Chapter 97: Cursing Him

We were at a charity event. It was overflowing with flashing cameras, high-society whispers, and useless shit but I couldn't care less about them.

My attention was on our flawless public image.

“What? Why are you staring at me like this?” Alyssa's shy chuckle escaped, covering her face in her hands.

“We are at an event, Vince, go and talk to others.”

“My eyes are on what I want to see the most.” I smirked, taking a sip of my drink to which she tapped my forearm scolding-ly.

“Vince!”

“What? What did I do?”

She giggled, shaking her head and turned to walk away but I grabbed her elbow.

“Did I allow you to leave, Mrs. Lysander?”

But, our focus was shattered when my eyes spotted my target– the reason behind my over affection in public.

Standing across the grand hall, holding a deeply grieved face was Arden.

He was nursing a drink, his eyes burning right into mine.

He thought he could still reach her, that his little threats in my office meant something but upon watching our “Perfection”, the defeated fce exhilarated me.

But, I wasn’t done yet.

“Alyssa.”

My eyes locked back at Alyssa, who was laughing at something a nearby person had said. Looking breathtaking, her smile radiating a warmth I spent incredible effort to create.

I had to make sure he realised that.

“Look at me,” I murmured, my voice cutting through the ambient noise.

She obeyed instantly, her eyes bright, blinking at me, “Yes..?”

There was no need to use words.

It was time for action.

My hand wrapped firmly around the back of her neck, latching our gazes to turn her oblivious of the world and pressed her firmly against my chest.

Before she could even gasp or register what I intended to do, my lips were already sealed hers in a magical kiss.

It wasn't our usual gentle, private embrace. It was deep, passionately, and fiercely possessive, an action I had fantasized about many times.

“Mr. Lysander?” The man next to us cleared his throat, uncomfortable but too shocked. No one had seen me like this.

Alyssa stiffened in pure shock before she melted completely, her hands gripping my lapels, returning the kiss with an intoxicating fervor.

To the world—and to the breathless woman in my arms—this was a display of my mad, untamed passion.

When I finally pulled back, Alyssa’s cheeks were crimson, panting, blinking up at me in a daze.

“Vince... right out here?” she whispered, a beautiful, thrilled smile etched on her features.

“I couldn't help myself, you look too good to resist.” I replied smoothly, brushing a thumb over her lower lip.

“Wait for me by the lounge, my love. I need to take care of something.”

“Okay,” she breathed, completely captivated.

As she walked away, my eyes twisted from Arden toward a sour glare of a commoner in the corner. A teacher to be exact who was cursing me endlessly in her heart.

After Alyssa was gone, I excused myself and moved to the secluded corridor, risking Arden taking his chance. But, this time, I was absolutely sure my woman won’t even bother with him.

She was absolutely mine.

Leaning against the wall, I lit up a cigarette, speaking to the air coldly, “Why are you here?”

My eyes stopped at the shadow in the corner, “Sadie?”

“Still remember my name?” She stepped out, her hollow, devastated eyes greeting me.

“I thought you had forgotten a weak person like me existed in the first place, just like you did with your ex-fiancée, Ashley.”

“I have nothing to do with another woman.” I gave an unbothered response, pissing her off.

“How can you be so cold, Vince Lysander!”

She snapped wretchedly, hitting the table in the corner, causing the vase to fall down and break.

My gaze travelled to the broken piece of embellishment before looking back to her with a cruel indifference.

“Are you sure you pay back for this loss, Ken’s Widow?”

A horrified gasp left her lips, retreating a step.

“Is this the name you have decided for me, you monster?” The title made her thoroughly repulsed with me.

I scoffed, “What other identity do you have?” Turning slightly, I exhaled the smoke calmly in the air, looking dead into her eyes.

Slowly, I reached into the inner pocket of my tailored suit jacket. I pulled out my checkbook, slid a premium fountain pen from my pocket, and wrote down a figure with a series of effortless zeroes.

A sum that could buy her a new life, or at least buy her silence.

I ripped the check from the book with a sharp snap.

“Support. For you.” My eyes fell on her stomach, holding the check out between two fingers. “And this.”

Sadie froze.

My head tilted arrogantly, “Consider it a gesture of goodwill. Take it, Sadie. Live comfortably. Stop wasting your breath.”

Sadie stared at the piece of paper as if it were a venomous snake.

Her breath strangled, her entire body trembling with a volcanic mix of grief and absolute rage.

“You… you think you can fix this?” her voice cracked, clutching her heart, “You think you can buy his life? Buy my silence?”

“I think you should be pragmatic,” I replied coldly, or at least tried to, “The dead don't pay rent.”

That was the breaking point.

Sadie snatched the check from my hand—not to take it, but to destroy the illusion of my control. In one swift, furious motion, she tore the paper and threw it directly into my face.

“Do you think you can buy my Ken’s death with your blood money?!”

The mention of "blood money" stirred a single ounce of guilt in my chest. To me, it was a transaction—the cost of clearing away my nightmarish mistake.

She leaned in, her voice overwhelmed with sorrow at its purest form, resenting me from the bottom of her core.

"May your home break just like mine did.”

Her finger pointed contemptuously at me.

“May everything you hold dear turn to ash, and may you watch the woman you claim to love look at you with the same horror and disgust I have for you right now.”

For a fraction of a second, the image of Alyssa's bright smile flashed through my mind. And a dark, icy chill touched my spine.

That.

That was unimaginable.

Sadie turned around, her cheap dress rustling as she stormed down the secluded corridor.

Disappearing into the shadows of the exit, leaving behind only the echoing sound of her footsteps and a curse that was echoing in my mind.