Chapter 191 I Had Long Expected He Would Come

Chapter 191 I Had Long Expected He Would Come

Zane's POV

I arrived at the private club. The door to the private room was left slightly open, and I could hear Chloe on the phone inside: "Got it. You did well. The final payment has been transferred to your account."

Chloe hung up. The next second, I pushed the door open. She looked up and saw me.

"I already told you, I'm not interested in talking to you about anything." I walked straight over and sat down on the sofa, my tone flat and cold.

Chloe let out a soft laugh, her eyes full of mockery. "Zane, drop the act. If you truly trusted Ember, if you truly didn't care about her and Asher, you never would have come here. You've already had your doubts, haven't you?" She swirled her wine glass with a smug look, watching me with a challenging smile. "Mr. Sawyer, ready to talk now?"

I narrowed my eyes but said nothing.

Seeing that, Chloe skipped the small talk. "Here. Take a look."

A folder slapped down on the table, followed by a brand-new tablet.

The screen and photos showed Ember and Asher in intimate situations — on the cruise and... my pupils shifted slightly. I could clearly see the marks on Ember's neck and collarbone. The collar of her blazer almost hid them, but not quite.

"We're all adults here. You know what those marks mean." Chloe looked at me with a sneer. "Ember's been enjoying everything you give her while staying tangled up with Asher — meeting him behind your back all along. She's been using you from the start. Using the Sawyer family to stabilize the Hart Group's position. And you? You're nothing but a placeholder to fill her lonely nights. In other words... she's keeping you as a backup."

I stared at the photos on the table, my expression darkening. From an angle no one else could see, my hand beneath the table slowly curled into a fist. But I kept my composure and fired back in a cold, steady voice. "Like I said, I trust her. You must have spent a lot of money digging all this up. That's quite the investment for someone who hasn't even stepped through the Blackwood family's door yet."

Chloe's expression soured for just a moment before she smiled again. "Mr. Sawyer, why lie to yourself? You've given so much. You were there for Ember through her hardest times. But her heart was never with you. Was it worth it?"

After that, the room went dead silent. My eyes stayed locked on the photos.

I looked up, burying whatever was stirring inside me, and said to Chloe, "We've been through too much together for a few words from you to get between us. What I'm curious about, though, is why Ms. Hamilton is here talking to me instead of dealing with Asher."

Chloe's eyes filled with cold intent. She set down her glass and looked straight at me. "Since we're already here, let's just say it plainly. After the way Ember's treated you, why are you still pouring your heart out for her? I know the two of you are close to taking that next step, aren't you?"

I narrowed my eyes at that, and the air around me went ice cold. "You've been looking into me?"

Chloe laughed with obvious delight. "I wouldn't dare. But she's got her hooks in my future mate, so I need some way to protect myself. If you agree, we can work together. I'll help you crush the Hart Group and cut off every path Asher has to help her. When that happens, she'll have no one left but you. She won't be able to leave."

Her words kept echoing through the room. I didn't agree. I didn't refuse either. After a long silence, I slowly stood up to leave.

Chloe was caught off guard. "Zane, what is that supposed to mean? After everything she's done to you, are you seriously going to keep groveling at her feet?!"

I answered her in a tone with nothing in it at all. "Not your concern." Then I turned and walked out of the room.

Chloe ground her teeth in fury and called after me, "Absolutely hopeless! You deserve to be someone's backup!"

After leaving the club, I didn't go back to the office. I drove out to the city outskirts instead — to my private villa.

I pulled into the garage and walked into the villa with heavy steps. This was my secret space. A cleaning lady came by once a week, but the room on the third floor was completely off-limits. I had never let anyone near it.

I climbed the stairs to the far end of the third floor, pulled a brass key from my pocket, and slid it into the lock. A click, and the door opened.

The walls of the room were covered in paintings. Every single one of them was Ember — a little girl with pigtails, a teenage girl in her school uniform, and later, a woman in a wedding dress. Every piece was rendered with striking detail, painted by my own hand, so lifelike you could see the small mole at the corner of her eye. The frames varied in size, some newer and some worn with age — clearly the work of many years.

I walked to the easel and let my fingertips graze Ember's painted cheek, my touch as careful as if I were holding something that could never be replaced. All these years, I had stayed quietly by her side. I watched her be chosen as Luna. I watched her get marked. I watched her endure so much pain inside that mate bond. I had thought about it countless times — if I had been braver back then and marked her myself, her life would never have been this hard. When she was finally rejected, I thought my time had come. I gave her everything I had. I looked after her and her child, helped her build connections, even gave her the bracelet that had been in the Sawyer family for generations. I believed that if I was patient enough, genuine enough, I would eventually reach her.

Then Asher came along, and kept shattering that belief.

I let out a quiet, bitter laugh and moved toward the window. A few canvases covered in white cloth were propped there. I pulled the cloth away. The nudes underneath made my breath catch. Every one of them was her, painted from imagination alone.

I sat down on the sofa nearby and looked at one of them. In this painting, Ember lay on her side, hair loose around her, eyes soft and faraway.

"Ember." I murmured her name, my voice rough and low. My gaze drifted down, and my breathing grew heavier.

I reached down and unbuckled my belt, pulling open my zipper, and let my hand begin to move. I closed my eyes. Her face filled my mind completely. I imagined her legs wrapped around me, her soft moans spilling out with every thrust, her body pressing close. The more I thought about it, the harder I got. My hand moved faster. I tilted my head back, beads of sweat sliding down my neck. I kept imagining us reaching that peak together.

Afterward, I stood and pressed what was on my hand against the painted lips on the canvas. "Ember. You're mine. I won't let anyone take you from me. Not ever."

I wiped my hand clean with a tissue. A flash of disgust crossed my eyes — then it was swallowed by something deeper and more consuming. My body had found a moment of release, but my chest felt completely hollow. Like a cold wind had moved through me and left nothing behind.

I went downstairs, pulled a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet in the living room, twisted off the cap, and drank straight from the bottle. Then I took out my phone. My fingers were trembling as I called Ember.

The phone rang for a long time before she picked up. "ane? What's going on?"

The moment I heard her voice, something tightened painfully in my chest. I swallowed hard against the knot in my throat and said, my voice rough, "Ember... I'm not doing well."

Ember paused, then quickly asked, "What's wrong? What's going on?" She seemed to catch something off in my voice, because she followed it up with, "Have you been drinking?"

"Yeah. A lot." I smiled faintly at the phone. "I just feel awful inside. Without the alcohol, I don't think I could hold it together — but now my head is killing me. Ember, can you come be with me? Just for a little while. Please."

"Where are you?" Ember's voice finally softened, and she asked.

"At the villa outside the city. The one I told you about before." I gave her the address quickly. "I'll be waiting, Ember. You have to come."

I hung up and stared at her name on the screen. A strange smile crept onto my lips. I knew Ember. Cold on the outside, warm underneath. She would never just leave me like this.