Chapter 181
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Esther Blackwell sits on the dinner table, her fingers wrapped loosely around a cup of tea she has not touched in the last ten minutes.
Her eyes weren’t on the drink, though. They were fixed on her sons–Alex and Jullian–watching them quietly as they ate dinner.
Jullian was chatting about something, his voice light, trying to fill the silence at the table. Alex, on the other hand, was quiet as usual. He barely looked up from his plate, moving his fork around without much interest.
Esther wasn’t listening. Not really. Her mind was too full to focus on anything else.
How was she going to tell Alex?
How was she supposed to sit across from her son and say, “By the way, I’m thinking of hiring the girl who ripped your heart out and left you in pieces“?
Her chest tightened.
Alex had handed her the job to hire the best candidate for the position the company desperately needed.
Now she is about to do that job, hire someone, but she wasn’t thinking about hiring any girl. She was thinking about hiring Mia Turner. The girl Alex had loved deeply. The girl he never truly recovered from.
The girl he hated now.
Mia had walked into the interview room today looking like she belonged there. Looking….She hates to admit it, but she was perfect for the job.
She had sat through that interview trying to keep her emotions in check, trying not to let her face betray the storm that was burning inside her.
She had expected to hate Mia. She had expected to see the manipulative, heartless girl Alex had described during his worst nights. But that wasn’t what
she saw.
What she saw was a young woman who looked unsure, polite and nervous. She didn’t walk in with pride or arrogance, she gave sharp insightful ideas and thoughtful answers.
She didn’t look like a manipulative bitch she had thought over and over in her head when her son was hurting every night.
She didn’t look like she knows Alex even owns the company
And that’s what was messing her up the most.
She didn’t know what to believe.
She will have to confirm if she knows about Alex owning the company. She didn’t recognize her, which was a good thing.
Was Mia truly innocent? Is her instinct of her ex–husband’s involvement in the Turners disappearance right?
That’s what she will need to find out.
What if it was all a misunderstanding and she can help her son get back with the only girl he has ever loved.
It was a stretch, but with love anything is possible.
Alex is still in love with that girl. What if she can help in getting them together or give her son the closure he needs to move on?
But what if she wants to get her way to him to hurt him again.
Which is what the meeting is for tomorrow. Since she doesn’t recognize her she can get information from her better and that will determine if she will be
hired or not.
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Chapter 181
Esther closed her eyes for a moment, letting the sound of Jullian’s laughter and Alex’s silence fill the room. Her tea had gone cold. She didn’t care.
She was torn in so many directions it was starting to hurt.
Mia was perfect for the job. Sharp, intelligent, bold. Everything she needed in that role. But at what cost?
If she hired Mia, Alex was going to meet her again. No matter how much she tried to soften it, that moment was bound to happen. And when it did… What then?
Would it heal anything?
Or would it rip him apart all over again?
She didn’t know.
Alex might say he hates her. Might say he wants nothing to do with her. But Esther had raised him. She knew when her son was lying…even to himself.
There was still something there.
Maybe not love. Maybe just pain. Maybe questions he never got answered. Maybe wounds that have not fully closed.
And now here she was, standing at the edge of a decision that could either help her son heal or destroy the progress he had made.
Esther hated this.
She hated being the one who had to choose.
Should she kick Mia out just to protect Alex?
Or should she keep her close, learn the truth, and maybe bring closure?
What if she made the wrong call?
What if she gave Mia the job and Mia really had used him, like he always believed? Wouldn’t that crush him even more when he found out?
But if Mia wasn’t who he thought she was, what if something else had happened, or maybe forced to make the decision she made…
Wouldn’t Alex deserve to know?
Wouldn’t that help him?
Esther sighed, placing her cup gently on the table.
She was going to have to make a final decision by tomorrow. She already knew that. The other candidates were good, but Mia was better. And no matter how hard she tried to look the other way, her gut told her there was more to the story than what she knew.
Still, her gut wasn’t enough.
Not when her son’s heart was on the line.
She glanced at Alex again. His face was blank. Detached. His fingers were flying across his phone screen, replying to something. He hadn’t spoken much tonight, but that wasn’t new. He rarely did.
Maybe… maybe it was time to prepare him.
Just a little.
She wouldn’t tell him everything. Just enough to prepare his heart, in case she made the decision she was leaning toward.
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Chapter 181
She took a deep breath.
703
“The interview went great,” she said suddenly, breaking the silence in the room. Her voice was calm, but her eyes stayed on Alex. “I have my eyes set on someone though. She did great. I’ll be having another interview with her tomorrow before I issue the employment fetter.”
Alex didn’t look up.
Jullian paused, blinking. “Why are you conducting two interviews?”
Esther shrugged, forcing a smile. “I have my reasons,” she said softly.
They didn’t say anything.
Jullian went back to his food. Alex didn’t move at all.
She swallowed hard and forced the words out before she lost her nerve.
“Anyways, like I said, she’s really brilliant and gave very good ideas.”
She hesitated.
Her next words came out slower, heavier.
“Her name is Mia.”
And just like that, the air changed.
The entire room went still.
Alex didn’t move. Not a twitch. Not a blink. His phone was still in his hand, screen still glowing, but his body was suddenly rigid, like a statue.
Her eyes stayed on Alex, heart pounding in her chest.
He didn’t say anything.
Did he hear her?
Of course he did.
He heard.
