Lahat ng Kabanata ng After His Secret Lover Ran Away, the CEO Went Mad: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

On the night of my 28th birthday, I found a diamond ring under Alex's pillow.The Moretti family had just hosted a party at their estate in the Hudson Valley. All day, he'd sat at the head of the long table while dock bosses and hotel managers took turns reporting to him. Even men who'd served his father for 20 years didn't dare interrupt him. But once the guest room door closed that night, he was just Alex again—the man I'd known for five years. He pinned me to the bed and took me hard. For five years, it had always been this good. This wild.As far as I knew, there were no other women in his life. And there'd never been anyone else in mine.So the second my fingers touched the ring box, I thought he was finally ready to give me an answer.I sat up, barely bothering to straighten my nightgown, and held the box up to him. "How did you know my grandmother's been on my case again about getting married?"Alex paused with the cigarette still between his lips. The flame flickered across his

I didn't move. "I'll get back to New York on my own.""The other cars all left last night." Alex glanced at my suitcase. "It's more than a two-hour drive back to the city from here."I got in.There was an unsweetened latte in the cup holder.Whenever we drove back to New York together after an out-of-town trip, he had the driver get one for me. He'd seen me frown at sweetened coffee once. After that, no one ever got my order wrong again.I stared at the coffee and didn't touch it.Alex glanced at it. "Stomach bothering you?""No.""Then why aren't you drinking it?""I just don't feel like it anymore."He didn't ask anything else.Once we hit the highway, neither of us said anything for a long time. The driver and bodyguard sat up front, both pretending they couldn't hear us.We were almost back in New York when I finally asked, "Alex, in all these years, did you ever think of me as your girlfriend?"He kept looking out the window. "What kind of girlfriend do you mean?"I hesitated. "T

A week later, at a senior leadership meeting for the Morettis' legitimate businesses, one of the family advisers announced, "Claire Valenti will take over the North Shore project effective immediately. Nora will hand over all existing files and step down from these meetings."My head snapped up.At the other end of the long table, Alex looked perfectly calm."Why?" I asked him point-blank.The room went quiet.The table wasn't filled with just hotel managers and lawyers. Two of the family's old guard were there, men who handled business at the docks. Everyone in that room knew North Shore wasn't just another hotel project anymore. It was the public face of the Moretti-Valenti alliance.Alex looked at me. "We'll talk after."I didn't say anything else.The second the meeting ended, I took my laptop and the project files straight to his office.Once the door closed behind us, I set the thick stack of files on his desk. "I've been on this project since the initial acquisition assessment."

We really crossed the line again during a business trip to New Jersey to review a hotel project.I'd had too much to drink, and in the middle of the night, I knocked on Alex's door.When he opened it, he still had his shirt on, with the top two buttons undone.I leaned against the doorframe. "You forgot all about me a long time ago, didn't you?"He didn't say anything."I liked you so much back then. But you? The second it was over, you just disappeared."Alex looked at me for a long time.Finally, he said, "Nora, I'd already decided I wasn't going to touch you again.""You're the one who came back."After that night, we started over.At first, I told myself it was just two adults getting what they needed from each other.But one year passed, then two, then three. He learned more and more about my life, and I got more and more used to having him in it.At work, he was harder on me than anyone else.Everyone else's hotel operations plans were usually ready after two rounds of revisions.

That weekend, a friend set me up on a date.Daniel Price was a project manager at a construction company. His firm was bidding on work near the North Shore, but he didn't work for the Morettis or have ties to any of the families.I didn't think of that dinner as the start of something new.I just suddenly wanted to know what it felt like to go on a normal date.No getting out of the car three blocks early, no waiting until late at night to see each other, no pretending to be strangers in front of people we knew.Daniel was chatty.When we started talking about work, he brought up the North Shore, and his eyes lit up. "My boss has been ripping into our design team every day over that Moretti waterfront project. Those guys can't catch a break."I'd just picked up my water glass when the front of the restaurant suddenly went quiet.Alex walked in with his family advisor, followed by two bodyguards.Daniel was already on his feet. "Sorry, I'm going to say hi."Clearly, Daniel saw Alex as n