Chapter 5

Alexander hid behind a pillar outside the ballroom, catching Audrey's conversation with her cousin, Roxanne Scurfield. "Seriously, Drey—you can't keep this up forever," Roxanne said, frowning. "Secrets don't stay hidden. No matter how careful you are, Xander will find out eventually." Audrey smiled. "I love Xander, but Gavin is the father of my children. I can't just shut him out. Besides, this arrangement works well enough." "And what if the truth comes out?" Roxanne muttered. "You're betraying your marriage. It's not fair to Xander." "That day won't come. We've made it two years already, haven't we?" Audrey replied, her confidence unwavering. "I know I've wronged Xander, and I'll make it up to him. I'll treat him twice as well." Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You think throwing money at it makes up for love? Listen. As your cousin, I'm giving you a heads-up. Aunt Zoey's flying back soon, and she's super old-fashioned. "She can't stand people who mess around like you do. So keep your affair quiet. If Aunt Zoey finds out, she'll expose you before you even see it coming!" Alexander slid down the pillar, slow and weak, before collapsing to the floor. His heart had long gone numb from the pain. Now, all that remained was a sick feeling. He staggered as he got to his feet, then he fled the hotel. But the relentless psychological blows of the past few days finally overtook him. His vision darkened, and he crashed face-first onto the ground. … When he woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. A woman in a tailored suit sat on the couch beside the bed, her frameless glasses resting on her nose. She flipped through a thick stack of papers, her face unreadable. Yet there was an undeniable intensity in her striking, elegant features. Alexander sat up, staring blankly for a moment before recognition dawned upon him. The woman before him was Audrey's aunt, Zoey Scurfield. She had been running her business abroad for years, so Alexander had only met her a few times. All he knew was that Audrey was a little afraid of Zoey, who was three years older. Back when Audrey was a mischievous kid, Ronan and Odette couldn't bring themselves to discipline her, so Zoey was the one who stepped in. Audrey had always thought of Zoey as rigid and stern, someone who had to follow everything by the book. "You awake?" Zoey shut the file in her hands. "The doctor said you collapsed because you got yourself too worked up after surgery. You weren't fully recovered." She moved closer to Alexander. "Audrey doesn't know about your surgery, does she? If she did, she never would've let you pass out alone on the street." Alexander was silent for a long moment. "Thanks for today. But please don't tell her about this." When Zoey didn't answer, he lowered his voice and pleaded, "Please." Zoey hesitated. Something was clearly off between them. By all rights, Audrey should know about it. But something in her softened. Against her better judgment, she agreed to keep his secret. She then had someone take Alexander home. He had just gotten home when Audrey returned as well. "Honey, what would you like for lunch? I'll make it for you," she said. No matter how busy she was, she had always prepared all three of his daily meals for years, worried that the chef might not put enough care into them or that the food might not suit his taste. She then took out a new watch. "Your custom watch is here. Take a look and see if you like it, honey." Alexander looked at it. The design was identical to the one she had given Gavin earlier that day. He couldn't help but laugh bitterly. The entire time, he'd believed her devotion was his alone. Now, he saw the truth. It was just an empty gesture, carelessly given to two men. "No, it's fine. I'll go check out Tree Hollow." Tree Hollow was the estate Audrey had built for Alexander three years earlier. It was a place filled with so many cherished memories. Audrey's 97th confession of love finally worked at Tree Hollow. That was where they first held hands and shared their first kiss. It was there she promised Alexander they'd stay together for life. The place was on the outskirts of town. After they got married, they hardly ever visited, since it was too far out of the way. It was noon. Alexander knew that by 3:00 pm, he'd be leaving this place for good. Before then, he wanted one last look at Tree Hollow as his final goodbye. Audrey froze, panic flashing across her face. She'd given Gavin the keys to Tree Hollow previously when he insisted on staying there, and now, he'd taken the two kids there to hang out. "Okay. We'll go after lunch," she said, slipping into the kitchen to secretly text Gavin, warning him to leave the place. By 1:00 pm, Alexander and Audrey arrived at Tree Hollow. The moment they stepped inside, Alexander knew something was wrong. The garden roses had been swapped for lilies. The pale green curtains were now pink. Even a child's rocking horse sat in the living room. Someone else had clearly been living here. But Alexander played dumb, walking straight upstairs without saying a single word. A few photo albums of him and Audrey still sat in the bedroom. He planned to take them away and burn them because leaving them there made him sick. But the moment he opened one, he froze. Every photo was of Audrey with Gavin and the twins. The four of them were pictured in lavender fields, at Avalaine Tower, on a hot air balloon—all the places Audrey had once taken him. Every spot held memories that had once meant everything. Yet now he knew that in all those moments she never mentioned, she had taken Gavin there too, tainting the last remnants of what he'd believed belonged only to them. Seeing Alexander's face turn pale, Audrey stepped closer. "What's wrong, honey?" Alexander snapped the photo album shut and forced a smile. "Nothing. I just want to go home." As he turned to head downstairs, Audrey's phone pinged. Alarm flashed across her face. "Honey, I need to run to the bathroom. Can you wait for me downstairs?" Alexander nodded and walked away. But a few minutes later, he doubled back, only to catch Audrey's frantic voice through the bathroom door. "I told you to take the kids and go. Why are you still here?" "Auds, don't you want to have a little fun?" Gavin chuckled. "Last time, we did it right on your bed with your wedding photos in plain view. But now he's just downstairs. Doesn't that make it even hotter?" Audrey's breathing grew ragged. "Never again!" The wet slap of skin and other filthy sounds filled the air. Alexander stood outside the door, his heart unnervingly still. He couldn't make sense of how the woman he loved had ended up like a rose in the mud—still alluring, yet rotting underneath. Or perhaps she had always been this way, and he'd simply failed to see it. Alexander remembered how, long ago, Audrey had first introduced him to her social circle. These privileged elites—all of them wealthy or powerful—would pretend to offer their blessings to their face, only to mock Audrey behind her back. They called her a fool for being devoted to just one man. After all, with their status, they could easily have ten lovers at once without breaking a sweat. Audrey had told him, "I'm not like them. I only love you." As it turned out, there was no difference. They were all the same kind of rotten; it was only a matter of time. Alexander gave a dry laugh and went downstairs, his footsteps light and quick. He came from the mountains, where his mother, Gloria Jarman, had been trafficked and ended up with his father, Peter Coleman. Peter was a drunk who abused both Gloria and Alexander whenever he was wasted. At 13, Alexander ran away from those mountains, and the first thing he did was put Peter behind bars. Peter screamed at him, cursing that he'd die a wretched death. Gloria was freed because of Alexander, but she never thanked him. That was because Alexander was proof of her shame—a reminder she could never escape. Growing up in such a broken family, Alexander learned to build towering walls around his heart, keeping everyone at arm's length. But when he turned 18, Audrey burst into his life. She was like an unstoppable flame, relentlessly melting the ice in his heart and soothing every wound from his past. She gave Alexander more love than he'd ever known and taught him how to love again. Yet in the end, she was the one who plunged the cruelest knife at the peak of his happiness, leaving a wound that would never fully heal.