As Alexander ate slowly, Maria stood nearby watching him in silence.

She had been there from the beginning.

From the time they were nothing more than distant strangers under the same roof... to the time things began to change.

She had seen it all.

The quiet shifts.

The unspoken emotions.

The moments neither of them admitted meant anything.

She had seen how Alexander looked at Alicia when he thought no one noticed.

And she had seen how Alicia softened around him even when she tried to hide it.

They had been moving toward each other without realizing it.

And just when she thought they were finally beginning to understand each other...

Everything fell apart again.

Maria lowered her gaze slightly.

She wasn’t taking sides.

But she couldn’t deny what she had seen.

Alicia had suffered.

And Alexander ,only now was beginning to understand what he had lost.

She just hoped he didn’t lose himself in the process.

A knock came at the door.

Maria straightened immediately and went to answer it.

When she opened the door, Angela Blackwood stood outside.

She looked different from usual—less sharp, less arrogant. Something in her expression had shifted, as though the weight of recent events had finally begun to settle on her.

"Good morning, Miss Blackwood," Maria greeted politely.

"Maria," Angela nodded as she stepped inside.

Angela entered and froze the moment she saw Alexander.

He had just finished breakfast and was getting to his feet. Their gazes met, and her breath caught in her throat.

Her favorite nephew looked nothing like the man she remembered.

He had noticeably lost weight. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, his face was pale, and there was an emptiness in his expression that unsettled her. It reminded her of a version of Alexander she had hoped never to see again.

Alexander was the first to break eye contact. Without a word, he turned and walked toward the living room.

Angela quickly recovered from her shock and followed after him.

"Alexander..." she called softly.

He sat down on one of the couches while she took the seat beside him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, genuine concern filling her voice.

Alexander remained silent for a moment, his legs crossed as he stared ahead.

"Alexander, please talk to me. What are you trying to do to yourself?" she pressed.

Only then did he turn to look at her.

"I’m fine, Aunt Angela," he replied calmly. "Why are you here?"

Angela’s heart tightened.

Fine?

How could he possibly call this fine?

She knew Alexander better than most people. He had always been good at hiding his emotions behind walls nobody could penetrate.

But this was different.

Far worse.

The last time she had seen him like this was after his mother’s death.

Back then, he had completely shut himself off from the world, burying his grief behind silence and indifference. She and Rosalind had spent years helping him heal from that loss.

And now Rosalind was gone too.

Worse still, Alicia had disappeared.

It felt as though all the walls Alexander had painstakingly torn down were being rebuilt before her eyes.

Suppressing her worry, Angela decided to address the reason for her visit.

"I spoke with Vice Chairman Miles," she said quietly.

Alexander said nothing.

"Alexander, Mother left the company to you for a reason. You can’t let personal matters distract you from that responsibility. The CEO position has already gone to Tristin. Do you want the chairman’s position to slip away too? We can’t stand by and watch the family’s legacy fall into someone else’s hands."

Alexander finally sighed.

"It’s not like I’m abandoning the company, Aunt."

"Then why are you refusing to return?"

"Because I need time."

His voice remained calm, but something about it felt lifeless.

"I need time to put my emotions in order."

Angela frowned.

"Emotions?"

A mocking scoff escaped her lips before she could stop it.

"Is this because of Alicia? Because she finally understood her place and left?"

The temperature in the room seemed to drop instantly.

Alexander slowly lifted his eyes to hers.

The warning in them was unmistakable.

Angela immediately softened her tone.

"Alexander, if she left, then that was her choice. You don’t need to punish yourself for it. None of this is your fault."

A low laugh escaped him.

There was no amusement in it.

Only bitterness.

He rose to his feet.

"My wife left with my unborn child," he said quietly.

Angela froze.

"And you expect me to just move on?"

The calmness in his voice made the words hit even harder.

"What’s the point of anything else right now? Nana entrusted Alicia to me, and I couldn’t even protect her. If I failed at that, what makes you think I won’t fail the company too?"

"Alexander, that’s different," Angela argued as she stood as well. "Your marriage fell apart because you never loved Alicia. You only married her because Mother wanted it. But the company—"

"No."

The single word cut through her sentence.

Angela fell silent.

Alexander shook his head.

"The company was a family legacy I was expected to carry."

His voice softened slightly.

"But Alicia..."

He paused.

For the first time, uncertainty flickered in his eyes.

As though he was finally admitting a truth he had spent years running from.

"I didn’t love her at first."

Angela waited.

"But now..."

His jaw tightened.

"I’ve realized that Alicia is my life."

Angela stared at him.

Speechless.

She had expected grief, guilt and regret.

But not this.

Not what she was finally seeing.

Not love.

For years, she had convinced herself that Alicia was merely an obligation Alexander had reluctantly accepted.

Yet the man standing before her now looked like someone who had lost the most important thing in his world.

Alexander looked away, his gaze distant.

"Those two years should’ve been ordinary."

His voice was barely above a whisper.

"But somehow they’re the happiest years of my life."

Images flashed through his mind.

Waking up beside Alicia.

Having breakfast together before work.

Returning home and finding her waiting for him.

The quiet moments.

The simple moments.

The moments he had taken for granted.

Only now did he realize how precious they had been.

And he had destroyed them with his own hands.

Angela remained rooted to the spot.

A strange unease settled in her chest....