Chapter 165
No.1
Flames danced in those depths, threatening to consume her.
"I need nothing from you. Just... stay away."
"Don't say that!" His voice cracked. "Do you know how terrified I was? Your sudden disappearance—"
Even after confirming her safety, he'd needed to see her, touch her, to believe it.
Alexander had surrendered.
Begging was his only recourse now.
The mere thought of her in danger—
No.2
Agony lanced through him.
"Alexander," Evelyn lowered her lashes, "I thought you understood. I'm not coming back..."
Her clear eyes lifted to his.
"Thirteen years was enough. There's nothing left for you."
"You need do nothing. Let me be the one—" His grip tightened desperately. "Name your terms, just stay."
"Like before?" A humorless laugh escaped her. "Impossible. My world gained color after leaving you. I won't return to that grayscale existence."
"Then tell me how!" Alexander refused to release her. "Must you push me to extremes?"
No.3
He was trapped.
"If danger found you while I—" His voice broke. "Have you no care for my torment?"
"Alexander," Evelyn interrupted, "I met with Triad Hyde tonight."
Silence swallowed the corridor.
"I know." His jaw tightened. "I was there too."
He'd anticipated her rescuing the colleague.
"The bugged conference room, the leaked position—all my doing."
No.4
Every move calculated.
"My colleague is safe." Evelyn held his gaze. "I don't need your protection anymore."
The unspoken truth hung between them—
She didn't need him.
Because she no longer loved him.
Pain flashed across Alexander's features.
"I know you hate me." His voice roughened. "I failed you before."
No.5
"Can't you... grant me one chance? I swear—"
Evelyn's prolonged silence surprised even herself.
She'd never imagined Alexander Kingsley capable of such humility.
How ironic—only her absence could awaken his regard.
"Pathetic." Her eyes glistened. "Thirteen years to learn this lesson."
All those sacrifices now seemed laughable.
"You'll never know what I endured for you, Alexander..."
No.6
Something shattered between them irreparably.
When he reached for her, she recoiled.
"Don't! We're done."
"Evelyn, what did you do?" Sudden dread gripped him.
What had he missed?
The secrets he'd overlooked now yawned like an uncrossable chasm.
He'd lost even the right to beg.
No.7
"You don't deserve to know." Evelyn's voice was glacial, yet scalding tears traced down her cheeks. "Alexander Kingsley, every time I see you, it's a reminder of my own stupidity. Everything I sacrificed for you was a joke."
She turned to leave, but Alexander seized her wrist.
"Evelyn!"
She wrenched free. "Don't touch me!" Backing away, her gaze turned lethal. "If you push me again, I'll jump from here. I swear it."
Alexander froze.
He'd never seen this version of Evelyn. Those eyes that once adored him now held only arctic contempt.
"I mean it." She retreated further into the shadows. "Test me."