THE BILLIONAIRE'S BETRAYED BRIDE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Alexander woke up around midday, which was the longest he'd slept in almost two years.

‎His hand moved across the space beside him before he was even fully awake. Empty. He turned his head to face it anyway, just to be sure.

‎She left.

‎He let out a slow breath, memories from the night before replaying in his head in pieces. He sat up, and a headache throbbed dully behind his eyes. He went to freshen up before heading down to see his mom

‎He thought about calling her. Then he remembered he didn't even have her number.

‎He picked up his phone and saw a string of missed calls and messages waiting from work. He ignored them for now, finished getting ready and went downstairs.

‎His mother was on the couch when he came down.

‎"Good morning, Mom," he said, sitting beside her.

‎"You slept till midday, Alexander." She studied him for a moment. "And by the way, Valeria left before I even had a chance to have breakfast with her. Mrs. Song said she went out through the kitchen, of all places, apologizing almost three times. Sounded like she was in a hurry. Something about an emergency at home." His mother shook her head slightly. "I hope she's all right....And you? What happened? You slept quite a lot today. You must have been tired."

‎"Your secretary called," she added before he could answer. "I told her you were taking the day off."

‎Alexander sighed. "Thank you, Mom."

‎"I'll send Mrs. Song to bring your food up. Go rest. You've been doing too much lately." She paused. "Before I go, can I ask something?"Alexander said

‎"What is it?"

‎"Can I at least have Valeria's number? To check in on her."

‎His mother looked at him for a moment. "Yes, of course you can."

‎She gave it to him, and when he turned to head back upstairs, he caught the small smile on her face.

‎Alexander went up to his room and dropped onto the bed with his phone in hand. He scrolled through the messages waiting from the office, half-reading through briefs his secretary had sent overnight. He set the phone down, picked up the documents instead, and tried to focus on the numbers in front of him.

‎It didn't last. He picked the phone back up, thumb hovering over the screen.

‎He typed: Are you okay??

‎Then he deleted it and tossed the phone onto the bed.

‎He was the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company. He shouldn't be sitting here worrying about some woman over something that was, in the end, just a mistake. One night, too much wine, Nothing more than that.

‎He decided, instead, that he'd have his secretary send her some money in the morning. A quiet, practical gesture. The kind of thing that closed a matter cleanly, without needing to mean anything at all.

‎He told himself that was the end of it.

‎He then went back to revising the document his secretary sent him.