Chapter 88 THE TRUTH
Dandelion's.
The silence in the room was suffocating. Alexander stood between me and the door, his chest rising and falling with controlled breaths. But I could see the tension in every line of his body, the way his fists clenched at his sides. He looked like he was deciding something.
And I was terrified of what that decision might be.
"Alexander," I whispered, hating how my voice shook. "Please."
Please what? Please don't hurt me for finding out? Please explain? Please tell me this is all some horrible mistake? Heck I didn't even know what I was begging for anymore.
His eyes dropped to the scattered papers at my feet one more time. The evidence of things I couldn't unsee.
Then he moved Fast. Before I could react, he crossed the distance between us and grabbed my wrist. Not roughly, but firm enough.
I immediately panicked.
"Come on," he said flatly.
"Wait, I--"
"Now, Dandy."He pulled me toward the door, and I stumbled after him, my free hand automatically gripping his arm for balance. His muscles were solid beneath my fingers, and tense like coiled wire.
He opened the door with his free hand, and dragged me into the hallway.
"Alex stop!" I tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened. Not enough to hurt me, never enough to hurt.
But enough to make it clear I wasn't going anywhere until he decided to let me go.
We climbed back up the stairs quickly, my feet barely keeping up. My mind was screaming at me to fight, to run, to do something, but my body just followed numbly, because I had subconsciously grown to trust him, even if I might be endangered by staying with him.
Because this was Alexander.The man who saved me from drowning, even though it was for his own selfish reason at least he did, the man who held me at night when I had nightmares.
The man whose dark side I had just discovered, We reached his bedroom floor, he pushed the door open and practically shoved me inside, I almost stumbled.
The door slammed shut behind us, I spun around in panic, watching as he locked the door.The click echoed in the silent room like a gunshot.
For a long moment, neither of us moved.
"Alex, Who are you?" I demanded, surprised by the strength in my voice despite the fear creeping inside me. "What the hell was that room about?"
He didn't answer, he just moved to the bedstand in the corner and grabbed the crystal decanter. Whiskey.
He poured himself a glass, the amber liquid sloshing slightly. I noticed the way his hand shook slightly.
Alexander's hand never shook.
He downed the entire glass in one swallow, his throat working. Then he poured another one.
"Answer me Alex," My voice cracked. "You owe me that much."
He still didn't look at me.
I walked up to him this time, anger slightly cutting through my fear. "Alex I'm your wife. I sleep in your bed. I trusted you, and all this time you've been--"
"What?" He finally looked at me, his eyes blazing. "I've been what, Dandelion? Say it."
I opened my mouth, but the words stuck in my throat. Because I didn't know what exactly he was.
An Assassin, A Killer, or a Monster.
None of those words fit this man I knew for these past months. But the evidence was downstairs Undeniably.
He stared at me for a long moment, Then he set down the glass of untouched whiskey carefully on the table.
"I told you not to get involved, Angel," he sighed in frustration, "I told you to drop it."
"But I can't." I insisted, tears burned behind my eyes. "Not after what I saw."
And also remembering what Tristan had told me before, in fact he was the architect of my curiosity.
"You have to explain Alex, because I'm not leaving this room until you tell me the truth. All of it." The words exploded out of me.
His eye narrowed at me, for a second, I thought he might refuse, or just lock me in here until I agree to forget everything.
But then something in his expression crumbled, like defeat along with exhaustion.
"I wasn't always just, CEO Alexander Graham,."
My breath caught as I listened to him.
He continued, still not looking at me. "That identity, that life, it's the old me."
I looked at him in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Before I became the man you married, I was someone else." He paused, his hands balling into fists by his sides. "I was Ghost Blade."
The name hung in the air between us like poison.
"One of the most feared assassins in the underworld," he continued, his voice completely devoid of emotion now like he was reading from a report. "I worked for powerful people. Dangerous people. Politicians who needed problems eliminated. Crime lords who wanted rivals removed. Corporations that required sensitive situations handled with absolute discretion."
I felt sick.
His voice cracked slightly as he continued, "I did terrible things. I killed people who probably deserved it and those who definitely didn't. I destroyed families. Ended bloodlines. Burned entire operations to the ground. In fact I destroyed hundreds of people."
He scoffed, "And I was good at it. Better than good, I was the best." A bitter laugh escaped him. "That's how I built my empire. Not only through hard work, but through terror and through being the monster people called when they needed someone even worse than their enemies."
My legs gave out. I sank into the edge of the bed behind me, my whole body trembling. "Oh God." I swallowed hard.
"There was a point in my life when I felt lost, sad, angry, depressed. After losing my parents and also losing little you, I just felt empty, like something had been taken out of me leaving a large void behind. Even when Noona consoled me everyday all I felt was still misery. I had to leave Greenville to take my mind off the pain. I guess ended up going through the wrong path just to get rid of the misery."
"I thought by ending the lives of vile, greedy, and evil men I couldn't get my redemption, but I crossed the line by destroying even the innocent ones, without knowing at first, not until my empty soul got used to it." His green eyes glistened with unshed tears that made me feel pity instead of fear, and all I saw was just a man who got lost in his own darkness. And he had already done enough damage before he could recover from it.
"Now you know," he said flatly. "Now you understand why I told you to stay away. Why some things are better left unknown."
I couldn't speak, my mind Was spiraling.
"The contracts downstairs," he continued in almost a whisper. "Those are old documents of my completed jobs from my past. I kept them as insurance, in case he ever tries to come after me."
"Come after you?" I looked up at him with worry, "Who's that? and why would he--"
"Because I left him."he whispered with gritted teeth.