Chapter 16
Alexander slammed his foot on the gas pedal without a second thought.
The iron gate, the road barrier-none of it mattered anymore.
With a deafening crash, the Rolls-Royce plowed straight through the barricade. The barrier pole flew off like a toothpick, and even the iron fence screeched and bent under the impact, opening just enough for the car to squeeze through.
“Mr. Tracey! Someone’s-someone’s forcing their way in!” The panicked voice of the gate guard crackled over the phone, tripping over itself in sheer disbelief. He’d never seen anything like this in his life-someone so unhinged, so reckless, like they had no fear of death… all for the sake of getting in.
Inside the car, Alexander’s eyes gleamed with unfiltered madness, a savage determination burning behind them. This kind of desperate gamble-this was his true nature.
As the youngest patriarch of the Lowell family, how could anyone think he was some gentle soul?
That softness-if it ever existed-was something he only ever showed to Cynthia.
The car screamed with system errors and safety alerts, but Alexander just laughed, wild and sharp.
“Cynthia… I’ve come to take you home.”
Blood ran down his forehead from where he’d slammed into the steering wheel, but he wiped it away with the back of his hand like it was nothing. Stepping out of the ruined car, he walked toward the Tracey estate like a storm wrapped in silk-
madness cloaked in elegance.
The Tracey estate was still glowing with joy and warmth. Decorative artificial white flower vines fluttered in the wind, symbols of love and union. But to Alexander, they were blinding. Mocking. Every flash of pristine white stabbed straight through his eyes and into his chest.
And then, in that moment, he felt it. The pain Cynthia must have felt.
This suffocating heartache-this bitterness-was this what she felt when he announced his wedding?
Each colorful character pasted on the wall shouted a single, brutal truth:
She’s married now. Your girl belongs to someone else.
He had pushed her away time and time again. Was this the ending he wanted?
Alexander stood frozen just outside the Traceys’ grand doors.
But for some reason… he couldn’t bring himself to knock.
His eyes darkened, his breath heavy with conflict. For the first time in a long while, his frenzy was pierced by a rare
moment of clarity.
Cynthia was his. His girl. The one he raised. The one he loved.
If all he’d wanted was to stop her from marrying Nathan, he could’ve simply let her marry someone else.
But the truth was… he couldn’t bear the thought.
The idea of her loving another man, building a life with someone else, laughing, raising kids-it tore him apart.
Not even a little part of him wanted that. His heart screamed it-he loved her. His reason whispered he had no right.
Chapter 16
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She’d grown up with him. He was the only man she truly knew. It made sense she’d form an attachment. And he-he had promised himself he wouldn’t take advantage of that.
That’s why he signed that damned contract with Morinne Ayla. That’s why he told himself he had to let go.
But the moment that pen hit paper, he’d begun to fall apart. Every second since then had been agony.
Just as he finally admitted the truth to himself, the heavy front doors swung open.
Mrs. Tracey stood on the threshold.
Her gaze was sharp as ice. “Mr. Lowell, you’re not welcome here.”
Alexander’s brows drew together, his body frozen mid-step.
She stepped forward, every word laced with disappointment.
“Cynthia wasn’t happy in your home. I regret ever handing her over to you.”
She let that sink in before continuing, voice trembling with restrained emotion.
“If the Traceys hadn’t run into that crisis back then… If I hadn’t been afraid, we wouldn’t make it through… I never would’ve
agreed to let you take her in.”
Her eyes burned with unspoken fury.
“I didn’t want her to suffer with us, but I also never imagined she’d suffer with you.”
She only got to knew every pain and sufferings Cynthia had endured after a thorough investigation, because of the long distance between the Capital City and Riverport City.
But this did not affect her love towards Cynthia.
