Chapter 12 A Dream #2
His chest tightened, heart hammering as he watched Mia, a gun pressed to her temple. Every second felt frozen, his breath caught in his throat. And yet… she remained calm, almost fearless, even in the face of danger.
The phone slipped from his hand as he hung up. His gaze snapped to Mia. Every muscle in his body shook, his fists tightening. He spun on his heels, storming toward her but then halted mid-step.
He stared at her through the glass wall, eyes wild, chest heaving. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The words were barely a whisper, full of anguish and disbelief. His face twisted with hurt and fury. She had been willing to risk everything for that bastard, and she hadn’t uttered a single word to him.
He took a step back, body coiled with tension, staring at her through the fogged glass. Pain shot through him, searing and unbearable. Anger mixed with a burning possessiveness he could hardly control. Only one question echoed in his mind, over and over:
‘Is she still in love with him? Did she lie to me when she said she had no feelings for him?’
Mia stepped out of the shower, water dripping from her hair and shoulders, the bathroom steam clinging to her skin. Her eyes met Alexander’s, and he stood frozen near the bed, expression a mask of stone.
She studied him, hoping for the familiar softness he usually carried—but it wasn’t there. Alexander didn’t speak, didn’t move toward her. He simply walked past, straight into the bathroom, and slammed the door behind him with a deafening bang.
***
Two days later, Anita set the breakfast table in the soft morning light.
Her eyes kept drifting toward Mia, who moved quietly to place bread and butter on the table, her movements careful but distracted. Again and again, Mia’s gaze flicked toward the stairs, as if expecting someone.
Mia picked at her food without really eating, her attention fixed entirely on the staircase.
Anita watched her for a while, concern knitting her brows. Slowly, she stepped closer and bent slightly, her voice gentle but probing.
“Mrs. Graves?”
Mia glanced up, startled out of her thoughts.
Anita’s eyes searched hers, soft but questioning. “Did you have a fight with Mr. Graves?”
Mia shook her head, forcing a small, tight-lipped smile. “No… why do you ask?”
Anita’s gaze lingered, concern deepening. “I noticed Mr. Graves hasn’t spoken to you for the past two days… I was wondering if something happened between you two.”
Mia’s lips pressed together. She said nothing at first, but as Anita’s words settled, a cold realization crept over her. It wasn’t just her imagination—Alexander really wasn’t talking to her.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps made both women look up. Alexander was descending the stairs, impeccably dressed for the office.
Mia’s hands froze, the bread in her fingers forgotten. She quickly straightened and called out with a smile, her voice light but hopeful. “Mr. Graves, let’s have breakfast together. Anita made a really tasty soup today. It’s your favorite one.”
Alexander’s hand paused on the railing. His eyes, framed by the rectangular lenses of his glasses, met hers—but the softness, the affection she had grown so used to, was gone. In its place was a cold, distant intensity that made her stomach tighten.
“I’m not hungry,” he said simply, his voice calm but edged with a cold detachment.
His gaze swept past her to Anita, then back to the stairs, and without another word, he turned and walked out the front door, his figure disappearing with a sense of finality that made the room feel emptier than before.
Anita’s gaze lingered on him, worry etched deep across her features, before she reluctantly turned back to Mia.
Mia’s fingers curled into tight fists on the table, knuckles white as her hands clenched around the edge. Her whole body stiffened, tense from head to toe. She watched Alexander’s indifferent back vanish through the door, and a sharp ache twisted in her chest.
‘Why is Mr. Graves behaving this way?’ she thought, the question echoing in her mind. Her heart thumped in her chest, and a flicker of fear burned inside her. ‘Does he… not like me anymore?’
Mia’s face fell, an upset shadow settling over her features as she watched Alexander disappear from her view.
All she could do was watch his back vanish, her heart sinking with every step.
She remained frozen for a moment, staring at the space he had just occupied, before sighing softly and forcing herself to get ready.
After dressing and gathering her things, she left the house and made her way to the office, though her steps felt heavy, weighed down by the ache in her chest.
As she entered the office, she immediately sensed a commotion. Voices were raised, people were moving quickly in all directions, and a tangible tension hung in the air. Her eyes darted around, searching for the source of the chaos.
Before she could even take a step further, Poppy rushed up beside her, her expression a mixture of excitement and disbelief.
“Why are you late?” Poppy asked, glancing sharply at her.
Mia forced a casual shrug. “Traffic… got stuck,” she lied, hiding the fact that tears had threatened to fall on her way to work—the memory of Alexander’s cold, distant behavior still stinging painfully.
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe what happened while you were not here!
” Poppy leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper, as though sharing a juicy secret.
“There was such a huge fight today. You weren’t here to see it, but it was absolutely wild.
I’ve never seen a company erupt like this before—it was chaos! ”
Mia’s brow furrowed with interest, her previous sorrow momentarily forgotten. “A fight? What do you mean? What happened?”
Poppy’s eyes widened, as if she were reliving the chaos.
“People from Sinclair Corporation came to our office today. They caused such a ruckus—shouting, demanding to see Mr. Graves. And do you know what? He flat out refused to see any of them. They’ve been trying to reach him for days, but he wouldn’t respond.
So they got angrier… and the whole lobby practically turned into a battlefield! ”
Mia’s body tensed instantly. “Sinclair Corporation?” she repeated, her voice a mix of shock and disbelief.
“Yeah,” Poppy continued, lowering her voice slightly, “Graves Corporation has apparently been giving them a lot of trouble over the past few weeks. All that tension built up, and the shareholders decided to confront Mr. Graves in person. At first, they tried talking over the phone, but when no one answered, they came straight down. And when Mr. Graves refused to meet them, things escalated fast… it got really loud and chaotic downstairs.”
Savannah stepped in, holding a tablet. “It’s even on the TV,” she said, pointing toward the screen across the room. Mia’s eyes slid over, watching the footage. Though there was no sound, the video clearly showed people shouting and jostling loudly at the company’s entrance.
Mia watched, stomach twisting. She leaned closer, frowning.
“They’re not from some small company… how can a fight like this even happen?
” Her lips pressed tight, a sour feeling curling in her chest. “If there was a real issue, they could have handled it calmly—meetings, discussions… something professional. What’s the point of all this chaos? ”
She shook her head, lips forming a thin line. “This… this is madness,” she muttered under her breath, distaste clear in every glance as she observed the scene.
“Yeah,” Savannah muttered under her breath, glancing at the screen, “but the thing is… this has been going on for weeks. And in the last couple of days, it’s gotten so bad that they had to come down themselves. I wonder what’s Empire Group doing to them.”
Mia nodded slightly, her attention glued to the video as chaos unfolded on the screen.
Meanwhile, in his office, Alexander’s eyes were locked on the security monitors, every muscle in his body taut.
His fingers twitched against the polished surface of the desk, leaving deep, angry red impressions in his palms as he gripped it tightly.
His jaw clenched, and the veins along his temples throbbed as his gaze never wavered from Mia on the screen.
When she began speaking about James and his company, his chest stiffened, yet he didn’t move his gaze. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest, leaning forward slightly, eyes burning as he observed her.
‘Is she going to help James?’ His eyes darkened, rigid with fury, fixed on Mia’s movements. His mind raced, chaos and fear colliding. ‘Is she going to come to me, asking me to help him? Or is she going to intervene on his behalf?’
The memory of how she had defended James by never telling him about the kidnapping, even while lying in his arms in bed, burned through his chest like a live coal.
Two full days had passed, and she hadn’t uttered a single word about the incident, not when he held her close, not when she slept in his arms. That silence gnawed at him like fire.
His lips curled into an angry snarl as he watched her on the computer, eyes dark, heart thundering, veins tense. Mia’s gaze fixed on the news made him almost lose control. The fury became unbearable.
Without a second thought, he stormed out of his office, the floorboards echoing with his steps, and made a beeline for the secretary department. His eyes, dark and glinting with barely contained fury, scanned the room, seeking Mia.
Just as he reached the doorway, Savannah, oblivious to the storm behind them, turned to Mia.
“What do you think about this?” Savannah asked. “I think we should call a meeting. Businesses don’t need to resort to this kind of chaos. Situations like this… they create far more problems than they solve.”
Alexander froze at the doorway, his chest tightening, every nerve in his body straining as he observed Mia.
His heart thundered in his chest, a deafening rhythm echoing his rage and tension.
‘Is she going to defend him?’ he thought, his fingers curling into fists so tightly that the knuckles whitened.
‘If she cares… if she’s still in love with him…
she’ll try to save that bastard. Is she going to ask me to save him? ’
Mia shrugged lightly at Savannah, her voice casual but edged with detachment.
“Do whatever they want. None of my business,” she said with a small laugh, brushing her hands off as if the matter were trivial.
“I’m not getting paid to talk about their business, save their business, or come up with ideas for them. Why would I waste my time?”
Savannah chuckled at her, shaking her head, and Mia turned back to her desk, moving as though nothing had happened, the morning just beginning as usual.
Then, she leaned toward Savannah again, a sly grin spreading across her face.
“I think Mr. Graves is going easy on them. Maybe if they caused a little more chaos, we could take over Sinclair Corporation entirely. Who knows—maybe I could even become the CEO,” she teased, eyes sparkling with mischief.
“If that happened, I wouldn’t have to work this hard…
just sit in the CEO office all day, giving orders. I really hate working.”
Poppy burst out laughing, her amusement spilling over as she leaned back in her chair. “Mia, all day? You’re just playing games on your computer! You actually already have the dream job of every employee in this office!”
Mia gave her a deadpan frown. “It’s still a job, Poppy. I don’t want to have a dream job. A dream job that still makes me work? No thanks. That’s like a nightmare in disguise. I just want… actual dreams. Preferably with naps. And in my dreams, coffee magically appears in my hand.”
They giggled together as Mia continued with mock solemnity, “When we take over Sinclair Corporation, if I become CEO, I’ll make you two my secretaries. Then we can relax all day, go to the spa, and eat chicken whenever we want.”
“That’s a deal!” Poppy said, pulling Mia into a playful hug, laughter filling the room.
But that little scene was enough to pierce the wall of tension Alexander had been holding for days.
His body, rigid as steel, relaxed slightly.
The gnawing question that had tormented him—whether Mia loved James enough to defend him, even die for him—began to fade.
He exhaled slowly, tension in his shoulders easing just a fraction.
And then, without warning, Alexander was there. He strode through the office with purpose, his long legs eating up the distance in a few steps. His hand closed around Mia’s wrist, pulling her from her chair with an intensity that silenced the murmurs around them.
Everyone in the office froze, eyes wide in shock, but Alexander didn’t care. His gaze bore into Mia’s, dark and commanding, and he said, low and firm, “Everything will be handled by my men. Don’t worry about this matter.”
He pointed toward the TV, still showing the video of James’s company in chaos. Mia’s heart thudded in her chest, startled by his sudden presence, but she nodded obediently, words caught in her throat.
“Come with me to my office. I need to talk to you,” he added, pulling her along without another word.
Mia felt the curious stares of the entire office on her as they followed, but she didn’t dare pull her hand free. After two days of his cold indifference, his attention now felt like a blessing. And she clung to it, silently grateful.
She let him lead her silently, only stopping when they reached his office.
Once inside his office, he pressed a button on the desk. A quiet click confirmed the door locked from the inside. Only then did he release her wrist and turn fully toward her, his eyes dark, intense. The room seemed to shrink around them.