Chapter 205/The End of the Charade

Chapter 205: 205/The End of the Charade

Chapter 205

Stephanie’s point of view

Margaret stormed out, slamming the heavy wooden door with a violent force that shook the entire frame of the suite. The moment the echo of her footsteps vanished, I shoved him away from me with deep, visceral revulsion.

He rolled off me with absolute composure, stepping out of the bed, while I scrambled frantically out the opposite side in a state of near-hysteria. Snatching my dress off the floor with violently trembling fingers, I hauled it over my body with frantic haste, tears streaming down my cheeks in bitter defeat.

I whipped around to face him, my voice cracking, sharp with every ounce of hatred that had consumed my soul.

"You crossed the line... You crossed the line with me in the most sickening, unforgivable way possible!"

He paused in the middle of dressing, casting a dry, indifferent glance over my falling apart state. He questioned with a freezing calm:

"Why all the drama, Miss Miller? What exactly did I do?"

I yanked the zipper of my dress up with exhausted, shaking hands, the words tearing from my lips thick with agony and resentment:

"I am the wife of your friend, Alexander! Do you possess no shame? Not a single shred of honor?! Blackmailing me and stripping me of my dignity just to achieve your own corporate goals?!"

He calmly picked up his shirt, his gravelly voice slicing through the air with absolute finality:

"In my world, Stephanie... my personal interests come first. Before anything, and before anyone."

"You are a lunatic... a psychotic, sick lunatic!" I wept in pure agony.

Snatching my worn leather purse in a frantic motion, I didn’t wait to hear another word. I threw the door open and bolted from his estate with breathless strides, running as if a predatory beast were tearing at my heels. I flew down the grand staircase and threw myself into my car, my hands shaking so violently I could barely control the steering wheel.

I slammed my foot on the gas, driving toward Alexander’s mansion at a breakneck, dangerous speed as blinding tears repeatedly blurred my vision.

The entire drive back, the dark thoughts ruthlessly devoured my sanity. A crushing, suffocating weight pressed down hard on my chest. The secrets, the scandals, Vincent’s terrifying audio recording, and being brutally trapped between two brothers... I couldn’t keep living like this anymore. It was impossible. I was drowning, and everyone was pushing me straight toward the abyss.

I arrived at the mansion, my breath coming in shallow, fractured gasps. I climbed the grand staircase with weak, defeated steps, the psychological torment pushing me far past my breaking point. I pushed the door to my bedroom open in a panicked rush, only for my feet to freeze instantly in sheer shock.

Alexander was standing right there in the center of the room. He turned toward me, his features heavily etched with a mixture of deep anxiety and confusion over my long delay.

Our eyes locked. In that exact fraction of a second, without a single shred of forethought or calculation, every single defense I had ever built to survive collapsed into dust. My lips parted, and the definitive sentence left my throat in a trembling, fragile whisper that carried the last remnants of my soul:

"I... I want a divorce."

Alexander’s gaze froze on my face. His brows knitted together terrifyingly as his features receded, becoming a silent slab of ice. He uttered a single word that came out as a hiss from between his lips:

"What?"

I closed my eyes for a few seconds in burning regret. In that moment, I wished I had never spoken that sentence at all, that I had swallowed my lump in silence... but a word is a bullet, and once fired, it is too late to take it back. I opened my eyes, looking at the rising gleam of anger in his pupils with despair, and said:

"I... I want a divorce, Alex."

He slammed his fist onto the nearby wooden table, making the entire mansion tremble along with his booming voice that came out like a wounded roar:

"I fucking heard you! I am asking you how you decided this?! How did you formulate this idea in your head so simply?!"

I took a step back in fear, but I steadied my posture and spoke in a tone I tried to make harsh and definitive:

"Our marriage from the very beginning was a fatal mistake, Alexander... a mistake we built on rubble!"

He stepped toward me quickly. His hand reached out to rest on my forehead in a sudden movement filled with agitation and hidden anxiety, examining my features in disbelief as he said in a breathless tone:

"Is your temperature high? Did you catch dementia outside tonight to speak such nonsense?"

I gathered every ounce of courage I possessed and took a deep breath that burned my chest. I felt that the rope of lies had wrapped around my neck tightly enough, and I shouldn’t be afraid anymore... I shouldn’t be terrified of his reaction if I wanted salvation for my twins and myself. I raised my hand to firmly push his palm away from my face, and said in a trembling voice, yet clear as the sun:

"I am pregnant with Cedric’s children... and I married you! My kids in the future will call you ’Father,’ while your brother Cedric will stand right beside them, reminding them at every moment that he is their real dad! How do you think we will live under this roof in peace?!"

Alexander furrowed his brows strangely. The traces of his shock faded, replaced by a cold, intelligent, scrutinizing gaze, as if he were reading an open book. He slowly relaxed his arms at his sides and spoke in a stable voice carrying a firm tone:

"And what is the exact reason for these thoughts, Stephanie? Why are you recycling these details right now, of all times, and in this manner?"

I blinked in astonishment, not understanding his sudden coldness, and said hesitantly:

"I... I don’t understand what you mean by that."

He took an additional step, completely closing the space between us. He anchored his pupils into my eyes so intensely that it left me no room to escape with my gaze, and uttered a decisive, authoritative command:

"Stephanie... tell me the truth without beating around the bush. What exactly is happening with you tonight?"

My fingers curled around the fabric of my dress in resentment. I felt that my previous act hadn’t fooled his intellect for a second, so I spoke with a desperate defiance:

"Do you really want the truth, Alexander?!"

"Yes... speak everything you hold inside," he said with a cutting dryness.

I loaded my tone with the highest degree of hypocrisy and coldness, borrowed directly from Vincent’s tricks.

I turned my face away from him with artificial pride, while my lips uttered those poisoned words so that perhaps he would hate me and set me free himself:

"I cannot choose between the two of you... you and Cedric! Both of you make my heart beat with such an overwhelming force that I have absolutely no control over my feelings. I cannot be with just one of you and leave the other behind... Therefore, a divorce is the only solution to end this farce!"