CHAPTER 4
1829 Words
The rain started pouring harder, washing over the glass walls of the Knight Group headquarters, mirroring the mess inside Alexander’s head. He stood by the massive window, hands stuffed tight in his pockets, staring out at the city lights blurring together. His chest felt so heavy it was hard to breathe.
Evelyn.
Just her name made his stomach twist into knots. Three years. For three years, she lived in his house, ate at his table, slept in the same bed… and he never really saw her. Not really. He saw the quiet, obedient wife he thought was poor and simple. He saw the burden. The woman he thought had nothing.
And now? Now the whole world was screaming the truth at him, and he was the last fool to hear it.
He turned back to the room. His desk was covered in reports, papers scattered everywhere, emergency calls flashing on every screen. Mark, his assistant, stood near the door, looking like he was about to have a heart attack, holding a tablet like it was evidence of a murder.
“Sir… the news isn’t stopping,” Mark said quietly, voice shaking a little. “Every business channel, every social media feed… it’s all about the Hayes family. And… and about you.”
Alexander walked over slowly, grabbing the tablet from Mark’s hand. He didn’t want to look. He was terrified of what he’d see. But he had to know. He needed to understand exactly how much he had lost.
The screen lit up.
There she was.
His Evelyn.
But she wasn’t his. Not anymore.
The photo was taken just hours ago, right at the private airport entrance. She was stepping out of a sleek black limousine—one he’d never seen before, with that special gold emblem only the top elite families used. She was wearing a long, expensive cream coat that fit her perfectly, diamonds sparkling at her neck and ears. Her hair was loose, flowing down her back, and she was smiling.
God… she was smiling.
It was a bright, free, radiant smile. The kind of smile he had never, ever managed to pull out of her in three years. The kind of smile that said she had everything, that she was powerful, that she was home.
And looking closer… Alexander’s heart dropped straight into his stomach.
She wasn’t alone.
Standing right next to her, holding her suitcase like it weighed nothing, was Adrian Hawthorne. His biggest rival. The man who had been trying to crush Knight Group for years. And Adrian wasn’t just standing there. He was looking at Evelyn like she was the only treasure in the whole world. He was laughing with her. He was guiding her gently toward the jet steps.
The headline burned bright under the picture:
THE HEIRESS RETURNS: EVELYN HAYES — SOLE OWNER OF HAYES EMPIRE — SPOTTED LEAVING THE CITY. KNIGHT GROUP’S FUTURE UNCERTAIN AFTER DIVORCE.
Alexander’s fingers tightened around the edge of the tablet until his knuckles turned white. His vision blurred for a second, hot, sharp jealousy stabbing right through his chest.
She was rich. She was royalty. She owned everything.
“And I treated her like dirt,” he whispered, the words tasting like poison in his mouth. “I threw away a queen… because I thought she was a beggar.”
Mark cleared his throat nervously, stepping a little closer. “Sir… we checked the records again. Everything Mr. Wilson said… it’s true. The funding, the investments, the protection… it all came from her. She was holding this entire company up with one hand while she lived like a pauper in your house.”
He paused, glancing at Alexander’s face, scared to say more but knowing he had to.
“And… sir? People are talking. They’re saying… they’re saying you didn’t divorce a wife. You divorced your boss.”
Alexander didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He walked back to the window, throwing the tablet onto the desk behind him. It slid across the surface and fell onto the floor with a loud crash, but he didn’t care.
His mind was replaying every moment of the last few months. Every time Bella told him, “Evelyn doesn’t care about you, sir.” Every time Bella said, “She’s probably just waiting to take your money.” Every time Bella pushed him to sign papers faster, to hurry up and finalize the divorce, to get rid of her “before she causes trouble.”
He had believed her. He had believed every single word. Because Bella was bright, bubbly, always there, always agreeing with him. Bella was the one who made him feel powerful. Bella was the one who told him he was right.
And Evelyn… Evelyn had just stayed quiet. Letting him make the biggest mistake of his life.
“You think you’re so powerful, Alexander? Wait until everything you have crumbles down.”
Her voice echoed in his head, clear as day. Her eyes… that look she gave him before she walked out. It wasn’t sadness. It wasn’t defeat. It was pity. She had pitied him.
And now he knew why.
He was nothing. Without her, he was just a name with no money, no power, no foundation. A house built on sand, and she had just pulled the ground out from under him.
“Find her,” Alexander said suddenly, his voice rough and desperate. He turned around, eyes wild, filled with a terrifying mix of regret and determination. “I don’t care what it takes. Track that jet. Find out where she landed. I need to go to her. I need to… fix this.”
He started walking fast toward the door, grabbing his coat, already dialing his pilot. He didn’t care about the board meeting. He didn’t care about his parents screaming on the phone. He didn’t care that half the city was laughing at him.
All he cared about was her.
“I’ll beg if I have to,” he muttered to himself, stepping out into the hallway, rain blowing in through the open entrance doors. “I’ll get down on my knees. I’ll do anything. I was blind, Evelyn. I was such a stupid, blind fool… but I know now. I know who you are.”
He was about to rush down the stairs, ready to run straight to the airport, when suddenly… the clicking sound of high heels echoed loudly behind him. Fast. Panicked.
“Alexander! Wait! Where are you going?!”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
He closed his eyes for a second, a heavy, sick feeling settling in his gut. Slowly, very slowly, he turned around.
There she was.
Bella.
His secretary. His lover. The woman he thought was loyal and smart and perfect.
She was running toward him, face red, eyes wet, hair messy, clutching her bag tight against her chest. She looked exactly like she always did… fragile, dramatic, desperate for his attention. The woman he had chosen over Evelyn.
And looking at her now… after everything he just realized…
She looked fake.
She looked like a cheap copy compared to the diamond he had thrown away.
She stopped right in front of him, breathless, grabbing onto his arm like she was terrified he’d vanish. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she looked up at him with those big, innocent eyes she practiced so hard in the mirror every morning.
“Alexander, please! Don’t leave! Not now! The whole building is chaos! Your mother called me screaming, she wants to know where you are! And… and what about us? You promised me, remember?!”
Her voice trembled, sweet and tearful.
“You promised that once the divorce was done… you’d make me Mrs. Knight. You said I was the only one who truly loved you. You said we’d build everything together! Don’t tell me… don’t tell me you’re running after her now? After that woman who ruined everything?!”
Alexander stood perfectly still. He looked down at her hand gripping his expensive suit, then up to her tear-streaked face.
And suddenly… everything clicked into place.
The way she pushed the divorce papers. The lies she whispered about Evelyn. The way she knew exactly what buttons to push to make him angry or suspicious.
He didn’t know the full truth yet. Not everything. Not until Chapter 5.
But right now… standing there in the rain, with the memory of Evelyn as a queen burned into his mind…
Alexander felt a cold, terrifying anger start to rise up inside his chest.
He looked at Bella, and for the first time… he didn’t see the woman he loved.
He saw the woman who helped him destroy his life.
“Us?” Alexander repeated softly, his voice low and dangerous, barely a whisper. He stared deep into her eyes, making her flinch. “You think… right now… I care about us, Bella?”
Bella blinked, confused, her fake tears stalling. “I… I… yes! Alexander, we have plans! You said—”
“Save it.”
He yanked his arm away from her grip, hard and rough, making her stumble back a step.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing yet, Bella. And I don’t know how much you really know…” He stepped closer, towering over her, his face dark and twisted with regret and rage. “But one thing is very clear now.”
He pointed a finger right at her, his voice shaking with every word.
“You were right about one thing, though. You were right when you said Evelyn didn’t belong here. Because she was too good. Too rich. Too powerful. She was a queen… and we…”
He laughed, a sharp, bitter sound that cut right through her.
“We were just playing house. And you… you really think you deserve to be Mrs. Knight? You think you’re worth anything compared to her?”
Bella stood frozen, mouth open, real fear finally starting to show in her eyes.
“Alexander… what are you saying? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He didn’t answer. He just turned his back on her, stepping out into the pouring rain, letting it soak him instantly, washing away everything that came before.
He looked up at the sky, toward where Evelyn’s plane had gone.
“Stay out of my way, Bella,” he said over his shoulder, cold and final, not even looking back. “Because I’m going to get her back. And if anyone… anyone tries to stop me or lie to me again…”
He looked back at her one last time, eyes dead and terrifying.
“You’ll regret the day you were born.”
He turned and walked away fast, disappearing into the rainy night, leaving Bella standing alone on the steps, shivering, realizing with a sinking heart… that the man she manipulated and thought she owned… was gone.
And the man coming back?
Was going to be her worst nightmare.
- Writer
