat was normal and stable—a testament to how the surgeries and years of therapy in Paris had fully restored my physical condition.

“Let him wait,” I replied flatly without turning around. “We came here to showcase Alder Corp’s product line, not to deal with the personal panic of a business partner.”

“Yes, Madam.”

We entered the VVIP lounge, which was already filled with a line of top directors and prominent businessmen from New York. Flashes from cameras occasionally burst from the corners of the room. The moment my name was announced as the CEO of Alder Corp, several senior businessmen immediately approached me, showering me with praise and expressing their interest in the expansion of the herbal product line we were offering.

I entertained every conversation with a measured, faint smile, exuding dignity and distance. Darren stood calmly beside me, politely holding his cup of fruit juice—showing the results of the elite upbringing I had given him over the past three years.

However, that tranquility was disturbed when a new tension began creeping into the air.

From the far end of the VIP room, Kael strode toward me. The man no longer cared about the astonished looks from the other businessmen around us. His usually rigid and cold face was now filled with unmistakable anxiety. His eyes were red, staring at me as though he feared I would disappear into thin air once again.

“Aluna... please, give me five minutes,” Kael’s voice sounded hoarse and breathless, as though he had just run a great distance. “I don’t care about this event. I just want to talk to you. Just the two of us.”

Several CEOs nearby began whispering among themselves, shocked to witness the aggressive behavior of Kael Gostav, a man notorious for his cold-blooded reputation in the business world.

I slowly turned around, tilting my head slightly as I looked straight at him. There was no anger in my eyes. Only a cold, deadly silence.

“Mr. Gostav,” I called in a calm voice that echoed between us. “If this concerns Alder Corp’s product investment, my assistant, Lidya, will arrange your presentation schedule. But if this is about a personal matter... you have the wrong person.”

Kael flinched. His lips pressed tightly together before he lowered his head, his gaze falling on Darren, who was watching him with a confused expression.

“Who... who is this child, Aluna?” Kael whispered, his voice fractured by fear of the answer he might receive.

“Who is his father?”

Before I could respond, Darren stepped directly in front of me, looking at Kael with his clear, round eyes.

“Mommy doesn’t know you, Uncle,” Darren said firmly in his distinctive little-boy voice, cutting Kael off. “Don’t bother my Mommy.”

Those innocent words struck Kael directly in the chest. The man’s face grew even paler. He clutched his own chest and took a step backward as though he had just been hit by a physical blow.

“The event is about to begin,” I said coldly before turning away without waiting for his response. “Come, Darren.”

As I walked away through the crowd, I knew Kael was still standing frozen in his place. The regret that had just begun for him would be a very long process—and I had just opened its first page.

The main launch event for Alder Corp’s new product went off without a hitch. Standing on the main stage, I delivered my presentation clearly and confidently. Hundreds of pairs of eyes belonging to New York’s most prominent businesspeople watched me with admiration. Thunderous applause echoed throughout the hall every time I explained the advantages of our herbal formula, which was poised to conquer the international market.

Yet, amid the dazzling camera flashes and waves of impressed applause, I could feel a pair of eyes that never once left me.

Kael stood in the front row of the VVIP guests, ignoring the business associates who tried to engage him in conversation. His gaze was fixed solely on me—intense, filled with regret, longing, and an emptiness so profound it seemed almost suffocating. The man who had once looked at me with coldness and deceit now stared at me as though his entire world had just collapsed. I savored every second of that gaze without allowing my focus to waver from the stage.

When the event officially ended and the guests began mingling while enjoying the banquet, I stepped out of the exhibition hall. Holding Darren’s tiny fingers in mine, I walked along the relatively quiet private corridor toward the VVIP resting room. Lidya followed beside me, busy taking notes on several partnership offers that had come in.

I did not realize that hurried footsteps were quietly following behind me.

“Aluna, wait!”

That hoarse voice shattered the silence of the corridor. I stopped walking and closed my eyes for a moment, regulating my breathing. Kael had managed to catch up with me and block my path. His breathing was ragged, and his usually arrogant expression now looked disheveled.

Seeing the unfamiliar man suddenly blocking our way, Darren squeezed my fingers even tighter and hid behind my dress.

“Lidya, take Darren to the VVIP room first,” I ordered softly but firmly without taking my eyes off Kael.

“Yes, Madam,” Lidya responded promptly. She crouched slightly in front of Darren. “Come on, Young Master. We’ll wait for Madam inside while having some ice cream.”

Darren looked at me hesitantly. After I gave him a slow nod of reassurance, my little son finally followed Lidya and walked away. Once the VVIP room door closed firmly behind them, leaving only the two of us in the silent corridor, a tense silence stretched between us.

“Aluna, I’ve spent the past five years looking for you everywhere,” Kael said in a trembling voice. His reddened eyes stared at me in utter desperation. “I went everywhere, hired countless detectives, but you disappeared without a trace. Thank God... thank God you finally came back to New York.”

I stood tall before him. There was no panic, no fear, and most importantly, there was no longer any pain in my chest. My heart beat in a steady and peaceful rhythm. I simply remained silent, savoring every inch of the vulnerability of the man who had once been cruel enough to deceive me for five years throughout that fake marriage.

Seeing the legendary Kael Gostav brought to his knees by his own emotions gave me a cold sense of satisfaction deep within my soul.

Kael took a step closer, trying to reach for me, but I stepped back half a pace, creating an impenetrable boundary between us.

“Please, Aluna... don’t avoid me anymore,” he pleaded in frustration. His fingers grasped at empty air, realizing that he no longer had the right to touch me. His eyes shifted toward the VVIP room where Darren had entered moments ago. “I want to know... who is Darren’s father?”

The question escaped his lips with overwhelming fear reflected in his eyes. Kael was panicking. He was afraid to hear the truth, but he was far more afraid that the child might not be his flesh and blood.

I looked at him with an empty gaze. The corner of my lips lifted ever so slightly—a formal smile etched without the slightest warmth.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Gostav. I don’t want to discuss personal matters,” I said calmly, mercilessly crushing the hope in his heart. “Our past relationship ended five years ago. So, act professionally as fellow businesspeople.”

Kael recoiled violently, as though my words were a sharp lash striking directly across his face. The man stood frozen, his face deathly pale as he was slapped by the harsh reality that the Aluna standing before him was no longer the weak, sickly, and easily deceived woman she had once been.

Without wasting another moment staring at his devastation, I turned around. With graceful and steady steps, I continued walking toward the VVIP room, leaving Kael alone in the cold corridor, surrounded by the shadows of his own regrets.