When we arrived back at the villa, Alexander removed his coat, hung it neatly on the rack, and casually placed the car keys on the table.

I sat down quietly on the sofa while he walked into the kitchen. A few moments later, he returned carrying a cup of coffee for himself and a glass of warm water for me.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" he asked casually before taking a sip of his coffee. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

I looked at him calmly.

"Let’s divorce, Alexander."

The moment the words left my mouth, Alexander froze.

The cup slipped from his hand and shattered against the floor. The scalding coffee spilled over his fingers before soaking into his trousers, but he seemed completely unaware of it.

He only stared at me clearly in disbelief.

"What did you say?"

"I said... let’s divorce."

I met his eyes steadily as I repeated the words.

When he still remained silent, I continued softly,

"We can get the divorce certificate first without telling Nana. We’ll keep it a secret for now and wait for the right time."

Alexander sat motionless, staring at me without even blinking.

"Oh my God, Sir! Your hand—your trousers too! What happened?"

Maria hurried over after hearing the cup shatter. She quickly crouched down to clean the mess, but the moment she noticed Alexander’s reddened hand, her expression changed.

"You burned yourself! I’ll go get some ointment—"

"I don’t need it!" Alexander suddenly snapped coldly. "Go back to your room."

Maria froze instantly.

Sensing the terrifying atmosphere, she didn’t dare say another word. She quickly gathered the broken pieces before retreating toward her room.

Before closing the door, she glanced at me nervously and said cautiously,

"Sir... please talk things through calmly. Don’t act impulsively."

The moment her door shut, silence filled the villa once more.

Alexander slowly turned his gaze back toward me, his dark eyes filled with questions.

"Why are you suddenly bringing up divorce?"

"Haven’t we always planned to divorce eventually?" I replied quietly. "There’s no point dragging this on anymore."

"It’s not up to you to decide whether it has meaning or not."

"I don’t want to argue about this anymore. I’ve already made my decision."

"I don’t agree."

I clenched my fingers lightly.

"I remember Nana saying that if, after trying to get along, we still wanted a divorce someday, then once she was no longer around, nobody would stop us."

I paused briefly before continuing.

"You promised her that yourself. So what’s the point of waiting now? It’s meaningless."

Back when Nana had been hospitalized a few months ago, I had been devastated by her condition. But as time passed, I slowly came to accept the painful truth that one day... she would eventually leave us.

That was why I wanted to keep this hidden from her for now.

As long as nobody noticed, I could quietly distance myself from Alexander little by little until the right time came. Uncle Steve had already promised to help speak to Nana when the time was right.

"Then tell me why now," Alexander demanded. "Is this because of the leak? I already—"

"It’s not because of that."

I cut him off before he could finish.

"If there’s a reason..." My voice grew quieter. "It’s because I don’t want to remain trapped in a loveless marriage anymore."

I forced myself to finish the lie.

"I can’t stay with someone I don’t love."

Alexander’s eyes instantly darkened.

"Then who do you love?" he asked sharply. "Aiden? Is that why you want a divorce? So you can be with him?"

I narrowed my eyes and stood up immediately.

"I’m done talking about this."

But before I could walk away, Alexander suddenly lunged forward.

Without using force, he pinned me gently against the wall and trapped both of my wrists above my head. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at me intensely.

"Do you really like him that much?" he growled hoarsely.

"Alexander, let go of me."

But instead of releasing me, he stepped even closer, completely trapping me beneath him.

One of his hands suddenly slid beneath my shirt, his fingertips brushing lightly across my stomach in slow circles.

My entire body froze instantly.

I couldn’t even bring myself to struggle anymore.

Blinded by anger and jealousy, Alexander failed to notice the sudden stiffness in my body.

His voice turned rough and uneven.

"If you were carrying our child... would you still want to divorce me?"

I looked straight into his eyes.

"Do you remember?" I asked softly. "I once asked you the exact same question."

Back then, I had carefully hidden all my feelings as I asked him:

"If we had a child someday... would you still insist on divorce?"

Even now, I could still remember his answer perfectly.

"There is no ’if.’ And even if there were, I wouldn’t let a child be born into this mess."

Alexander clearly remembered it too.

His expression stiffened little by little.

I looked at him calmly and repeated those same words back to him.

"There is no ’if.’ And even if there were... I wouldn’t keep the child."

Alexander’s breathing suddenly grew heavier.

He stared at me with bloodshot eyes, his jaw clenched so tightly it almost trembled. It looked as though he wanted to say something... yet no words came out.

Finally, he released me abruptly.

Without another word, he turned around and slammed the door behind him as he left.

I stood there quietly for a long moment, forcing myself to calm down before finally heading upstairs.

After freshening up, I went straight to bed.

Alexander never came back that night.

Even when I woke up the next morning, his side of the bed remained perfectly neat and untouched, as though no one had slept there at all.

But strangely enough... I no longer cared.

Since it was Sunday, I spent the day eating and resting however I pleased.

Maria tried several times to persuade me to tell Alexander about the pregnancy, insisting that everything would work out somehow, but I refused every single time.

There was no point anymore.

By noon, Alexander still hadn’t returned.

I was halfway through lunch when my phone suddenly vibrated with a message from Ariana.

Ariana: Alicia, have you seen the trending news yet?!

Ariana: An interview with a scumbag!

I frowned slightly in confusion before opening Twitter, which I hadn’t checked in quite a while.

The top trending topic immediately caught my attention.

#AlexanderBlackwoodExclusiveInterview

A bright red HOT tag sat beside it.

My brows furrowed instinctively.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I immediately tapped on it.....