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All Chapters of TOO LATE TO WANT ME BACK : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

69 Chapters

{ FORTY ONE }

VAYLEN The white-vaulted ceiling of the Saint Jude auditorium echoed with the smooth, polite murmur of the audience. I stood near the center of the elevated stage, smoothing the lapel of my tailored coat, forcing a level, practiced smile toward the rows of parents dressed in muted cream and graphite silk. The stage behind me was a flawless arrangement of white hydrangeas and silver-rimmed podiums, completely fitting for an academy running on the capital’s highest endowments. At the microphone, the headmistress read through the annual protocol list, her voice carrying an elegant, calculated warmth.“And our deepest gratitude goes out to the Carine Foundation,” she announced, her smile tracking the front rows. “Their master funding has secured our new early-childhood developmental wing this year. We are honored to have their director and CEO of CARINE LTD presiding as our Guest Chairperson today.”The applause rose from the rows of luxury directors and film-studio executives, but the p

{ FORTY TWO }

ALICEThe display terminal on my desk carried what could easily become the single largest strategic contract to cross my desk since I claimed the presidency of the Laurent Group. And also the absolute largest sovereign project in our corporate history. The Office of the Prime Minister had officially released the bidding guidelines for a massive, multi-phase fifty-billion-dollar Smart City infrastructure development inside the territory, seeking a premier conglomerate partner to anchor the regional expansion. I did not hesitate for a single second. I closed the briefing announcement tab on my screen, picking up the secure internal line to summon every head of department to the executive floor within five minutes. When they were seated before my desk, their faces tight with a sudden, anxious alertness, I delivered the flat, unyielding mandate.“This is the milestone announcement of the year, and we are not losing this bid to a single competing company in this country,” I said, my voic

{ FORTY THREE }

ALICEThe tablet slipped from my paralyzed fingers, sliding down my lap before Julius reached out with a fast, practiced reflex to catch the frame before it hit the floor. I tried to force my features into a deliberate, controlled stillness, but the sudden draining of color from my lips and the rapid, shallow rhythm of my breathing betrayed the absolute panic seizing my throat. Julius' gaze shifted instantly from the screen to my pale expression. His posture reset as he turned smoothly to Diamond on the couch.“Diamond,” Julius said, his voice dropping into a calm, steady rhythm that carried no alarm. “Go let Aunty Jessica remove your uniform and clean you up before you show mommy the remaining ones. Go now, sweetheart.”Diamond didn't react for a second, her dark eyes evaluating our sudden stillness before she jumped down from the arm of the couch, clutching her toy tightly in her small palm.“Mommy, I am coming back to tell you everything about the big stage!” she cried, her voice

{ FORTY FOUR }

VAYLEN The memory of the electric shock wave that ran straight through my nervous system the exact second my palm brushed her skin was a weight that refused to leave my bloodline. Ever since I threw the only queen my heart yearned for away, nothing had consumed my intellect for days like this little kid did. I had replayed every single detail of her presence behind my eyelids, the specific head tilt, the majestic way she walked toward the wooden riser, and the clear cadence of her poem. I had even set the photograph I took with her under the stage hydrangeas as my smartphone wallpaper. I knew it violated every standard protocol, and it might be a punishable offense across the sector if her security team logged it, but I could not enforce a single ounce of control over my own focus when it came to this child. The deep, burning frustration was that the graduation ceremony marked the end of the academic session. The academy had dissolved into a month-long holiday, leaving the buildin

{ FORTY FIVE }

ALICE I repeated the words behind my teeth like a mantra, telling myself that moving Diamond from the Saint Jude registries was the absolute best decision for our future. But beneath the firm conviction of my thoughts, I knew the devastating truth. Uprooting my daughter from the elite academy she loved was a defensive, frantic maneuver born entirely out of the sheer terror of that photograph. It was a desperate attempt to avoid my heart being broken twice. I had made sure that her new school was better in everything compared to St, Jude. But that never solved it. I hated it whenever she sat on the edge of the sofa, her small lips pouting as she complained about the cold layout of her new nursery class, the unfamiliar faces of her teachers, and how deeply she missed her playground at Saint Jude. Every word from her mouth stripped my pride raw, but I forced a calm, reassuring smile, telling her that she would learn to love this environment in time. I kept my fingers moving through

{ FORTY SIX }

ALICE I parked my car along the curb outside the Eagles Bright Academy, leaving the engine running as I hurried toward the front office. My hand shook slightly when I pulled my bag from the passenger seat, but I forced my fingers to lock tight around the strap. The woman behind the counter looked up, her smile dropping when she saw my face. “Miss Laurent,” she said, her voice dropping into a polite, quiet rhythm. “Is something wrong?”“I need to withdraw Diamond from attendance for the week,” I said, my voice flat and clear. “Starting right now.”She blinked, her pen stopping halfway across her ledger. “A full week? Is she ill, Ma'am? We have the annual assessment folders scheduled for Thursday, and if she misses the baseline reviews…”“It is a private family matter,” I cut her off, keeping my posture rigid. “Please have her details cleared and send her things to the main lobby. I will collect her from the playground myself.”She didn't argue further. She gave a quick nod and turned

{ FORTY SEVEN }

ALICE I hit the glass sensor on the entrance, forcing the double doors of the sixty-story tower to slide open with a dull thump. I walked straight past the administrative checkpoint, refusing to slow my steps as his senior assistants stood up from their desks in surprise. I didn't knock. I entered the penthouse through the inner doors, my boots driving sharply into the stone floorboards. Gerald sat at his chair, his dark coat perfectly aligned, his fingers unhurried as he set a glass against his desk. He didn't flinch when the doors hit the inner bumpers. He slowly turned his head, his eyes locking onto my face with a focus that completely filled the space between us. “Alice,” he said, his gravelly voice dropping into a low, level rumble. “You didn't tell me you were coming today.”“I am not here for an administrative briefing, Gerald,” I said, walking straight to the edge of the desk. I pulled the rough, folded scrap of paper from my trench coat pocket and slapped it flat onto the

{ FORTY EIGHT }

VAYLEN The air on the hotel rooftop was sharp. The heat inside my suite had become too thick to tolerate, so I had walked out, driven by a heavy need to escape the silent corridors of the suite. I hit the pool with a clean, flat dive, letting the cold shock strike my chest and face. The sudden drop in temperature was an immediate relief against my skin. I pushed my arms forward, driving my body through the blue width of the pool in fast, heavy strokes. I didn't count the laps, and I didn't slow my pace when my lungs began to burn. I wanted the physical exertion to take over, focusing entirely on the rhythmic pull of my shoulders and the steady kick of my boots left by the bench. For three full lengths of the pool, the movement worked, blocking out the noise of the capital markets and the layout of the streets below. Then I paused at the deep end, my fingers gripping the wet tile rim as I lifted my head to breathe. The image surfaced again before I could block it. I saw Diamo

{ FORTY NINE }

ALICE I sat still, my arms folded across my chest as I stared at the empty dark wood before me. The fifty-billion-dollar Smart City bidding files were still open on my display screen, the long rows of infrastructure metrics flashing their blue indicators, but I couldn't read a single line of the text. Gerald's voice from the tower yesterday kept looping in my head, the words sitting behind my teeth like a heavy weight. There are a lot of things you don't know, Alice.I reached forward, my fingers steady as I picked up the rough, folded scrap of paper containing the block-printed threat, turning the texture over in my hand. I turned the words over in my mind, asking myself directly: what didn't I know? Did he mean the person who killed my grandpa could be behind this? A cold dread surfaced behind my ribs, a sharp tightness making my breath catch in my throat. When I tried to ask about grandpa's death after I returned, the family physician had explained it was systemic failure, a qu

{ FIFTY }

ALICE Three days had bled out since the head of internal security took the block-printed note from my desk, and the absolute silence from his division was a constant friction that rubbed against my nerves. The threat remained completely unresolved, a faceless shadow that sat under every thought behind my teeth. I had spent seventy-two hours checking the penthouse logs, monitoring Diamond through the camera feeds, and forcing my mind to process nothing but strategy, but the dread refused to settle.A quiet click cut through the silence of my office. The doors opened without a warning chime from the intercom, a rare break in our standard administrative protocol that caught my attention instantly. My senior secretary stepped into the room, her movements hurried but controlled, her face pale as she held the tablet firmly against her blazer. “Forgive me, Mrs. Laurent,” she said, her voice dropping into a low whisper as she closed the distance to my desk. “There have been several calls

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