All Chapters of Once His Wallflower, Now His Biggest Mistake : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 12Evelyn’s POVThe medical wing of the Sterling villa was a cathedral of clinical coldness. It was tucked deep into the mountain’s belly, a place where the air was filtered to a purity that felt artificial, and the silence was so absolute it made the blood rushing through my veins sound like a roar.I sat on the edge of the examination table, the paper covering crinkling beneath me with every shallow breath. The gown I wore was silk, not paper, but it offered no warmth against the biting chill of the Alps that seemed to seep through the very stones of the villa.“The gel will be cold, Madam Chair,” Dr. Halloway murmured.She was a woman who had been on the Sterling payroll longer than I had been alive. She had delivered my brothers; she had seen the Sterling men through wars and the Sterling women through scandals. She didn't look at me with pity, and for that, I was grateful. Pity was a poison I couldn't afford to drink.As the translucent blue gel hit my skin, I flinched. M

Chapter 14Caleb’s POVThe penthouse had felt like a tomb, but the Alps felt like the end of the world.I had spent eight million dollars, nearly the last of my liquid untraceable assets on a man named Vane and a death wish. Vane didn't care about my business legacy or my ruined reputation. He only cared about the physics of ice and the silence of a thermal-cloaked approach.The climb up the "Devil’s Throat" was a blur of agonizing pain and white-knuckle terror. My lungs burned with the thin, frozen air, and my fingers felt like they were being snapped off one by one by the frost. But every time my grip slipped on the sheer ice wall of the eastern ridge, I didn't see the drop to my death. I saw the two tiny lives I had nearly discarded before I even knew they existed.I am coming for you, Evelyn.By the time we breached the ventilation shaft in the villa’s sub-basement, I was more ghost than man. My face was wind-burned raw, my tactical gear was frosted over, and my body shook with a

Chapter 16Caleb’s POVThe world didn't end with a bang. It ended with the flickering glow of a television screen in a cold Alpine clinic and the steady, rhythmic ticking of a clock that seemed to be counting down the seconds of a life that no longer had a purpose.“...tragic accident involving the Spirit of Naples... Evelyn Sterling lost at sea.”The words were like poisoned needles, stitching my soul to the floor. I sat on the edge of the hospital bed, my bandaged hands trembling so violently that the white gauze began to fray. I expected to feel something else. I had spent weeks telling myself I wanted her out of my life. I had spent months acting like she was a weight around my neck, a placeholder that kept me from the greatness I deserved.I thought that if she were gone, I could finally breathe. I thought I would feel a sense of twisted, dark relief that the Sterling threat was neutralized.Instead, I felt my heart disintegrate. It wasn't a metaphor. It was a physical sensation

Chapter 18Evelyn’s POV Five years later Power used to terrify me.Five years ago, I mistook silence for safety and invisibility for peace. I believed that if I kept my head bowed low enough, the world would forget I existed and in forgetting me, it would stop hurting me.I was wrong.Silence is not protection.It is an invitation.And power?Power is the only language predators respect.The Sterling International Boardroom sits on the forty-seventh floor, wrapped in glass and arrogance, overlooking a city that never once questioned whether it deserved to be ruled.I stand at the head of the table now.As the official Chairperson.Not beside it.Not behind it.At the head.Twenty-seven people are seated around me, men and women who once spoke my family name with awe, envy, or greed. Some of them knew my brothers only and it was the first time I took over in the international boardroom.They are all staring at me, looking for any form of weakness.If only

Chapter 20Caleb’s POVDead people aren’t supposed to walk.They aren’t supposed to glide across marble floors in couture and diamonds, laughter trailing behind them like a weapon.They aren’t supposed to command a room without saying a word.They aren’t supposed to look at you like you’re the ghost.And yet…There she is.For a moment, I think my mind has finally broken.The Sterling Gala is everything New York elite excess has always been, crystal chandeliers dripping light, orchestral music soft enough to be ignored, money breathing money into the air. The kind of night built for alliances, not surprises.I’m not here because I want to be.I’m here because I have to be.Knight Industries needs visibility. It needs reassurance. It needs the illusion of stability.I’m halfway through a polite conversation with a hedge fund manager when the room shifts.It’s subtle.A pause in laughter.A hitch in conversation.The kind of silence that doesn’t ask for attention, it takes it.I feel i