Chapter 2 Why Do You Look So Pale?
Alexander glanced at the message, then at Elsa.
When she showed no reaction, he quickly typed a reply and turned off the screen.
His mind was obviously elsewhere. "Go to sleep."
Elsa couldn't.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the same warm family picture: Alexander holding his son in one arm and the woman he loved in the other.
Anger told her to grab his phone right now and force the truth out into the open.
Reason reminded her that her mother had only just undergone heart bypass surgery and was still in the hospital. Elsa couldn't start a divorce war at a time like this.
At three in the morning, Alexander's phone lit up again.
A little more than ten minutes later, he left the villa.
Hearing the engine start outside, Elsa slowly opened her eyes.
One message was enough to make Alexander rush out in the middle of the night.
That was the power Serena had over him.
Elsa wanted to scream, smash things, demand answers—but there wasn't a trace of strength left in her body.
She barely had enough energy to breathe, much less speak.
Early the next morning, Elsa forced herself to pull together and took breakfast to her parents at the hospital.
The moment they saw her exhausted face, both of them were alarmed.
Her mother, Margaret, lay in bed with tubes still attached to her body. She was awake but extremely weak. "Elsa, sweetheart, what's wrong?"
Elsa quickly reassured her. "Mom, don't worry. I just didn't sleep well last night."
Her father, Harold, peeled half an apple and handed it to her. "The doctor just came by. Your mother hasn't had any complications, and the incision is healing well. If everything continues like this, she'll be discharged in about a week."
Knowing her mother's surgery had gone well finally allowed Elsa to breathe a little easier.
After helping Margaret finish breakfast, Elsa went to speak with her mother's attending physician.
On the way back to the ward, she passed the payment counter—and unexpectedly saw Alexander.
With his height, striking face, and the cold authority of a man used to being obeyed, he was nearly impossible to miss.
Their eyes met.
Alexander frowned slightly and walked toward her.
Elsa noticed the stack of receipts in his hand but stopped herself from asking about them.
It was Wednesday morning, nine o'clock.
At this hour Alexander should have been in a senior management meeting at Horton Group headquarters.
Seeing him here during work hours made it painfully easy to guess why he'd come.
She wanted to ask.
She didn't dare.
She was afraid she would lose control and start screaming at him in the middle of the hospital.
Afraid her parents would see.
Afraid she would destroy herself before she managed to solve anything.
So she swallowed the pain tearing through her chest and stood there in silence.
She waited for Alexander to speak first.
Or not speak at all.
He stopped in front of her and reached toward the paperwork in her hands.
At that moment, his phone rang.
His hand immediately withdrew. He pulled out the phone and glanced at the screen.
"I need to take this. Go ahead."
Then he turned and walked quickly toward the elevators.
His voice dropped as he answered the call.
"Be good. Stop fussing."
The gentle, coaxing tone went straight through Elsa's heart.
She could no longer hold herself together.
She locked herself in the restroom and cried until she could barely breathe.
So Alexander could be patient.
He could speak to someone tenderly.
Elsa had known him for twenty-five years, and not once had he ever coaxed her in that voice.
Only after she had finally regained control did she leave the restroom.
She repaired her makeup as best she could and returned to the ward.
Margaret took one look at her daughter and knew something was wrong. She sent Harold out on an errand, then held out a hand to Elsa.
When Elsa came close, Margaret asked weakly, "Did you and Alexander have a fight?"
Elsa lowered her eyes and shook her head. "Mom, we're fine."
The words had barely left her mouth when Harold came back into the room—with Alexander beside him.
Margaret smiled when she saw him. "Alexander, you're so busy. You really don't have to keep coming here."
Alexander set down the nutritional supplements he'd brought. "Mom, I've already contacted a leading cardiology specialist for you. Before you're discharged, we'll arrange a full examination."
Harold couldn't hide the pride in his eyes when he looked at his son-in-law. "Alexander always thinks of everything. Our family has owed you so much over the years."
Alexander came to the bedside. His gaze briefly landed on Elsa's obviously swollen eyes. "Dad, we're family. You don't have to talk to me like that."
Elsa stood to make room for him, but Alexander pressed her back down onto the edge of the bed. "I'll stand."
Sitting there, Elsa watched Alexander speak warmly with her parents and had to look away.
Three years earlier, the Winters family had gone bankrupt and been left with enormous debts.
Despite the pressure from the outside world, Alexander had paid off the Winters family's debts, settled her parents, sent her younger brother to an elite private school, and honored the old engagement by marrying Elsa.
At the time, she had foolishly believed he must have cared for her at least a little.
It wasn't until after the wedding, when she accidentally overheard a conversation between Alexander and his father, that she finally learned the truth.
Marrying her had been a business calculation.
Alexander told his father that integrity and reputation were among the most valuable things a businessman could possess.
Helping the ruined Winters family, he said, gave him both moral prestige and practical benefit.
He'd chosen well.
Once he married Elsa, his reputation became one of Horton Group's best advertisements.
That was also when Elsa understood that Alexander had never let go of the woman in his heart.
He had married Elsa because Serena was unavailable.
A second choice. A compromise. An obligation.
So the moment Serena returned, Alexander could hardly wait to be with her again.
He was thrilled that the woman he loved had given him a son, and apparently forgot he still had a wife at home.
Elsa looked terrible.
Margaret, worried about her daughter, told Alexander to take her home to rest.
Neither of them spoke as they left the ward.
They walked in silence all the way to the elevators before Alexander caught Elsa's arm.
"Why do you look so pale? Didn't you sleep last night?"
A bitter curve touched Elsa's lips.
He had reunited with his first love and their son, missed his own third wedding anniversary, and still thought Elsa looked miserable because she hadn't slept well.
Love and indifference had always revealed themselves in the smallest details.
She had simply refused to see them.
Elsa quietly pulled her arm from his hand. "Go do what you need to do. I'll walk around for a while."
The elevator doors opened, and Elsa moved toward another elevator instead.
Alexander caught her arm again and pulled her inside with him. "I booked dinner tonight. Your favorite restaurant."
"Mm."
She could not summon even the slightest excitement.
More people entered the elevator. Alexander drew Elsa a little closer against him to make room.
Looking down at the unnaturally quiet woman in his arms, he frowned.
As long as he'd known Elsa, she'd been impossible to keep still.
Whenever she saw him, she always found some excuse to hover around him, calling his name over and over, trying to get his attention.
Now she was so quiet she looked like a doll with its soul removed.
When they reached the lobby, Elsa refused Alexander's offer to drive her.
After parting from him, she went to a law firm.
For a two-hundred-dollar consultation fee, she had a divorce agreement drafted.