“Needy? Are you kidding me right now? You’re the one that told me to talk to you when you hurt me. You’re hurting me right now, Alec.”
He rises from his seat, his palms flat on his desk. “What do you want? Every single thing you’ve ever asked for, I’ve given you. I helped you with your mother’s care, I helped you take down your father, I helped you regain everything you’ve lost, and I’m still housing your mother and providing her with round-the-clock care. What more do you want, Elena?” he asks, sounding defeated, frustrated.
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair.
“I’ve given you everything , Elena, and I didn’t ask you for much in return. All I wanted was a wife that would let me live my own life, Elena. It’s all I asked for.”
I swallow hard and nod even as my heart shatters. I take a step back and inhale shakily, pasting a smile on my face.
“Understood,” I tell him.
Alec hesitates, and for a second, I hope he’ll take back his words, but then he sits back down, his eyes on his computer.
I blink back the tears that have gathered in my eyes and paste a bright smile onto my face.
“There’s dinner for you in the kitchen, should you want it. I’ll stay out of your way.”
I turn and walk away, every fiber of my being longing for him to stop me.
He doesn’t.
Chapter 57
A lexander
I glance around my new office, feeling oddly uneasy. This office is all I’ve ever wanted, so why does attaining it feel so bleak?
I sit up in surprise when my office door opens. No one but my grandfather ever walks in without me being notified first.
My grandfather… and Elena , it seems.
My eyes roam over her body, my heart stirring involuntarily. She looks beautiful—she always does. It feels like I haven’t seen her in weeks, and I guess I haven’t, not really. We barely speak. I asked her for space and she’s giving it to me, whether I like it or not.
Just a few months ago, I’d have gotten up to kiss her. She’d have smiled at me as she walked over to me, sitting down in my lap. Now she looks at me expressionlessly.
“I wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here?” I glance at my watch and frown. “I have a meeting in ten minutes.”
She nods and sits down in front of me. “I apologize for intruding,” she says, placing her bag in her lap. She glances around, a small smile on her face. “Nice office.”
I smile and look around the way she just did. Sometimes I can barely believe I made it either. “Thank you. I’ve waited years for this. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
She leans back in her seat, a bittersweet smile on her face. “I’m happy for you,” she says, her tone sincere. “I’m happy you’ve achieved everything you wanted.”
She looks down, hesitating, before reaching into her purse. When she looks back at me, her eyes are filled with resignation. Elena hands me a piece of paper and I glance at it in surprise.
“A blank cheque?”
She stares at it and then lets her eyes fall closed for a couple of seconds, almost like she’s bracing herself. “You got everything you wanted and you never needed my help at all. I, on the other hand, relied on you heavily.” She points at the cheque and smiles. “Now that I’ve regained my assets, I’d like to pay you back—for everything. My mother’s medical bills, the shares you purchased for me, everything.”
My heart starts to race, dread filling me, and I grit my teeth. “Why?”
“Our agreement was supposed to be mutually beneficial, but it wasn’t. I’d like to remedy that. Besides, since you have no further need for me, we might as well dissolve our arrangement.”
I look at her with raised brows as she takes a stack of papers out of her bag. She stares at them before placing them on my desk. My stomach twists violently when she slides them my way.
I smile humorlessly as I pick up the divorce papers. “You want to divorce me?”
She nods, and I start laughing, the sound chilling even to my own ears. Elena’s calm expression infuriates me even further, and when she takes off her engagement ring and places it on my desk, I lose it.
I rise from my seat, rage unlike anything I’ve ever felt before coursing through my body. I walk around my desk and pull her out of her chair. Elena crashes into me, her eyes wide. My hands thread through her hair and I tip her head back, making her face me. I pull her body flush against mine and stare her down.
“There isn’t a single thing I’m not giving you. There isn’t anything I’ve ever denied you. I’ve even given you everything you didn’t dare ask for. Anything you wanted, Elena, I’ve given you. There’s nothing you’re missing. If you’re leaving me, it can only be for one reason. Who is it?”
She blinks, trying her best to portray innocence, the same way Jennifer did every single time I had doubts about Matthew and her.
“Alec, there’s no one else.”
I lift her onto my desk and push her legs apart, holding her the same way I held her at Vaughn’s.
I grab her chin and look into her eyes. Her gaze is unwavering, but I’ll break her silence. “Remember, Elena. You signed your life away to me.”
Her arms wrap around my neck, not a hint of fear in her eyes. “I did,” she says. “And now I’m buying it back.”
She places her palms against my chest and tightens her legs around me, pulling me closer.
I tighten my grip on her hair, desperation filling my every vein. “Didn’t you promise me forever? This is forever to you? Leaving me a mere few months before our wedding? I guess you got everything you wanted, huh? You used me and now you’re discarding me.”
She looks into my eyes, looking so damn heartbroken. “I love you, Alec.”
I freeze and she smiles mirthlessly.
“I love you. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I’m irrevocably in love with you.”
I pull away from her, staring at her in disbelief. She laughs, but there’s no humor in her eyes.
“You find that harder to believe than me cheating on you?”
I run a hand through my hair, unsure of what to say or think.
“Tell me you love me, Alec. Tell me you love me, too, and I’ll rip these divorce papers up right now. Hell, tell me you feel anything for me, that you think you might love me someday, and I’ll stay.”
After everything she and I have been through, after everything we’ve seen… how could she even believe in love? How could she ask it of me?
“Alexander,” she says, her voice trembling. She slips off my desk and straightens out her clothes, her head hanging low. “I’ve spent my entire life loving people that didn’t love me back. I won’t do it again. I won’t. Not even for you.”
She looks back at me before she walks away, her eyes dropping to the divorce papers on my desk before the door closes behind her.
Chapter 58
E lena
I stand at the entrance of the house I grew up in, everything feeling unfamiliar. I walk up the stairs to what used to be my childhood bedroom and pause in the doorway, shocked. My entire room has been converted into a walk-in closet, not a single one of my belongings remaining.