Chapter 11

Wendy's tearful outburst struck Alexander like a stone thrown into a lake, sending sudden, violent ripples through the calm surface of his composure. His fingers tightened around the phone so hard that his knuckles whitened slightly. "Elean! Eleanor! She's gone! She took the earliest flight out of the country! She said she's never coming back! Alexander, are you happy now?" Wendy's voice cracked into a shout before she abruptly hung up. The sharp, repetitive beeping filled the silence. Alexander stayed frozen in place, still holding the phone in his hand. The chandelier above his office cast a cold light over the sleek interior, highlighting his sharp, unreadable profile. His expression betrayed nothing, yet deep in his dark eyes, something seemed to shatter for an instant, only to be quickly buried under a layer of ice. The words "gone", "abroad", and "never coming back" echoed in his mind like fine shards of ice, piercing into the most hidden corner of his heart with a sharp, u