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All Chapters of TOO LATE TO WANT ME BACK : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

69 Chapters

{ ELEVEN }

ALICE The grand reception hall emptied slowly, leaving the room in a heavy silence. The board of directors and the remaining family members had withdrawn to the outer corridors, their murmurs fading as the heavy mahogany doors shut.I held the platinum card by its edge. The silver crest of Gerald Hawthorne caught the light from the remaining chandeliers, cold and distinct in my palm.“I was going to explain him to you after we finished handling the will,” Julius said. His voice was flat, matching the gray light coming through the glass.“Then explain him now, Julius,” I said, keeping my hands steady on the marble table. “Why did the mention of his name stop the room?”Julius walked toward the windows, his broad shoulders tensing under his jacket as he looked out at the estate grounds. He stood there for a long moment, his fingers resting lightly against the pane.“Before your grandfather passed away, the pressure from your uncles was increasing,” Julius said, turning around slowly. Hi

{ TWELVE }

ALICEI opened the cardboard box delivered by Gerald Hawthorne’s assistant ten minutes ago.I pulled back the layers of tissue paper. Inside lay a silk gown in emerald green, the fabric heavy and tailored precisely. A small card was tucked into the folds, carrying a brief line: For this evening. — G.H.I ran my fingers over the material, the fabric cold against my hand. For days, the weight of the invitation had stayed with me, a constant reminder of whatever agreement my grandfather had made. I looked at the card again, studying the clean handwriting. Arthur Laurent had trusted me with everything he built; he wouldn't have aligned himself with someone who meant to destroy it.I took a slow breath, looking at my reflection in the glass. I put the card on the table and reached for the dress. Whatever was waiting at the tower, I would handle it.---The private elevator of the Obsidian Tower opened sixty floors up without a sound.As I stepped onto the polished dark granite, the hallway

{ THIRTEEN }

ALICEI turned back slowly, my hand slipping off the brass handle.“What do you mean?” I asked. My voice remained level, though the stillness in the room felt heavier now.Gerald didn't move. He set his glass back on the table, his eyes remaining fixed on my face.“It won't be long before that same uncle does what he did to Arthur to you, Alice,” he said.The quiet in the office grew dense. I closed my fingers into palms, my nails pressing against my skin. “Which of them?”“You won't know that until your signature is on this contract,” Gerald said, his tone smooth and businesslike.He was using my grandfather's memory, turning a dead man's history into an ultimatum to draw me into the arrangement. He was dangling my own security like a transaction. But I had just spent three years inside a marriage where my identity was ignored and my movements were restricted. I wasn't about to hand my independence to another corporate tycoon simply because he knew how to manage a threat.“Then you ca

{ FOURTEEN }

VAYLEN The wheels of the jet hit the runway, the vibration traveling up through the floorboards as the fog closed in around the metal frame.It had taken hours to cross the coast. I stood up before the engines had fully taxied, pacing the narrow width of the aisle, my hand brushing the back of the leather seats. In the quiet cabin, the memory of the hotel ballroom returned with every turn I made. I pulled the small print of the media photograph from my pocket, looking at her bare fingers against the wooden podium.There was no ring. There was no trace of the person who had spent three years moving through the kitchen in a plain cotton dress. I folded the paper back into my pocket, looking out at the gray runways until the cabin door opened, letting the cold air in.---The hotel room offered no distraction. By ten o'clock, the quiet inside the walls felt too distinct, the hours moving without sound.I went down to the outdoor courtyard, taking a table near the perimeter of the stone p

{ FIFTEEN }

Alice My heels blurred against the marble lobby of the Green Palace Hotel as I ran, my hands shaking so violently when I lifted the phone, my fingers slipping across the glass before I managed to press the dial button for the driver’s line.“Bring the car to the side exit,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Do not wait for the valet. Now.”I kept my eyes on the carpet ahead, refusing to look back toward the glass doors of the pavilion. The flash of the gold sparks remained behind my eyelids, along with the shape of Vaylen’s jaw through the smoke. He was in the capital. He had followed the trail to my city.The glass doors of the side exit opened, letting in the damp night air. The executive sedan pulled up to the curb, the tires screeching against the wet asphalt before the car had fully stopped.I opened the door and stepped into the back seat. “Go.”The car surged forward into the dark city traffic, moving away from the hotel before the lobby doors could open behind us. I leaned my hea

{ SIXTEEN }

VAYLEN She vanished in the time it took to draw three shallow breaths.I had been within striking distance of that emerald fabric. Then the stone pavilion was empty. The cold fountain mist hit my skin, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and damp granite.I spent twenty-four hours in the hotel room without turning on the lights. The room service tray stayed on the floor outside the door, the silver dome covering whatever had grown cold inside. I paced the exact line of the floorboards until the skin of my heels felt raw. Every time my eyelids closed, her outline cut through the dark. She hadn't looked like the person who used to move quietly around my counters. Her chin had been tilted up, her expression fixed. She looked like someone who had never needed my protection, and the weight of that realization stayed in my throat.At exactly twenty minutes to seven the next evening, the tablet on the vanity chimed.Donald had forwarded an encrypted broadcast notice from the local networ

{ SEVENTEEN }

ALICEThe door of the sedan opened, and the night air hit my face, followed immediately by a sharp wall of white light.A dozen camera flashes went off in unison along the red carpet of the Presidential Palace, the sudden glare lifting the fog from the avenue for a split second. National news crews and financial journalists leaned against the velvet ropes, their voices rising over each other as my heels touched the granite pavement.“Miss Laurent! Look over here, please!”“The youngest President in the history of the territory.”Before the microphones could clear the line, the Laurent Group security detail moved into position, forming a physical barrier that cut off the press. They guided me toward the entrance, their coats clearing a path through the corridor of cameras.I kept my chin up, adjusting the fit of my slate-gray jacket as we moved into the shadow of the portico. I maintained a neutral smile for the television crews near the doors, keeping my expression steady against the s

{ EIGHTEEN }

ALICE The sharp, rhythmic beep of a heart monitor broke the darkness.My eyes opened to a white ceiling and the scent of chemical antiseptic. My throat felt dry, burning when I swallowed. Before the glare of the fluorescent tiles could clear from my vision, my hand moved instinctively under the thin sheet, pressing flat against my stomach.My baby.I turned my head slowly, waiting for the room to stop shifting. Maximilian stood near the IV stand, his jacket wrinkled, his face pale against the sterile light. The sudden movement drew his attention, his breath catching as he stepped toward the edge of the mattress.“Alice,” he said, his voice quiet. “Let me get the physician.”He turned and walked quickly out of the room before I could speak.The silence lasted for less than a minute. The heavy double doors of the private suite pushed open, the latch clicking loudly against the brass plate as Uncle Wilberforce entered the room. His jaw was set, his collar loosened as he walked straight t

{ NINETEEN }

ALICE The edge of the marble basin was freezing against my palms, but the shock of the cold stone was the only thing keeping my knees from folding.I leaned over the sink. The click of the living room clock read exactly 7:00 AM. Every second felt like a heavy weight dropping into the space. I drew in a short breath, holding the damp air in my lungs until the twisting in my stomach finally began to settle.I straightened slowly, my spine clicking as I forced my posture back into a rigid, vertical line. Julius Roland’s warning still sat behind my teeth. “The judge will not review an empty field on the injunction response. If the field is still blank when the file goes to the clerk, Wilberforce takes the proxy.”My fingers moved down to the pocket of my silk robe, brushing against the phone inside the fabric. It was my permanent lifeline out of the "Catherine" identity. I pulled it out, my thumb hovering over the interface for a fraction of a second before I slid the bar.I wasn't going

{ TWENTY }

ALICE I sat in the back seat of the SUV, my hand flat against my knee to keep my fingers from trembling. Outside the tinted glass, the capital blurred past the window as the vehicle forced its way through the corporate intersection.I drew a slow breath, pressing my spine against the leather seat to steady the strain pulling at my limbs.A sudden buzz cut through the silence of the car. My phone lit up, displaying Julius Roland’s profile. I slid the bar, pressing the receiver to my ear.“Alice, where are you?” his voice came tight, and stripped of its usual control. “Wilberforce has already taken the podium. The press is logging the leaked hospital database charts. If your file isn't on the clerk’s desk within minutes, the succession is legally frozen.”I looked toward the road. Beside me, Gerald Hawthorne sat still. He didn't look at me, and he didn't offer a single word. The cold blue light of his digital tablet reflected off his dark eyes. I turned back to the phone, my voice dro

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