Chapter 0218
Chapter 0218
Ella POV
“You did the right thing by calling me,” Alexander said, his voice steady, reassuring. “I’ll look into the number. We’ve already got heavy security for the wedding, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. This doesn’t really qualify as a threat–more of a warning.”
“It’s just… it bothers me that I don’t know who sent it,” I admitted with a sigh, pulling the blanket tighter around
- me.
I was sitting cross–legged in bed, already in my pajamas. The lateness of the hour didn’t bother me; what lingered was the unsettling mystery of the message.
Alexander had been busy all day, tied up in meetings. I knew it had tak me back, so I wasn’t surprised that it was already close to midnight.
“Your father is looking into it too, right?” he asked after a moment.
“Yes,” I said softly. “But I knew you’d want to know, too.”
a lot for him to carve out the time to call
“You’re right,” he replied. His voice dipped slightly, betraying the exhaustion he tried to mask. I could hear the edge of annoyance creeping in–not at me, but at the situation itself. Alexander always carried more weight than he let on, and this added one more burden to an already heavy load.
A silence settled between us, not awkward but reflective. I could picture him wherever he was, his expression tight, eyes narrowed, already calculating his next move.
“Alexander,” I said after a moment, my voice quieter, “I don’t want this to ruin everything we’ve worked so hard to build. Especially now.”
“It won’t,” he said, firm and unyielding. “I won’t let it.”
His words should have reassured me, and yet the way he said them–so resolute, so unflinching–made my chest tighten with an ache I couldn’t quite name.
“Get some rest,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I replied. “Goodnight, Alexander.”
“Goodnight,” he replied.
I set my phone down on the nightstand and pulled my bunny close, trying to push the uneasy feeling from my mind. Sleep was what I needed, though it felt elusive.
Snuggling into the blankets, I closed my eyes and let the rhythm of my breathing carry me into restless slumber. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of a busy shopping center, surrounded by a low humn of voices and movement. My eyes were drawn to a large screen television mounted high above the bustling crowd.
The news was on, and Alexander’s name scrolled across the bottom of the screen in bold letters.
A sick feeling crept over me as I stared at the images.
A strikingly beautiful woman appeared on the screen, her face twisted in anger as she spoke directly to the
cameras.
Gasps rippled through the crowd, echoing my own. My heart sank as the weight of her words pressed down on me. “How could he?” I whispered, but my voice sounded foreign to me weak and filled with doubt.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0218
Around me, the people reacted, their voices merging into a cacophony of judgment.
“What a bastard,” someone muttered nearby.
“What a creep,” another voice added angrily.
The footage shifted to Alexander, stepping out of a cherry–red sports car, his dark sunglasses shielding his eyes. Dressed in somber clothing, his expression was unreadable, but I knew him too well not to see the cracks beneath the surface.
The reporters swarmed him, their cameras flashing as they barked questions at him, their tone accusatory and relentless.
“Alpha Black, how long have you known the truth?”
“Did you know about this before the election?”
“Do you plan to take responsibility?”
Each question was like a dagger, sharp and cruel, and my skin prickled with indignation.
Alexander’s chin remained high as he strode past them, his posture proud and defiant. But I saw it–the slight tension in his jaw, the way his hands clenched at his sides. He was upset, though he refused to show it.
The image on the screen changed again, this time a smiling headshot of Alexander. It was from the campaign, but that had passed already. He’d lost.
I wanted to scream at the crowd, but my voice wouldn’t come. I felt trapped, my body rigid, my breath shallow as if I were suffocating.
Someone put their arm
round me, and I turned to find David beside me.
“It’s what he deserves,” he said with a sneer. His joy at Alexander’s struggles was obvious. I wanted to shove him away from me, but to my horror, I couldn’t. Instead, I leaned into his embrace.
I felt sick. This couldn’t be real.
I woke with a start, sitting up in bed and clutching my bunny tightly to my chest. My heart raced as the remnants of the dream clung to me like cobwebs. It wasn’t just a dream—it was a memory from the original timeline.
These memories often haunted me, though they were usually of happy moments with David, now stained by the truth of who he was.
But this… this was the first time I’d dreamed of Alexander and what had happened to him in my first life.
Back then, we had been strangers–enemies, even. My loyalty to David had been absolute, and I had believed everything he told me about Alexander: that he was a womanizing cheat, a liar, unworthy of trust. But I knew better now.
After losing the election for King, Alexander had been besieged by relentless rumors and media harassment. I remembered how he had faced it all with an almost defiant bravery. Yet, there was one scandal that had shattered even his unflinching resolve.
A sick feeling churned in my stomach as I thought of the story and struggled to recall the details, but they slipped away with the rest of the dream.
Would she reappear in this lifetime? Had it been another of David’s cruel manipulations? I knew he was willing to pay people to lie for him.
Chapter 0218
+25 BONUS
I didn’t know what to believe.
The fear from the dream began to subside, replaced by another thought, something brighter that lingered at the edges of my mind. I clung to it, a lifeline against the unease.
Alexander–stepping out of his sleek sports car, dark sunglasses shielding his eyes, his presence commanding as ever. The memory was vivid, as though my subconscious had plucked it from some hidden corner of my mind.
I recognized the place: the racetrack where Formula One races were held. I had been there once with David, though he’d dismissed it as boring, and we’d never gone back.
A small smile tugged at my lips as I looked down at the bunny in my arms. It was a gamble, but what if Alexander was a racing fan?
“At least we’ve found our special date idea,” I whispered to the bunny, the glimmer of hope and excitement pushing the lingering dread of the dream into the background.
