Alexander POV.
I stood there, frozen, my hand gripping the door handle as I walked in, and there they were…Daniel, holding Christiana like she was the most fragile thing in the world. Her face buried in his chest, his arms wrapped around her protectively. He kissed the top of her head, murmuring something soft, something I couldn’t hear. But I didn’t need to. I could feel the weight of it.
It felt like a dagger straight to my heart.
Everything inside me twisted painfully. I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry. I wasn’t sure if I was angry, or hurt, or both. Maybe more than both. How long had this been going on? How long had Daniel been there, in her life, while I was too busy ruining everything? Seeing them together like that, it was worse than I imagined. Daniel wasn’t just a nuisance or some guy trying to force his way into Christiana’s life. He was already there, comforting her in a way I should have been doing for
years.
As if sensing my presence, they pulled apart slowly. Christiana lifted her head, wiping her tear–streaked face, and turned to face me. Her eyes, red from crying, held no trace of shock, no surprise at my being there. If anything, they were filled with contempt. She just stared at me coldly, like I was nothing.
“What are you doing here, Alex?” she asked, her voice steady but sharp, cutting through the silence.
I couldn’t even answer. My voice was stuck somewhere deep in my chest, strangled by the pain of what I’d just witnessed. Daniel didn’t say a word either, but the way he looked at me, the way his eyes bore into mine; full of hatred, told me everything I needed to know. He wasn’t just holding her. He was protecting her from me.
And why wouldn’t he? I deserved it, didn’t I?
I tried to find the words, something to say to explain why I was there. But my tongue felt heavy. Nothing came out. Just this emptiness, this overwhelming weight in my chest that made it hard to breathe.
Christiana’s voice cut through again. “Did you hear me? Why are you here?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing. No words. Only the sound of my ragged breathing. My eyes flicked between Christiana and Daniel, and I realized….this was it. I had lost her. Not just now, but long before today. I had failed. I had let everything fall apart, and now I was standing here like an outsider, watching another man hold the woman I loved.
Unable to bear it any longer, I turned away, my feet moving before I could process it. As I headed toward the door, I nearly bumped into one of her employees, a guy carrying a stack of files. He looked startled, probably wondering why the CEO of Alistair Enterprises looked like a lost soul wandering in someone else’s office. I didn’t care.
I just kept walking.
I had come here to apologize. I’d rehearsed what I wanted to say over and over. I wanted to make things right, to convince Christiana to leave the city with the kids for a while. I had everything arranged; flights booked, a private villa ready. I thought if she and the kids could just get away, have some peace I could stay behind and fight this battle. Bianca was back out on the streets, but I was ready to take her down, to make sure she paid for everything she had done. I was even willing to face my mother, put her in her place once and for all. I wanted to protect Christiana I wanted her to know that I still loved her and that I would do anything…anything…to make sure she and the kids were safe.
But now?
Seeing her in Daniel’s arms had shattered every plan, every hope I had. He was there, doing what I couldn’t. And Christiana didn’t even look surprised to see him comforting her like that. She didn’t push him away. She let him in.
I stumbled out of the building, my chest tightening with each step. It felt like the walls were closing in, like I couldn’t breathe. And then, as if the world had decided to match my misery, thunder roared in the distance, A crack of lightning split the sky.
15:16 Wed, Oct 23
Chapter 106
RU
࿄N 30% ]
+5
Moments later, the rain came pouring down, heavy and endless, drenching everything in sight. But I didn’t stop. I kept walking, slow and aimless, like a man who had lost everything. The raindrops hit my skin like cold needles, but I welcomed it. I deserved to feel this. To be punished.
I didn’t even care that people were staring. I could feel their eyes on me…wondering why Alex Williams Alistair, the billionaire, was walking in the rain like a broken man. Like someone who had nothing left. But that’s exactly how I felt. Empty. Hollow. The one woman I had ever truly loved was slipping further and further away, and I had no one to blame but myself.
The rain poured harder, soaking through my clothes, clinging to my skin, but I didn’t care. People ran past me, ducking under umbrellas, shielding themselves from the downpour. But I kept walking, my shoes splashing in the puddles as I wandered aimlessly through the streets.
I thought about Christiana. About the pain I’d caused her for the past five years. The nights she cried herself to sleep because of me. The times I was too distant, too cold. The times I put my business, my pride, my damn ego before her and then the Divorce which made her suffer, raised our kids alone. And for what? To stand here now, alone in the rain, while another man was there holding her?
Maybe I deserved this. Deserved to lose her.
Because I had hurt her. I had hurt her so deeply that she couldn’t even look at me without hatred in her
eyes.
I stopped walking for a moment, standing still in the middle of the sidewalk as the rain continued to fall around me. The sound of thunder echoed in the distance, but it was nothing compared to the storm raging inside me.
I had lost her. And it was my
fault.
I deserved every bit of this.
