He stared at her.
With every word she spoke, his face darkened further—his jaw clenching, his eyes burning, fury boiling beneath his skin.
Mia didn’t stop.
Her voice remained calm, but it carried years of quiet pain.
“I lived in a loveless marriage for five years,” she said. “I know what it feels like to be with someone who doesn’t want you.”
Her fingers slowly slipped from his grasp.
“I won’t repeat that mistake.”
She lifted her eyes to him.
“You don’t love me—you never fell in love with me. You just liked the younger version of me you met back then,” she continued. “That’s a crush. Not love.”
For a second, Alexander didn’t move.
Then his gaze sharpened, his expression hardening as something dark slid into his eyes.
“So you think I treat you the same as James?” he asked.
His voice had turned deadly cold—flat, controlled, dripping with venom.
Mia’s chest tightened.
She pushed herself up from the edge of the bed, instinctively trying to create distance. Yet her hand remained clutched in his grip, fingers still tangled with his even as her body leaned away.
“Not now,” she said softly, avoiding his eyes. “But after you realize it isn’t love… you will.”
That was the spark.
The restraint snapped.
“What the fuck do you think I am, Mia?” Alexander roared, ripping his hand free from hers with violent force.
His voice exploded through the room, raw and furious.
“You think I need your fucking charity?” he barked. “That I need you to stay with me for a while until I get over you—and then you’ll just walk away?”
His chest heaved as he leaned forward, eyes blazing.
“Do you think I’m a damn child you need to coax?” he snarled. “Is that what you think of me?”
Mia flinched visibly.
Her shoulders tensed, her hands twisting together anxiously at her waist, knuckles whitening as she stood there, silent.
Alexander didn’t stop.
“I don’t want your charity,” he snapped viciously. “Get out of this room. I don’t want to see you ever again.”
His voice thundered, final and merciless.
“Leave!”
Mia didn’t argue.
