My Possesive Ex-Husband

Chapter 10

SLAP!

SLAP!

Two resounding strikes landed flush against Alex’s cheeks, leaving violent red marks that contrasted sharply with his deathly pale skin.

"You! I explicitly told you to stop entangling yourself with your ex-wife! And yet, you foolishly spend the night with that former w***e of yours, hah?!" Logan’s breath came in ragged, furious gasps. He had stormed into Alex’s private apartment at the crack of dawn, immediately after receiving a quiet report from his secretary that Alex had brought Evelyn there the previous night.

Alex clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white at the vile descriptor. The physical sting on his cheeks was nothing compared to the roaring fire consuming his chest.

"She is not a w***e. Do not speak of her like that," Alex said, his jaw locked tight as he fought to muzzle his exploding emotions in front of the man he feared most.

Logan let out a cynical, dry chuckle—a sound designed to utterly trample his son’s dignity.

"You dare talk back to me now? Your own father?! YOU DARE DEFY ME?! YOU INSOLENT BRAT!" Logan roared, delivering another brutal slap across Alex’s face.

After expending his physical violence, Logan casually adjusted his tailored suit jacket, looking as though he hadn't just committed an act of battery. "Prepare yourself. Today, you are attending the wedding dress fitting with Cindy. Do your absolute best. You are my finest son, aren't you?"

Logan fixed Alex with a chilling, predatory glare. "Do not continue to disappoint me, unless you want something truly catastrophic to happen to that ex-wife of yours."

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH HER!" Alex bellowed in sheer frustration, his eyes flashing with a volatile mix of rage and suffocating terror. "I already bowed to your demands to divorce her, so stop hounding her!"

Logan merely let out a cold, dismissive snort, treating Alex's outburst as nothing more than meaningless static. "Then execute your duties flawlessly. You should count your blessings that Cindy is still willing to take you, even after you defiled yourself by marrying that low-class woman."

The moment his father strode out and the heavy apartment door clicked shut, Alex snatched a glass from the counter and hurled it violently against the wall, shattering it into a thousand jagged shards.

"DAMN IT!"

Alex roared, collapsing onto the hardwood floor as his breath caught in his throat. He felt like a chained animal; the harder he thrashed to reach Evelyn, the tighter his father's noose clamped around his neck. He knew Logan never made idle threats. If he sabotaged the dress fitting today, Evelyn would pay the price.

.

.

CRASH!

Logan hurled a massive leather duffel bag onto the solid teak table directly in front of Evelyn. Immediately after leaving Alex’s apartment, he had forced a meeting with her—the woman who had briefly infiltrated his family as his daughter-in-law.

The heavy, muffled thud of the bag drop broadcasted its dense contents—a fantastic, staggering fortune in cold cash. They were sequestered inside the dim sanctuary of a private VIP restaurant room, a place reserved strictly for high-profile, clandestine transactions.

"Vanish from my son’s life. Go as far as humanly possible. Consider this your payment," Logan barked in a low, vibrating tone heavy with an unvoiced threat.

Evelyn offered the bag of cash a fleeting glance before shifting her gaze back to the tyrant sitting across from her. Her lips curled into a sleek, cunning smirk. She had anticipated this exact scenario. Years ago, they had tried to cast her out with equal brutality, but she had endured because Alex had fought like a demon to shield her.

"I believe there is a fundamental misunderstanding here," Evelyn said with chilling composure, taking a slow, measured sip of her tea. "I have made every effort to walk away, but your darling boy clings to me like a leech."

BANG!

Logan slammed his palm flat against the wood, causing the porcelain teacup in front of Evelyn to rattle violently. He stared her down with eyes that radiated a lethal intent to kill.

"Insolent girl! You dare insult my son?!"

Evelyn merely let out a soft, melodic chuckle, entirely unfazed by the terrifying aura that made Logan’s corporate colleagues tremble. "Why? Does Mr. Logan Archer feel insulted? You must admit that Alex is... structurally unstable, isn't he?"

"EVELYN!"

Evelyn’s laughter turned crisp and airy. Watching her former father-in-law’s volatile temper explode, she could see Alex’s fractured psyche perfectly mirrored in the older man. "Though, I suppose I finally know exactly where that madness was inherited from."

"What did you say?!" Logan’s jaw locked so hard the tendons in his neck strained against his skin.

"From you, of course. Dear father-in-law," Evelyn murmured, leaning her body forward to lock eyes with Logan, her gaze sparkling with a lethal, triumphant glow.

"YOU! You wretched, cursed woman!"

Rather than shrinking, Evelyn smiled with profound satisfaction. She reached out, idly weighing the heavy leather strap of the bag in her hand.

"There's no need for such theatrical fury. I see it clearly in the way you rage—it is identical to Alex. The apple truly doesn't fall far from the tree," she taunted, rising from her chair with a seamless, elegant motion. "I accept the terms. I shall disappear far beyond your son’s horizons. Hmm?"

Slinging the heavy strap over her shoulder, she flashed him the sweetest, most fraudulent smile she possessed. "Thank you for the severance package, Father-in-law. May Alex and Cindy’s wedding proceed flawlessly... without any further distractions from me."

Evelyn turned on her heel and glided out of the room without a single backward glance. Inside the complex calculus of her mind, a devastating new strategy took form. She would weaponize Logan Archer's own blood money to fund her final, crushing blow. She had no intention of leaving until she watched the entire Archer dynasty burn to ashes.

.

.

"Alex, what about this one? You adore it, don't you?"

Alex stared at Cindy as she paraded a lavish bridal gown, the dramatic ball-gown silhouette sweeping beautifully across the floor. Yet, Alex’s eyes remained completely hollow. He offered a brief, empty nod, his bitter expression impossible to mask. His focus never truly veered from the phone clamped in his hand. He kept waking the screen, praying for a single notification from Evelyn.

"Alex... Stop staring at that damn phone! Look at me!" Cindy snapped, her voice rising an octave. Her beautiful features twisted into an expression of raw irritation at being so blatantly ignored.

Alex let out a weary, sharp click of his tongue, finally lifting a profoundly bored gaze. "What else do you want? I’ve conceded to every single whim of yours, Cindy. I am here. I have looked at every single dress."

Cindy let out a derisive scoff. She stepped down from the raised velvet podium in the center of the high-end boutique, approaching Alex while two assistants scrambled behind her to manage the massive train of her gown. Halting directly in front of him, she locked him in an intimidating, demanding stare.

"You are well aware of how desperately your father begged mine to make this alliance happen, and that I condescended to accept you, correct?" Cindy spoke softly, her words dripping with razor-sharp malice.

Alex snapped his head up, his eyes flashing with a dangerous rage. "We are getting married shortly. Is that not enough for you?"

Cindy merely smirked, her chuckle dripping with disdain. "You honestly think I am willingly entering this union out of pure affection? Please! Certainly not entirely."

She tilted her face closer to his, completely disregarding the boutique staff who stood frozen in awkward silence around them.

"Oh, make no mistake—I want you desperately, Alex. But I refuse to settle for a hollow shell of a man."

Cindy traced his sharp jawline with the tip of her ice-cold finger, a touch that felt sickeningly foreign to Alex compared to the ghost of Evelyn’s velvet caress.

"I don't just want your body; I demand your heart, Alex. I will not tolerate being with you while your mind is entirely consumed by that pathetic, orphaned girl," she hissed.

Alex caught Cindy’s wrist in a punishing grip, violently flinging her hand away from his face.

"Watch your tongue, Cindy! You’ve secured exactly what you wanted, so don't you dare try to dictate my thoughts."

"Oh, I will dictate them, Alex. Because after the vows are exchanged, you will have no other choices left. Your own father will personally ensure that woman vanishes from existence if you prove incapable of taming yourself," Cindy countered, her lips curving into a chilling smile of pure victory.

Alex fell utterly silent, a familiar wave of nausea washing over his stomach. He felt trapped inside a gilded cage, the heavy iron doors guarded by two distinct monsters: his father, and the merciless woman standing directly before him.