“Mr. Markston! Mr. Markston!”

The sharp, persistent voice of my secretary sliced through the fog swirling in my head. I blinked, realizing belatedly that he had been calling me for God knows how long. The document in his hand trembled as he held it out, and with a heavy sigh that came from deep in my chest, I snatched it from him.

“Leave it there,” I muttered. The papers meant nothing to me anyway.

I couldn’t focus. Not on the numbers neatly typed across the reports stacked like mountains on my desk, not on the deals that needed my signature, not even on the endless meetings lined up for today.

My mind was elsewhere.

Alice.

Her pale, disoriented face from this morning refused to leave my head. The way her lips quivered, her voice shaking yet filled with venom when she looked me in the eye.

“My only regret was ever signing a marriage contract with you.”

The words echoed like poison in my ears.

It shouldn’t have bothered me. I had heard worse insults from competitors, harsher accusations from enemies, even crueler taunts from people who wished me dead. But Alice’s words? They cut deeper than all of them combined.

I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes, but that only worsened it. I saw her again, trembling yet defiant. I saw the fire in her gaze when she challenged me.

Hurting her… it had never been my intention. Yet every word I spoke to her these days seemed to do just that.

Why couldn’t she remain the way she was two years ago? Soft. Gentle. Dependent. Mine.

Now, she stood tall against me, her spine unbending. And every time she did, something inside me twisted—anger, frustration, and something far more dangerous. Fear. Fear that one day, she might not need me at all.

A low groan escaped me as I raked a hand through my hair.

If only I had met her before Lilian.

But the thought was dangerous. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.

No. Don’t go there.

Lilian was irreplaceable. My savior. My anchor. Without her, I wouldn’t be here today. She pulled me out from the wreckage ten years ago, after that accident that nearly ended my life. She stood by me when no one else did. She gave me strength to rebuild. To fight. To conquer.

Alice… Alice was just—

“Mr. CEO!” My secretary burst in again, panic etched on his features.

I straightened, irritation flashing in my tone. “What is it this time?”

He swallowed, sweat beading at his temple. “News just came in—the JB Company has recruited a new designer.”

I froze. I didn’t need him to utter the name. My fists curled tight on their own.

Her.

“Get me everything about JB Company,” I snapped, my voice as sharp as glass.

“Yes, sir!” He vanished, only to return minutes later, breathless, clutching a thick file.

I snatched it, flipping through, my gaze burning with every line.

“JB Company. Originally an entertainment industry. Rebranded five years ago when Adrian Spencer took over as CEO. Rival to KNT Corporation.”

Adrian Spencer.

The name was sour on my tongue. Morgan’s cousin. My rival. And now… Alice’s new savior?

My jaw clenched until it ached.

Far away from my suffocating office, in the grand conference hall of JB Company, Alice stood before a crowd.

She looked nervous—flustered even—as board directors and executives lined up to shake her hand. Yet beneath that nervousness was something new. A spark. A resolve I hadn’t seen in her for a long time.

The morning’s pain hadn’t broken her. Instead, it had pushed her to make a choice.

A choice to stand tall.

To fight.

To protect herself… and her future.

Adrian had been there, picking her up from the café. My chest twisted imagining it—the relief on her face when she saw him, the way she must have smiled gratefully as he drove her here.

Now, he stood beside her, tall, confident, radiating calm assurance.

“Don’t worry about anything,” Adrian’s voice carried softly, yet firmly across the room. “You’re safe here, Alice. This is your space now. No one can bully you anymore.”

Alice lowered her gaze, her fingers tightening around the contract in her hands. “But Adrian… this contract… It feels too generous. Are you sure?”

His lips curved into a reassuring smile. “Add whatever clauses you need. Make it yours. I don’t want you to feel trapped again, not like… before.” His voice dipped, deliberate, almost mocking the invisible man who had made her life hell.

She looked up at him then—eyes soft, glistening with gratitude. “Adrian… Thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done without your support.”

He leaned closer, his gaze steady. “You don’t owe me thanks, Alice. If anything, I should be thanking you—for trusting me. Back in college, I admired your strength. You might not have noticed, but I always did.”

Alice blinked, startled, her lips parting. But before she could respond, the board applauded, congratulating her appointment.

Still, the way she looked at him… it was with trust. With relief.

And all I could think was—

That trust should have been mine.

Back at KNT

The file lay forgotten when my phone rang, sharp and cold.

“Mr. Markston?” A calm voice spoke. “This is the city hospital. A woman named Alice was admitted earlier. She fainted. The doctor requests you come immediately, as you are listed as her husband.”

My breath hitched. “Alice… fainted?”

“Yes, sir.”

Before he could say more, I was already out of my chair. The board directors called after me, my secretary rushed to keep up, but none of it mattered. Not the meeting, not the reports, not the contracts.

Only her.

I slid into my car, the steering wheel trembling under my grip. The engine roared as I tore through the city streets, my knuckles white, my pulse a hammer in my ears.

But then—

My phone rang again.

Lilian.

Her voice came through broken, trembling. “Vincent… I—I was in an accident. I’m hurt. Please… come to me. I need you.”

I slammed the brakes at the red light, chest constricting painfully.

Alice. My wife. Lying unconscious in the hospital.

Lilian. My first love. My savior. Begging for me.

Sweat trickled down my temples. My grip on the wheel faltered.

“Who do I go to first?”

Alice—the woman bound to me by marriage, the one whose face haunted me in every waking hour?

Or Lilian—the woman who had once saved me from the darkness, who had been my anchor when I was drowning?

The light turned green.

And I…