Chapter 181 Who Allowed You to Curse My Wife
Alexander knew, deep in his heart, that he didn't truly want to leave.
Beyond his concern for Caroline's safety, there was another reason—one he could no longer deny, and at this moment was willing to confess: he was utterly unable to live without her.
Right now, he was like a fish pulled from water, gasping for air it couldn't find.
"Alex?"
Caroline's voice came from behind him. She stood a few feet away, concern etched across her face.
She hadn't caught the words on the phone, but she'd seen his expression darken, watched his shoulders go rigid. Something was wrong.
"Is it the company? Something urgent?" She stepped closer. "If you need to go back and handle it, you should. I'll be fine here."
Alexander turned to face her.
She wore a loose maternity dress, soft fabric draping over the unmistakable swell of her belly. No way to hide it now.
As a woman, she knew better than anyone how much she needed her husband beside her right now.
And yet her face showed nothing but gentle understanding, concern for him instead of herself.
It made the frustration and rage churning inside him burn hotter--and cut deeper.
"I don't want to leave you."
He crossed to her and took her hand, his voice low and rough.
"What's there to worry about?" Caroline forced brightness into her smile, trying to comfort him instead. "Kenna's here. Felix is here. The doctor, the nurses--they'll take care of me. You go do what you need to do, and when you're finished, you come right back."
She paused, then blinked up at him with a hint of playfulness creeping into her tone. "But I'm warning you right now--when I'm close to delivery, you'd better be here. Day and night. Every single second. You hear me?"
That rare softness, that whisper of need in her voice, brushed against the raw edges of his anxiety like a feather across an open wound.
He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his mouth. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, just for a moment.
"Heard, loud and clear, Your Majesty." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
Then he released her and spoke into the phone. "Liam, arrange the helicopter. I'm heading back to Grandhaven today."
Alexander insisted on finishing lunch for Caroline first.
Watching her take small, satisfied bites of his barely passable cooking filled him with a bittersweet ache he couldn't name.
After the meal, he gave Kenna and Felix what felt like a hundred reminders, until Caroline finally shooed him away with an exasperated look that said, "Go already, stop fussing."
He climbed aboard the helicopter bound for Grandhaven.
The roar of the engine tore through the island's peace, ripping away the fragile illusion of calm.
Alexander looked down as the figure on the ground grew smaller and smaller. His heart pounded harder with every second of distance.
He was worried. Genuinely, deeply worried.
Forget Grandhaven--he hated being away from Caroline for an hour, a minute, even a second.
All he wanted was to get to the Hamilton estate, deal with whatever this was, and get back to her as fast as humanly possible.
Hours later, the helicopter touched down on the private helipad at the Hamilton family's ancestral estate in Grandhaven.
Alexander strode toward the mansion, irritation simmering just beneath his skin. This place had never felt like home, not even when he was a child.
He pushed open the heavy door to the study.
The overhead lights were off. Only the fireplace cast flickering shadows across the room, barely illuminating the space.
The air was thick with cigar smoke and the sharp bite of aged whiskey. Armando had clearly been waiting a long time--and not patiently.
He sat behind the massive desk, his face carved from stone as he stared down at a spread of documents.
At the sound of the door, he slowly lifted his gaze. His eyes locked onto his son like twin blades of ice.
No pleasantries. No greeting.
Armando raised one hand and pointed at the chair across from him.
"Sit."
Alexander didn't move. He stood in front of the desk and met his father's stare head-on.
Armando didn't seem to care whether he sat or not. He slammed his hand down on the documents, the sharp crack echoing through the room.
"The Neville Group's been all over the news for days. Financial headlines, business channels--everyone in Grandhaven knows about it."
Armando's voice was low, controlled, but barely holding back an explosion.
"How long were you planning to keep this from me?"
Alexander's brow twitched slightly, but his expression remained calm. "I wasn't planning to hide it. I just didn't expect your sources to be so thorough--or so slow."
Armando's face darkened further.
He shot to his feet, his gaze burning into Alexander like a brand.
"I knew you were behind it! But I didn't think you'd lost your goddamn mind!"
He jabbed a finger at the documents on the desk, his hand trembling slightly.
"To plug the bottomless financial hole of the Neville Group, to dress it up until it looked flawless, and then hand it over to that woman--you went behind my back and sold the Harbor Point Redevelopment Project to Lawrence, that conniving bastard, for thirty percent below market value?!"
Lawrence had been circling that project like a vulture for years. No one at the Hamilton Group would agree to sell it to him--not even Alexander, no matter how high the offer.
The man was a snake. Ruthless, unethical, notorious for burying traps in his contracts that didn't surface until it was too late.
Anyone who partnered with him ended up burned. Lawsuits went nowhere. Courts dragged their feet. Cases disappeared into legal limbo.
And now Alexander had not only sold to him--he'd gone to him first and offered a discount.
Armando didn't need a briefing to figure it out. Alexander had approached Lawrence, shown weakness, and let the man smell blood in the water.
And Alexander had caved.
"Do you have any idea what that project means for this company's five-year strategy?! Do you know how much profit you just handed the Marshall Group on a silver platter?! How much you cost us?! All for that woman--for the lunatic who killed Edith?! Have you completely lost your mind because of that woman and her unborn child?!"
But Alexander's focus wasn't on the accusations about the company, the deal, or the money.
His attention had snagged on something else entirely.