Chapter 193

Chapter 193

Elizabeth's POV

I swallowed the last bite of food and sent Julia a text.

[Julia, keep an eye on The Windsor Group today. If anything unusual happens, tell me right away.]

[Got it. How are things on your end?]

[I got the notebook. Alexander went to the office first thing this morning. I don't know what he's planning yet.]

[He's getting ready to make his move. Be careful.]

I set my phone down and walked over to the window.

The flowers in the garden were in full bloom, sunlight spilling over them as if the world were perfectly calm. It was too quiet, too still for a morning with a storm closing in.

But I knew it was coming.

At two that afternoon, Julia finally texted me.

[Elizabeth, The Windsor Group is making major moves today. Alexander just called an emergency board meeting and cleared out every person Franklin left behind at The Windsor Group. Finance, legal, international operations. Six people were replaced in one shot.]

My heartbeat kicked up.

[On what grounds?]

[Abuse of authority, policy violations, and profit-sharing schemes. There's evidence for every charge. Solid evidence. No room to argue. Those people didn't even make it into their offices before security escorted them out.]

I stared at the screen, already picturing Alexander in that boardroom.

He was probably wearing that dark suit, his expression cool, his voice low and controlled, and every word landing with absolute force.

He would never slam a hand on the table. He would never raise his voice. But once he spoke, no one would be able to push back.

That was Alexander. He stayed quiet until it mattered, and then he struck hard.

[There's one more thing.] Julia sent another message. [Alexander just had legal notices sent overseas in The Windsor Group's name. They went to several companies under Franklin. The reason given is infringement of The Windsor Group's intellectual property and theft of trade secrets.]

My fingers tightened around my phone.

He was cutting off Franklin's reach.

Not pulling it out piece by piece. Cutting it down, one clean blade at a time.

Those companies, those accounts, that money. He was wiping away every trace Franklin had left behind in The Windsor Group.

It wasn't revenge. It wasn't rage. It was lawful, justified, and so airtight that no one could pick it apart.

Franklin had spent fifteen years overseas, and those companies were what kept him afloat.

Now Alexander was ripping them out by the roots. If he succeeded, Franklin really would have nothing left.

I took a slow breath and texted Julia back.

[Keep watching.]

[Don't worry. I already moved all the snacks from the break room to my desk. I'm pulling an all-nighter if I have to.]

That last line made me laugh.

But when the smile faded, what settled in its place was something heavier. It was hurt. Tender and sharp.

No one knew what Alexander was thinking while he did all this.

No one knew his hands had trembled when he flipped through that notebook.

No one knew how much effort it had taken for him to keep his voice steady when he said, "Wait for me."

To everyone else, he was the calm, decisive, ruthless Mr. Windsor.

Only I knew he wasn't.

He was just forcing everything down, burying every emotion as deep as it would go, planning to deal with it alone after it was all over.

Alexander came home late that night.

I was sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for him. The TV was on, but I wasn't watching it.

The front door opened, and he walked in with his suit jacket draped over one arm. His tie had been loosened halfway. He looked tired, but there was a brightness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"You're still up?" He asked.

"I was waiting for you."

He walked over, sat down beside me, leaned back against the couch, and closed his eyes.

"Long day?" I asked.

"It was fine."

"Julia told me what happened at The Windsor Group today."

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"You had her watching The Windsor Group?"

"Yeah."

He didn't get angry. He just looked at me for a moment, then closed his eyes again.

"There'll be a bigger move tomorrow," he said quietly, almost as if he were speaking to himself.

"What kind of move?"

"Several of Franklin's domestic partners will get termination notices from The Windsor Group tomorrow." His tone stayed even, as if he were commenting on the weather. "Not an end to cooperation. A formal breach termination. They violated the agreement first, and the proof is all in that notebook."

I looked at him, something complicated rising in my chest.

He wasn't someone who liked attention. He didn't enjoy showing off power.

But when he had to, he could be more decisive than anyone. More ruthless too. Not because he wanted to be. Because he had to be.

"Alexander."

"Hmm?"

"I can imagine what you looked like in that board meeting today."

He opened his eyes and looked at me again.

"What did I look like?"

"Powerful," I said.

He paused, then the corner of his mouth lifted just a little.

"Did Julia tell you that?"

"No. I imagined it myself."

He held my gaze for a few seconds in silence.

"Elizabeth."

"Yeah?"

"This should've been done a long time ago. But I kept waiting for the right moment, and now that moment's here." He paused. "It's not for me. It's for my parents. And for your father too."

I reached for his hand and laced my fingers through his.

"I know."

He turned his hand and held mine back, gripping it tight.

That night, he slept well.

Maybe he was just exhausted. Maybe one of the stones he'd been carrying inside him had finally been moved.

I lay beside him, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing, and for once, my heart felt quiet.

Moonlight slipped through the gap in the curtains and spread across the floor like a silver river.

I thought of what my father had written in his letter.

'Keep moving forward. Don't look back.'

I had been moving forward all along.

Away from Aiden. Toward Alexander.

Out of that villa where I'd been trapped. Toward the truth.

From this moment. Into the future.

No matter what waited ahead, I would keep going.

Not alone.

I understood why Alexander wanted me to stay quietly at the villa.

There were too many people still hiding in the shadows, and one reckless move from me could bring danger straight to my door.

If that was the case, then staying at the villa might actually be the best way to help him.

Still, whenever I was by myself, my mind wouldn't stop.

I worried about Alexander constantly. I kept wondering whether he might run into danger, whether something might happen, and he wouldn't tell me right away.

Those thoughts circled endlessly in my head.

I couldn't make them go away.

"Ms. Spencer, please don't worry too much. Mr. Windsor will be okay."

Lisa's gentle reassurance reached me, and I looked up at her, my eyes suddenly burning.

"I know. I trust him."

That was what I said in the end.

Maybe I really was overthinking it.

Or maybe it was the pregnancy, the way it threw my emotions off balance and left me unable to settle.

Maybe that was why everything inside me felt so tangled, and why I couldn't calm down no matter how hard I tried.