جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

Althea’s POVBy the time we arrived at the municipal hall, I realized that marrying Alexander Winston did not make people stare less.It only made them stare differently.Before, they looked at me like a scandal they were lucky enough to witness up close. Now, as Alexander helped me out of the car and offered me his hand in front of the entrance, the stares became sharper, quieter, heavier with curiosity. Staff members who were walking across the hallway suddenly slowed down. A woman holding a folder nearly bumped into the wall because she kept looking at us. Even the security guard at the door straightened so quickly I thought his back might hurt.Alexander didn’t seem bothered.Of course he didn’t.He walked beside me like nothing in the world could touch him, his hand resting lightly at my back, guiding but not pushing. That small touch should have been nothing, but after last night and this morning, my body had become annoyingly aware of every little thing he did.“Everyone’s star

Althea’s POVFor a moment, no one spoke.The smoke from the warehouse still curled into the sky behind us, dark and slow, but my attention stayed fixed on the paused footage in the officer’s hand. The image was blurry, the person’s face hidden beneath the shadow of a cap, but that bracelet glinting faintly around the wrist made my stomach tighten in recognition.I wasn’t sure.That was the worst part.I wasn’t sure enough to accuse her without hesitation, but I was sure enough to feel cold all over.Alexander took the tablet from the officer and studied the image carefully. His expression gave nothing away, but the hand holding the tablet was too still. “Zoom in.”The officer stepped closer. “We already tried, Mayor. The system glitched before the camera went down. This is the clearest frame.”Kuya Adam leaned in, his jaw tight. “That bracelet is common enough. We need more than that.”“I know,” I said quietly, though my eyes didn’t leave the screen.Shaun looked at me. “Madame, where

Althea’s POVFor a moment, I forgot how to breathe.Daniel’s words stayed in the room like smoke that had followed us all the way from the warehouse, thick and suffocating, and even though Alexander was standing beside me with his hand wrapped firmly around mine, I suddenly felt the weight of every eye turning toward me.“They want you, Althea. Not Gia.”Daniel looked at me as if he had just thrown a bomb into the room and was now waiting to see which part of me would break first.Kuya Adam moved before anyone else did. “No,” he said, his voice cold enough to cut through the silence. “Absolutely not.”Daniel’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t say I wanted it either.”“You expect us to believe that?” Kuya Adam snapped. “After everything you’ve done?”Daniel’s face twisted. “I came here, didn’t I? If I wanted to hand her over, I wouldn’t be standing in front of the mayor with officers behind me.”Alexander’s hand tightened around mine, but his voice stayed dangerously calm. “Explain ever

Althea’s POVBy eleven in the evening, Alexander’s office no longer looked like an office.The papers on his desk had been pushed aside and replaced with radios, maps, phones, and tablets showing routes toward San Isidro. Chief Rios stood near the window, speaking quietly with his men through an earpiece, while Shaun moved between calls with the kind of calm that only made me more nervous because calm people in dangerous situations always looked like they already knew how badly things could go. Kuya Adam was near the door with his arms crossed, watching everyone with the expression of a man who hated not being the one controlling every piece on the board.Daniel sat on the sofa, pale and restless, his hands clasped together so tightly that his knuckles had gone white.And Alexander stood beside me.He had changed out of his formal clothes into a black shirt and dark jacket, simple enough that he no longer looked like the mayor who gave speeches and signed documents, but still c

Althea’s POVThe hallway felt colder after the man was dragged away.Even with the lights burning brightly above us, even with guards moving everywhere and voices speaking through radios, I couldn’t stop staring at the envelope in Alexander’s hand. It looked so harmless, just old paper sealed with the Bailey crest, but the name written across it made my heart beat in a way that frightened me.Thea.Not Althea.Not Miss Bailey.Thea.A name that sounded like it belonged to a version of me I had misplaced somewhere in the past.Alexander still had one hand around my waist, steadying me, while the other held the envelope carefully, as if he already knew it carried something dangerous. His face was unreadable again, but this time his eyes betrayed him. There was fear there. Not for the house. Not for the stolen files. For me.“Althea,” he said quietly. “Can you stand?”I blinked, realizing I had been gripping his shirt. “Yes.”His arm didn’t leave me. “Are you sure?”“I said yes.”“You al