"Just like before?" Alia echoed.
Her throat felt dry. She would be lying if she said that she hadn’t considered this. She hated how he had humiliated her in front of her friends, she hated how he had kept his identity a secret from her, and she hated how she was never detailed enough to put two and two together to figure this out.
However, what she hated the most was knowing that Caleb’s love for her hadn’t been real when he had made it seem so true. He had been so sincere and genuine, and everything they had was amazing. Their marriage was regarded as a fairytale despite the struggles with finances, and if it weren’t for that, Caleb was the perfect husband.
Her tongue darted out to lick her lips.
But could they really go back?
"What about Kelsie Friesent?" she asked. Her head felt heavy at the ntion of Kelsie’s na, even though she was the one who spoke it.
"Kelsie?" Caleb repeated. "She doesn’t have to know. I can buy you an apartnt out of town. The company is busy right now with a few bigger ongoing projects, but it’s nothing I can’t work remotely on. They won’t die if I disappear for the weekends―"
"Are you saying that you want to restart a relationship with , but in secret?" Alia asked. "You want to be the third party in you and Kelsie’s relationship?"
The hesitation in Caleb’s eyes was enough for her to snap back to reality. She tugged her hands out of his hold, disbelief surging through her as she shook her head. Bile was already starting to rise up her throat, and Alia had never felt more like she wanted to hurl than now.
"Well, yes," Caleb eventually slowly said. "I can’t marry you, Alia."
"We were married once," Alia said, scoffing in disbelief at the end of her sentence. She could feel her rage slowly starting to creep up her body. "Legally. We were legally married and registered."
"But my family didn’t know," Caleb said. "I left ho for those years and they weren’t keeping their eyes on . That was why I could marry you."
She sucked in a breath of cold air through her teeth, trying to calm herself down.
"You know how wealthy families are, Millie," Caleb said. "We have to marry soone that is of our status. You have no mother― your father is still in the hospital, actually, and even if not, he is nothing more than an ordinary worker all his life. We aren’t from the sa world."
"Do not call ’Millie’," Alia spat out. "You have no right."
"I’m sorry, Alia, I―"
"You should be sorry." Hastily, Alia got to her feet after haphazardly stuffing all the dical supplies into the box and clicking it shut once more. "After everything you have put through, you don’t even bat an eyelid and think for even a second how your new ideas will drag down into hell again!"
"Again?" Caleb echoed. "Alia, I am rich! You won’t have to work another day in your life. Whatever you want, I can buy it for you!"
He got up to his feet as well, reaching forward to hold Alia’s hand.
"If you don’t like Sol City, we can look at beach villas," Caleb suggested. "Didn’t you always want to go to Bora Bora? Or the Maldives? I can buy a residence there and you can enjoy the sun and waves all you want―"
"This isn’t about working!" Alia all but yelled. She tugged her hand free. "I have a job I can live with for now, and the money is good. I don’t need to depend on you for a livelihood―"
"Oh yeah?" Caleb said with a scoff. "Working for Matteo Montgory? That’s the job that you can live with? Alia, he was only using you! Whatever he hired you for, it was for the sex―"
Caleb was cut off when Alia’s palm made contact with his cheek, leaving a red print in addition to the tiny cuts he adorned.
"You can hit all you want," Caleb slowly said. "But what I said is true and you know it. Matteo Montgory is going to marry Emline Hawthorne. Whatever he promised you so that you would willingly crawl into his bed, it’s a lie. I’ve already told you― the wealthy marry the wealthy. He won’t marry soone like you. And even if he truly wanted to, which I doubt, do you think his family will ever agree to it?"
Caleb coldly laughed.
"Or do you think the Hawthornes will ever agree to it?"
"Whoever I marry is none of the Hawthornes’ business," Alia said with a sneer.
"Oh, sweet Alia," Caleb said with a shake of his head. "You don’t have a say in that. Do you know how easy it is for a family like the Hawthornes to get rid of you?"
Alia’s blood ran cold.
"What do you an?" she asked.
"Hitman, assassin, sniper― whatever you would like to call it!" Caleb said, holding out his arms. "It’s not expensive to hire soone to remove you from the face of the earth― or at least, it’s nothing they can’t afford. It wouldn’t even impact them even in the slightest."
As Alia stood rooted in her spot, Caleb took the opportunity to lean in.
He whispered in her ear, "I’m sure you don’t fear death, Alia, but if you’re dead, what will happen to your dear father?"
Alia’s eyes widened as she hastily took a step away from Caleb. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing," Caleb said, shrugging. "If soone wanted you dead, I would be at the end of that list. I care for you, Alia, and I am just warning you."
He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and the warm look from before — the look that reminded Alia of the Caleb she fell in love with — quickly lted. It was replaced by the cold, ruthless gaze of the Caleb from Paragon Luxe that night.
"You’ve t Horace Hawthorne. He’s a nice old man, friendly, don’t you think?" Caleb barked out in laughter. "If only you knew what sort of things he did last ti in his younger days. His daughter Elaine fell in love with a few others outside of the circle and wanted to marry them. He couldn’t convince her otherwise. And what did he do?"
Caleb’s eyes glinted nacingly in the dim street light. He held his index and middle finger to his temples, his thumb pointing up before he lodged it down, mimicking the action of a gun’s trigger getting pulled.
"Boom," he said, copying the sound. "Dead by sunrise."
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