The Stolen Heiress: Claimed by her Father's Ruthless Enemy.-Chapter 57: You are Pathetic.

Alexander was right behind me as we walked to the parking lot. I couldn’t focus on my surroundings. My head was still in a whirlwind about the chandelier incident, and there was so much doubt and fear in my mind. What if Alexander hadn’t gotten me out on time? I would have died. And it wouldn’t have been just a coincidence. The whole thing wasn’t. Someone was after my life.

I stopped upon reaching the car. Alexander moved past me and opened the car door for me. I glanced at him before sliding inside. It was silent, and even when he got inside, he didn’t speak to me, nor did I. But I could see the little sense of disturbance in his expression that told me something wasn’t right. Was it the fact that I didn’t thank him for "saving" my life? I thought, then shook my head. That didn’t matter at the moment. I would thank him later; right now, I needed to speak with him.

"I think someone did it on purpose," I finally said, breaking the silence. Alexander looked away from the night traffic ahead of us and glanced at me. "Are you sure?" he asked calmly. I slowly shook my head, frustrated. "I don’t know... it just... it doesn’t feel right. A chandelier can’t just fall on its own without being tampered with or having some fault, which I don’t think would be possible at such a high-end party."

"You’re right," he breathed as he drove into the street of his mansion. "It was planned." My head snapped towards him in almost excitement. "You think so too?" He didn’t answer immediately, which made my shoulders drop. Maybe he didn’t think so, or perhaps he just said that to...

But suddenly, his voice interrupted my thoughts. "I don’t believe in coincidence, especially not when it involves you," he stated, causing a frown to crease my eyebrows. "What’s that supposed to mean?" "It means someone wants you dead," he declared bluntly. A shiver went down my spine.

"I... I don’t think so. It could have just been an accident," I said. "Accidents don’t work like that." His tone sounded a bit colder now. Right. But what was I supposed to think? "So, what do you say? Will you help me?" "Only if I want to," he replied nonchalantly.

We didn’t speak to each other after that. And when we arrived at the mansion, I got out of the car without waiting for him to open the door for me like he always did sometimes and headed straight to the stairs, with Alexander following right behind me. Suddenly, Ethan appeared from a corner as soon as we were on the second floor. He glanced at me before walking past to meet Alexander. I wanted to ignore it but decided to wait and listen to what he was about to say to Alexander. After all, Ethan had been working on my mother’s case.

"Boss, I have something for you..." Ethan said, handing something that looked like a USB drive to Alexander. "What is it about?" he asked, observing the item in his hand. "Ms. Seraphina." Out of instinct, I took a step forward at the mention of my mother’s name. "I managed to get most of the hospital’s footage," Ethan added. "What about the other one I asked for?" Alexander asked. "Still working on it." "Good. Make sure I have it within two days. It’s urgent," he said and began to walk away without waiting for Ethan to respond.

Alexander seemed to be making his way towards the study, and I trailed behind him even though he never asked me to follow him. Not that I needed his permission. We were both working on my mother’s case together, not just him. Once we got inside the study, Alexander went to the desk and took his seat while I stood in front of the closed door. He was still ignoring me and didn’t even tell me to sit down.

But as soon as he inserted the USB drive into his laptop, I quickly moved to the chair facing him and sat down. "What do you think you are doing?" Finally, he said, eyeing me, a hint of annoyance in his tone. "Nothing." I looked at him as I leaned against the chair, trying to seem unfazed despite the knots in my stomach. "Remember you said you were going to let me know about any updates regarding my mother. So... I’m here for it," I added.

"Yes. Did I ever say you could be here for every little thing?" he asked, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "No. But aren’t we doing this together?" His frown disappeared, replaced by a raised brow the moment I said that. He seemed even more annoyed now. I sighed in frustration and continued, "Anyway, I am not going anywhere. I’m already part of the investigation whether you like it or not," the words came out sharper than I intended.

Alexander shot me a cold glare, and before I knew it, he rose from his seat, pulled the USB drive from the laptop, and began to walk away. Wait... what? I watched, confused, as he shut the door closed with so much force that the sound made me jump in my seat. What was wrong with him? Not thinking too much, I abruptly stood up from my seat and rushed after him.

"Where are you going?" I called out even though I already knew where he was heading. He didn’t answer me or slow down. He just kept striding towards his bedroom, as though I wasn’t losing my breath trying to catch up with him. And it infuriated me even more. When he reached his door, I quickened my pace. He stepped inside and tried to close it, but I was faster. I forced my way through before it could shut completely, my heart pounding in my chest, not from fear, but from anger. Pure anger.

"Why are you always like this?" I demanded, trying to keep my tone as calm as possible, despite the fire blooming inside of me. "You shut everything down when something doesn’t go your way." He ignored me completely. He was already taking off his suit jacket as he moved towards the closet, as though I wasn’t even in the room, let alone talking.

"I thought you were a man of your words," I said again, intending to get a reaction from him. "You promised I could be part of this investigation, only to go back on your word when things began to get real." As I expected, that got to him. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he stood there halfway unbuttoning his waistcoat.

Then, ever so slowly, he turned to face me. His eyes were so cold that they sent shivers down my spine. "You thought I was a man of my word?" he said, each word laced with venom. "Perhaps you misunderstood. I am not bound by promises. I’m bound by results. And if you think I owe you an explanation or a seat at the table, then you are even more naive than I thought."

For a moment, his words hung in the air like a heavy fog before they began to slowly sink in. "Then, you are a liar," I finally replied, holding his gaze. "You promise things you never intended to keep, then act like everyone else is the fool for believing you. That’s not being pragmatic. That’s just being pathetic."

He didn’t react to my words like I expected. Instead, he simply unbuttoned his waistcoat, dropped it on the couch near him, and suddenly, he started walking towards me. The indignation on my face faltered as fear crept in. What... What was he going to do? I knew I had crossed the line by calling him pathetic... but... Before I could finish my thoughts, he was already standing a few inches away from me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from him. His presence was suffocating, pressing down on me in a way that made it hard to breathe.

So, I took a step back to catch some air in my lungs. "Everything is pathetic," he began, his tone so calm it was dangerous. "You think just because I haven’t crushed you yet, you’re entitled to something. You’re not. You are here because I decide you will be. The roof over your head, the food you eat, the clothes you wear... Don’t mistake all that for kindness or fairness. I am not kind, Anna. You better be careful with me."

Wait... Did he just say my name? He had NEVER done that before, and now I understood why. He had been keeping that distance on purpose, and now that he was using it, it felt like he was reminding me exactly who held the power here. But I wasn’t going to stand here and let him see how much it rattled me.

I held his gaze for another moment, not knowing what to say. Well, what is there to say? He had made his point crystal clear. So I turned and walked toward the door, quietly shutting it behind me.