Olivia’s POV


    I looked up.


    Alexander stood there quietly, hands in his pockets, the moonlight catching the sharp lines of his face. His beautiful eyes met mine.


    “Why are you hiding here, brooding?” he asked. “Shouldn’t you be happy? You got your revenge.”


    I paused. For a second, I wanted to smile, evenugh, but there was nothing left inside me to lift. “I’m just tired,” I muttered, looking away. “That’s all.”


    I wanted to ask him-Why are you following me? Why are you always there when I break?


    But the words never came out. My throat tightened, and I just… stayed quiet.


    Alexander didn’t push. He stood there for a few seconds longer, silent. Then he spoke again.


    “You should go home. Get some rest.”


    I straightened immediately, almost like I was being scolded. “You’re right,” I said, brushing down my skirt and trying to fix my expression. “I’ll head back now.”


    I turned, took a few unsteady steps in my heels, then stopped and turned back halfway.


    “Thank you,” I said softly. “For today.”


    He didn’t reply. Just nodded once.


    I gged down a cab and rode back to the apartment. The city felt quieter than usual, maybe because my own head had gone silent.


    By the time I reached my building and took the elevator up, I was just ready to copse. But the moment the elevator doors opened on my floor, I froze.


    Alexander was already inside.


    I blinked, not sure if I was hallucinating. But no-he was real. Standing like it was the most natural thing in the world, his arms folded, his expression unreadable as always.


    I stepped in with forced calm, hit the fingerprint lock for my apartment door, and nced up at him with a strained


    smile.


    “Alpha Alexander must be tired too,” I said awkwardly. “Long day.”


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    13:31


    “Yeah,” he replied simply, stepping out with me. “Came back to bed.”


    I swallowed. “Same here.”


    He walked close behind me, then suddenly asked, “So?”


    “So….?” I echoed,pletely lost. My mind nked at his tone-calm, but expectant. His eyes never left mine.


    I had no answer.


    When I entered my room, I tossed my bag on the floor, shut the door behind me, and kicked off my heels.


    Then, I dropped onto the couch and closed my eyes.


    Ethan’s POV


    I stared at the photographs spread across the cold metal table. Seven pictures in total-six men, one woman.


    Rogues. Criminals. Monsters.


    My throat went dry.


    The officer across from me watched my reaction closely. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the images. I imagined Olivia in that hotel room, drugged, tied up, surrounded by these men. My stomach twisted, bile rising to my throat.


    “What if they had touched her? What if they had-“I couldn’t even say it out loud.


    I dropped my gaze and swallowed hard.


    The officer didn’t flinch. He leaned forward. “Mr. Hawthrone, your wife’s statement says she attempted to call you three times after being sedated and locked in the hotel suite.”


    I nodded slowly, afraid of what wasing.


    “You didn’t answer the first two calls,” he continued. “The third went unanswered for a while… and when it finally connected, it wasn’t you who picked up.”


    The cop reached for the file beside him, pulled out a USB stick, and slid it into theptop on the table.


    “She recorded that call. We’re going to y it for you.”


    A second officer pressed the y button.


    I braced myself.


    998


    There was Olivia’s voice-weak, panicked, barely coherent. “Ethan… I need-”


    Then Chole’s voice cut through, loud and smug. “Oops. He’s a little busy right now. Try againter,wife.”


    My jaw clenched. The memory clicked into ce like a knife in the gut. I had been at the office. Chole had walked in, uninvited. I remember herughing, picking up my phone,


    23.1 %


    13:31


    And I had let her.


    The recording stopped.


    The silence afterward was deafening.


    “Why wasn’t your phone with you, Mr. Hawthrone?” the officer asked. “Why was your mistress the one who picked up your wife’s emergency call?”


    I buried my face in the crook of my arm. The pain in my chest pulsed like a heartbeat. I wanted to scream.


    When I lifted my head, my voice was hoarse. “She came into my office uninvited. Took my phone. I didn’t realize… I didn’t think she’d-”


    I paused. That sounded pathetic.


    “I was working,” I added. “I didn’t even look up when she grabbed it. She said she wanted to y a game. I assumed she’d put it back. I never imagined…”


    “You let someone else take your personal device,” the cop repeated.tly. “And that person just so happened to inter- cept your wife’s only plea for help-during an attempted assault.”


    I flinched. “I know how it looks. But I didn’t n this. I never wanted Olivia hurt.”


    The officer tapped his pen on the table, his face unreadable. “We’ll check the security footage from your office.”


    “I have cameras,” I said quickly. “You can pull all of it. I didn’t know what Chole was doing. I swear it.”


    He nodded, but I could tell he didn’t fully buy it.


    “We’ll get to the bottom of it,” he said, closing the folder. “Every word. Every second.”


    Olivia’s POV


    I woke up with a dry throat and aching limbs. The couch wasn’t the mostfortable ce to pass out on, but it had done the job. My head was heavy with the kind of sleep that doesn’t refresh-it only numbs.


    There was a message from Ava waiting on my phone.Everything’s going the way it should. Except… Alexander showed up. You didn’t tell me that part.


    I sank deeper into the cushions, rereading her text. Everything else, I expected. Thewyers from both the Hawthrone and Windsor families were already preparing to fight for bail. Ava had anticipated it. She’d personally driven to the police station, submitted more evidence-digital messages, audio files, transaction logs. She’d even attached a formal document outlining my personal ims against Chole and her aplices. It was airtight. Chole wasn’t walking free anytime soon.


    And Ethan… he wouldn’t see daylight until at least eight in the morning.


    Good.


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    13:31


    Chapon LU


    SUUTINUED


    It was nearing 2:00 a.m. when Ava arrived. She brought coffee, but I switched to beer. The two of us sat on my bal- cony, the silence between us soothing, not awkward. The night was cool, and the stars were surprisingly clear. This city rarely gave me stars.


    I ran my fingers along the edge of my ss and stared up at the sky. “People always say revenge should feel satisfy- ing,” I muttered.


    Ava nced at me, then said nothing.


    I raised my ss and downed it in one gulp. It burned, but not enough.


    “I don’t feel satisfied,” I said. “I just feel… empty.’


    Ava didn’t say anything for a while. Then she smiled-gently, painfully. “You went through hell. Years of holding on to a marriage that gave you nothing but pain.”


    I blinked. She was right. I had tried so hard to be the perfect wife, the loving partner. Even when I knew about Chole. Even when Ethan came home with guilt on his breath. I still held on, hoping that if I gave it my all, I’d get peace when I finally walked away.


    But he hadn’t even let me have that.


    “He took everything,” I said quietly. “Even the way I wanted it to end.”


    Ava reached out and touched my arm. “You still have a future, Liv.”


    “Do I?” I turned my head and looked at her. “What kind of future is that, Ava? I don’t even know if I can trust again.”


    She gave me a pointed look. “Not every man is Ethan.”


    “Doesn’t matter,” I whispered, pulling the nket tighter over my shoulders. “He taught me how to doubt everything.


    Even kindness.”


    My fingers tightened around the empty ss.


    Ava looked at me with soft eyes, and Yve also agreed with Ava. Not every man is like Ethan.


    But I was scared.