CHAPTER 91
Alexander stood at the airline counter, his boarding pass to Geneva clutched in his hand. The flight would leave in two hours. Two hours, and then he would find me and bring me home where I belonged.
He had convinced himself it would be simple. I was probably staying in some small hotel, maybe crying, definitely waiting for him to come rescue me like he always did. This was just another one of our fights, blown out of proportion.”
“Sir, would you like to upgrade to first class?” the airline agent asked.
“Yes,” Alexander replied without thinking. Of course he would fly first class. He was Alexander Blackwood. He didn’t do anything halfway.
As he turned away from the counter, a familiar voice cut through the airport noise like a knife.}]
“Alexander, are you really going to abandon me and our baby?”
He froze. Victoria stood twenty feet away, tears streaming down her face, one hand pressed protectively over her rounded belly. Her eyes were red and swollen, her usually perfect hair disheveled.
“How did you- Alexander started, then stopped. Of course she had followed him. She probably tracked his phone, or asked his driver, or simply guessed where he would go.M
Victoria walked closer, her heels clicking on the polished airport floor. “I called your office. Your assistant said you left without explanation. Then I checked your credit card statements and saw the flight booking.”
“You had no right to-”
“No right?” Victoria’s voice rose, drawing stares from other travelers. “I’m carrying your child, Alexander. Your child! And you’re running off to chas er a woman who clearly doesn’t want you anymore?“}]
Alexander glanced around at the growing crowd of onlookers. Some had their phones out, probably recognizing him from the news Coverage of father’s collapse at the birthday party.
“Keep your voice down,” he said quietly.
“Why should I?” Victoria stepped closer, her tears falling faster. “Everyone already knows what happened at the party. Everyone knows about the divorce papers and the medical reports. So tell me, Alexander–what exactly are you hoping to accomplish by flying to Switzerland?”
Alexander’s jaw tightened. “That’s between Lauren and me.“}]
“Lauren?” Victoria laughed, but it sounded more like a sob. “Lauren is gone, Alexander. She’s made that perfectly clear. She sent divorce papers to your father’s birthday party. She humiliated you in front of three hundred people. She nearly gave your grandfather a heart
attack.”
“She didn’t know he would react that way-”
“Didn’t she?” Victoria’s eyes flashed. “A woman smart enough to plan her escape so perfectly, and you think she didn’t know exactly what would happen when those papers were delivered?“}
Alexander felt something cold settle in his stomach. He had been trying not to think about that–about how calculated my disappearance had been. The timing, the public humiliation, the medical reports that proved…}
“She planned it all,” Victoria continued, her voice growing softer but more cutting. “Every detail. The hospital visit three days before the party. The legal documents. Even changing her phone number and blocking you. This wasn’t some emotional breakdown, Alexander. This was revenge.“>
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” Victoria wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’ve been watching her for months. At first, I thought she was weak. The perfect little wife who would do anything to keep her husband happy. But I was wrong, wasn’t I?“}
Alexander said nothing.
“She was planning this the whole time,” Victoria said. “Getting stronger, gathering evidence, waiting for the perfect moment to destroy you. And you…” She looked at him with something that might have been pity. “You still think this is just another fight that you can fix with an apology and expensive jewelry.“}
“That’s enough.” Alexander’s voice was sharp.
But Victoria wasn’t finished. “As long as I can be with you, I don’t care if we live in a cardboard box. But our child… Our child is innocent, Alexander.”
She placed both hands on her belly, her voice becoming pleading. “If Lauren truly loved you, she would accept our baby as her own. She wouldn’t deliberately sabotage your grandfather’s birthday party, humiliating you and the Blackwood family in front of everyone.“} “A woman like her–vindictive, calculating, cruel enough to-“}
“And what right do you have to judge my wife?” Alexander cut her off, his voice ice–cold.
Victoria stepped back as if he had slapped her.”
“Daniela,” he said, using her middle name deliberately, formally. “I once thought you were sensible. But now it’s clear–you’ve completely forgotten your place.”
He took his boarding pass from the airline agent who had been watching the scene unfold with barely concealed fascination
“No matter how many children I may have outside marriage,” Alexander said, looking down at Victoria with distant eyes, “Lauren will always be my only wife.”
Victoria’s face crumpled. “Alexander, please-“”
“Also when you move out of the penthouse make sure to take all your belongings with you I don’t want lauren to come home and he
“Also, when you move out of the penthouse, make sure to take all your belongings with you. I don’t want Lauren to come home and be upset again because she sees a single trace of you there.”
The words hit Victoria like physical blows. She staggered backward, one hand pressed to her mouth.”
“You’re throwing me out?” she whispered. “Just like that?”
“I’m correcting a mistake,” Alexander replied. “One I should have corrected months ago.”
He turned toward the security checkpoint, but Victoria’s voice followed him.”
“Ha…” She let out a bitter laugh through her tears. “Alexander, I never thought you’d be even more naive than me.“}
He paused but didn’t turn around.
“You’ve hurt Lauren so deeply,” Victoria called out, her voice breaking. “Deeper than you can even imagine. Do you really think she’ll ever come back to you? Do you really think she’s waiting in Switzerland for you to sweep in and rescue her?“>
Alexander’s shoulders tensed, but he kept walking.”
“She’s not coming back!” Victoria shouted after him. “She’s never coming back! And when you finally realize that, don’t come crying to mel
But Alexander was already through security, his boarding pass in hand, walking toward the gate that would take him across the ocean to find me.
He knew his wife, he told himself. For six years, no matter how angry I got, all it ever took was a sincere apology and a few gifts I liked, and I w
soften.
But even he had to admit–this time was different.M
This time, was angry enough to send divorce papers to his father’s birthday party.}]
No ordinary gift would work.
After much deliberation, the moment Alexander landed in Geneva, he found a local tattoo parlor.
He had a plan. He always had a plan.
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