Rise Of The Wasted Shadow Wife

Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Rain fell like a whisper on the window of the black car parked opposite the five-story glass building. Behind the dewy glass, James, a paid investigator with a reputation for coldness and clinical precision, stared at the screen of his small laptop. Laura Smith's face emerged from the CCTV footage secretly installed in the elevator and lobby.

He had been watching her for almost a month.

There was nothing unusual. Not a single thing.

Laura always looked perfect: professional, calm, and flawless. She came at eight past twelve, left at nine, sometimes later. She came home alone, had no steady partner, no medical records of mental illness, and no close family; the only one ever mentioned was her "dead father." Everything seemed designed to make her invisible.

Everything seemed designed to make him invisible.

Too clean. Like a glass surface polished every day. But he couldn't find any cracks. No strange emails, no suspicious transactions, no fake identities. To the world, Laura Smith was a young lawyer with a bright future.

But Axel was adamant: "She is Alessia Samantha."

James sighed. If this was true, then this woman was a shadow of the woman who had mysteriously disappeared a few years ago—the woman who had worked under Axel, then left without a trace after a rumored internal conflict that never ended.

One cold night, with the city lights dimmed by the rain falling slowly, Axel decided to ignore protocol and go to Laura's office alone. It was 8:45 p.m. The office floor was almost empty, except for a single light from the end of the glass hallway of Laura's room.

He knocked twice before opening the door.

Laura turned around, a little surprised but not entirely astonished.

"You came at an unusual hour," she said, trying to be calm.

"I... just wanted to talk," Axel replied. His voice was quieter than usual, unlike the man who was used to shouting in the boardroom.

Laura looked at him with a neutral expression. "About work?"

Axel sat down, uninvited. "About more personal things."

There was a pause. Silence hung like dew on the glass. Laura closed her laptop slowly. "I've heard a lot of stories about you, Mr. Axel. But you never seemed like someone who needed to talk."

Axel chuckled. "That's the problem. Everyone thinks I'm like a steel statue. But lonely nights like this aren't always easy."

Laura looked up. The light from the chandelier hit her face, accentuating the silhouette of her strong jaw. "Are you lonely?"

"Yes," Axel replied without thinking. "And... there's something about you, Laura. You're different from the others. You remind me of someone."

In that instant, Laura's heart stopped.

But her face did not change. She tilted her head slightly. "Someone special?"

Axel stared blankly at the window. "Someone I shouldn't have let go of. But he's gone."

Laura feigned a faint smile. "Maybe you're just seeing a reflection in me."

"But sometimes shadows are more real than light," Axel replied, almost whispering.

Laura went home that night with a head full of old, unhealed wounds. Inside her neat, cold little apartment, Nadine was waiting for her. On the table, there was an open laptop and some headphones. Something was playing.

"Listen to this," Nadine said matter-of-factly.

Axel's voice filled the room:

"Stop acting like a spoiled high school girl. If you can't handle the pressure, get out of this firm now. Don't waste my time with your cheap tears."

A female voice could be heard crying softly in the background. Her breath hitched.

Laura sat up slowly, listening until the end.

A long silence followed.

"I knew I'd find her," Nadine said finally. "Everyone has rot; it's just a matter of time until it comes to the surface."

Laura held up an untouched glass of wine. "Let's keep this safe. If he tries to take me down, it's a bullet."

Nadine looked at her. "Are you sure you can stay sane?"

"No," Laura answered honestly. "But I'm still going to win."

Three days later, Axel came again, this time to Laura's apartment, carrying French wine and a gaze that seemed to have no purpose.

"I... don't know why, but I feel calm when I'm with you," he said after finishing two glasses of wine. "There are things I can't explain."

Laura just stared at him. She studied the frown on Axel's forehead. This man was not just a target, he was the shadow of her personal hell.

Then, as Axel drew closer and no more words were spoken, he kissed Laura spontaneously, without being asked.

Immediately, Laura is thrown back in time to the cold boardroom, to Alessia's desk, to that first kiss that felt like the beginning and the end and the kiss that made her fall and then break.

Her hands clenched into fists, almost pushing Axel away, but she didn't. Instead, she let it last for a second.

Instead, she let it last a few seconds, then pulled away with a small, barely perceptible smile.

Axel was transfixed. "I'm sorry... I don't know why I did that."

Laura looked at her, sharp but calm.

"Do you think I'm Alessia?"

Axel was silent. His body felt tense. His lips pressed together, but no sound came out.

Laura stood up, picked up the wine bottle, and poured more into his glass. "The past is funny. Sometimes we think we've buried it, but we just keep it in a glass box."

"Did... you know her?" whispered Axel finally.

Laura looked at him. Her eyes were blank, her voice cold.

"I know enough not to repeat the same mistake."