ログインAlthea’s POVFor a few seconds after Kuya Adam spoke, no one in the study moved.The words seemed too heavy for the room, too large for the quiet space where only moments ago Alexander’s arm had been around my waist and his lips had still felt warm against mine. I had thought Leonardo Dale was already the center of it all, the man behind the accident, the forged permits, the warehouse fire, the river trap, and the slow destruction of the Winston name. But now Marina was saying there was someone above him, someone powerful enough to make a man like Leonardo look like only another hand moving across the board.Alexander’s face had gone cold again, but this time, I could feel the tension in him before I even looked. His hand was still at my waist, not holding me too tightly, but enough for me to know that whatever softness had been between us moments ago had not disappeared completely. It had only been covered, the way a blade could be covered with silk and still remain sharp underneath.
Althea’s POVWe returned to the mansion just before midnight, carrying Emilio Vargas’s confession like something fragile and dangerous.No one said it that way, but I could feel it the moment we entered the study. The entire house seemed to change around the truth he had finally spoken. Before, everything had been suspicion, old pain, missing records, half-buried names, and memories that returned only in pieces. Now, for the first time, someone who had been there had said it clearly.Leonardo Dale ordered my accident.Leonardo Dale ordered Thomas Winston silenced.And Emilio Vargas, the man Alexander’s father had trusted, had helped bury both truths for twelve years.Alexander was quiet beside me as Celeste reviewed the recorded statement on her tablet. He had been quiet the entire ride home, though his hand never left mine. It was not the peaceful kind of quiet, not the teasing silence he sometimes used before saying something that made my face warm. This was heavier. This was
Althea’s POVThe quiet evening ended the moment Nico said Emilio’s name.For a few seconds, no one moved, and then the hallway became another command room without anyone needing to announce it. Celeste was already asking for the charter company details, Shaun was speaking into his earpiece, Kuya Adam was demanding the name of the airstrip despite Dr. Mira’s order for him to stop moving too much, and Alexander stood beside me with his hand in mine, his face calm in the way I was beginning to understand meant he was already arranging every possible outcome in his head.“Where is the charter leaving from?” Alexander asked.Nico adjusted his glasses as he checked the laptop. “A private strip outside San Isidro. Departure request was filed for ten-thirty tonight under the name Mateo Villar. Destination is listed as Kota Kinabalu, but the routing looks temporary. He can change planes from there.”Celeste’s mouth tightened. “If he leaves the country, getting him back will become difficult.”
Althea’s POVThe silence after Leonardo ended the call felt different from the silences that had followed every other threat.Before, silence had felt like fear, like everyone was waiting for the next explosion, the next gunshot, the next old memory dragged from the dark. This time, the silence felt like people thinking at the same time, quietly and dangerously, because Director Reyes had not actually found Emilio’s second phone, but Leonardo did not know that, and men like him, men who survived by keeping every secret in the right drawer, could become careless the moment they believed one drawer had been opened.Alexander was still holding his phone, his expression cold and unreadable, but his hand found mine without looking. I had started to notice that about him. When his mind went somewhere dangerous, his hand still searched for me, as if some part of him had already decided that I was not separate from his plans anymore.Celeste was the first to speak. “If Leonardo believe
Althea’s POVBy morning, the entire province had seen Alexander Winston climb out of the river with a crying child in his arms.I knew this because Shaun entered the breakfast room with his phone in hand, his expression so carefully neutral that I immediately became suspicious. He stood near the doorway while I was trying to convince myself that coffee counted as breakfast, and Alexander sat beside me with his bandaged arm resting on the table like it was not a reminder that he had been grazed by a bullet, thrown himself into a river, and somehow still looked composed enough to attend another meeting.“Madame,” Shaun said, clearing his throat. “You may want to see this.”I looked up. “That sounds dangerous.”“It is not dangerous,” he answered. “Only public.”“That sounds worse.”Alexander reached for the phone before I could, and the moment his eyes landed on the screen, his expression shifted so slightly that I leaned closer without thinking.It was a video.Of course it was.The cli
Alexander’s POVAlthea was shaking in my arms, but she did not pull away.Even with my suit soaked from the river, even with the cold water dripping from my hair onto the smooth fabric of her gown, even with people shouting around us and security dragging Emilio Vargas away from the pavilion, she held me like letting go would insult everything we had survived tonight. Her fingers clutched the back of my ruined jacket, her cheek pressed against my chest, and I could feel her breath trembling against me as she tried to stay calm.I wanted to tell her she was safe.I wanted to tell her it was over.But I had lied to enough people in my life to recognize when a comforting sentence would only become another empty promise.So I only held her tighter.“The boy?” she whispered.I looked over her shoulder and saw the child wrapped in a blanket, crying against his mother while two medics checked him. He was alive. Terrified, cold, and coughing, but alive. His mother kept kissing his wet hair, t
Althea’s POVWe arrived at Alexander’s office quickly, and I could feel people staring at me the moment I stepped out. To be honest, I had already felt the crew staring at us earlier while Shaun and I were eating at McDonald’s.Of course, they were aware of what was happening in their city.I shoul
Althea’s POVI woke up early because last night, I realized I had been acting too important. Alexander was always the one coming to me here just to keep me updated.Since Shaun was already here, I could go out without worrying because I knew he would never leave me unprotected. That was why I made
Althea's POVThe morning air was still cool when I walked Alexander to the front steps.The mansion looked quieter in daylight—less like a fortress, more like a very expensive secret. Sunlight spilled over the marble tiles, softening the sharp edges of the place, but it didn’t soften what I felt in
Mayor Alexander's POVThe sun hadn’t fully risen when I turned onto the private road leading to the Bailey estate.Even in the half-light, it didn’t look like a home. It looked like a boundary—iron gates, stone walls, and guards who straightened the moment my vehicle slowed. The crest on the gate w







