Chapter 171: Too late

For over a week, their Tom-and-Jerry war dragged on. Their sharp words, colder silences, and a stubborn refusal from both sides to bend. Their pride had dug its claws in too deep.

Lucas had moved back home. His father and younger sister welcomed him with warmth he didn’t quite expect. Their relief was obvious in every smile and extra serving at dinner. They had no idea that beneath his calm exterior, a storm was brewing due to Alex.

Meanwhile, across town, Alex’s men were still chasing ghosts.

James had vanished. There was no trace or sight of him. It was as if he had been swallowed whole by the city.

And Lucas… Lucas didn’t believe his mission was just about separating Alex from him.  He had the feeling that he must be up to something like planning another blackmail against Alex. So with his belief that there was a missing piece, which was driving him insane. He told Dan to watch over Alex.

By the second week, tension snapped.

Alex had been walking past the hallway when he saw Lucas, leaning casually against a desk, laughing. Laughing wasn’t his problem but who he was laughing with was Zenith.

He snapped, “That was enough.

Lucas, to the office, now.”

The air shifted instantly.

Lucas didn’t even hesitate. He pushed himself off the desk and followed, already bracing for impact.

The moment he stepped into the office, “Didn’t I warn you to stay away from Zenith?!”

Alex’s voice cracked like a whip.

Lucas froze for half a second, then his expression hardened. “You warned me?” he echoed, incredulous. “You’re my boss, Alex. Nothing more.”

That hit hard.

Alex let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Nothing more?” His eyes darkened. “Good. Then you mean nothing to me too.”

The words hung heavy between them.

“What we had,” Alex continued coldly, “was just a fling.”

Something flickered in Lucas’s eyes, pain, quickly buried under anger.

“But don’t get it twisted,” Alex went on, stepping closer, his voice dropping. “You’re not permitted to flirt around with just anyone. The contract clearly states you follow my orders during working hours. Do you hear me?”

Lucas stared at him, jaw tight, fists clenched at his sides.

“Wow…” he let out a low, disbelieving laugh. “A fling?”

His voice rose, sharp and cutting.

“How dare you call what we had a fling?” His eyes burned now, all restraint slipping. “I waited. I gave you time, to find out the truth, to apologize, to stop acting like some...”

He stepped closer too, their space shrinking into something volatile.

“But you stayed stubborn. You chose to remain in this madness.”

Alex’s brows furrowed slightly, confusion slipping through the cracks of his anger.

Truth?

Apologize?

Before he could speak, Lucas continued, voice trembling with restrained fury.

“So go ahead,” he snapped. “Get your legal team. Throw me in jail for breach of contract, because I don’t have millions to throw at you anyway.”

Suffocating silence followed.

Then Lucas turned sharply and walked toward the door.

His hand had just touched the handle when Alex spoke again, quieter this time.

“What do you mean?”

Lucas paused, but didn’t turn.

“What truth?” Alex pressed, his voice no longer angry, just uncertain.

That alone was enough to shake something loose. Lucas exhaled slowly, but still didn’t look back.

“You should find out the truth yourself,” he muttered, more to himself than to Alex.

Then, he walked out, leaving Alex standing there, alone, the anger gone, replaced by something far more dangerous…Doubt.

“Could it be that nothing actually happened between him and Nathan?”

Alex didn’t hesitate.

The second Lucas walked out, the unease clawing at his chest became unbearable. Something about Lucas’s words, the truth… apologize… You want the truth, find out for yourself. They kept echoing in his head, louder with every passing second.

He grabbed his phone and dialed. Thomas picked up on the first ring. “Yes, boss.”

“I need you to go back to my dad’s birthday venue,” Alex said, his voice tight, controlled, but barely. “Get me the footage for that night. I need every angle.”

A brief pause before he responded, “Yes, boss.”

The call ended.

Alex ran a hand through his hair, pacing the length of his office. His mind was already spiraling ahead of him, piecing together fragments that refused to settle into anything solid.

Thirty minutes felt like hours. Then his phone buzzed with a message from Thomas. The footage he was waiting for.

Alex didn’t waste a second. He opened the file, fingers suddenly unsteady.

The footage began to play. He forwarded it to where he stopped that day.

There it was the moment that had destroyed everything.

Lucas and Nathan on the bed.

Alex’s jaw tightened, his chest constricting as the familiar anger tried to resurface, but he forced himself to keep watching.

He muttered to himself, “Watch it properly to the end.”

Seconds ticked by. Then he saw it. The movement from the side. The door was opening. A masked figure stepped in.

Alex frowned, leaning closer to the screen. “Who the hell was that?”

The man moved further inside, and in one careless motion, his mask slipped.

Alex froze.

“James?”

His voice came out as a whisper.

His heart began to pound, louder, almost drowning out the faint audio.

He watched, eyes glued to the screen, as the truth unfolded piece by piece, calculated movements and deliberate setup.

“No…” Alex staggered back a step, shaking his head, but he couldn’t look away. “No, that can't be…”

But it was.

Every second made it clearer. His grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles turned white.

By the time the footage ended, silence swallowed the room.

Alex stood there, unmoving.

Then the weight hit him hard.

Lucas had been telling the truth,

all along. A sharp breath left him as guilt flooded his system, cold and suffocating. His chest ached, his stomach twisting violently.

“What have I done…” he murmured, voice breaking.

Images flashed through his mind, every harsh word, every accusation, every time he had looked at Lucas with distrust instead of listening.

And still…

Lucas had stayed. Even after everything. A hollow laugh escaped him, bitter and self-directed. “You idiot…”

Fear crept in next, slow, insidious, tightening around his chest.

What if it was too late? What if Lucas was already done with him?

The thought alone made his pulse spike.

“No…”

He grabbed his phone again, this time dialing Lucas’s number.

It rang, and rang and rang but no answer.

“Come on please, pick up” Alex muttered under his breath, pacing again, his composure completely gone now.

The call ended. He tried again but still nothing.

A sharp exhale left him as frustration and panic mixed. He stopped, staring at the screen for a moment before quickly typing.

“I’m sorry, please come back. Let’s talk.”

Then stood there, phone still in his hand, staring at the message like willing it to pull Lucas back to him.

But the office remained too quiet.

And for the first time in a long while, Alex felt something close to fear.

Then his phone buzzed from an unknown number, his heart skipped.