I needed air. I needed to escape this place full of judging eyes.
I turned and moved through the crowd, trying to maintain surface composure, but every step felt impossibly heavy, like walking through quicksand.
In this glittering high society gathering, I suddenly realized the vast distance between myself and this world. I didn't belong here. I was just an ordinary journalist, while Alexander's world was full of elegant, sophisticated women like Tatyana.
Maybe I'd always been just an accident.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alexander
After wrapping up business matters, I finally escaped Tatyana's clutches. She'd been going on and on about some family cooperation deal, and I just played along politely while my mind was already on Anna.
I searched the entire ballroom for Anna but came up empty. After asking a few waiters, one told me he'd seen her head to the terrace.
The night air was cool, and unease crept into my chest as I walked toward the terrace.
I found Anna standing alone by the railing, her slender figure looking somehow isolated in the darkness. That deep blue dress shimmered in the moonlight, but her silhouette radiated a distance I couldn't shake.
Seeing her in that thin dress against the night breeze, I immediately reached to remove my jacket to wrap around her shoulders.
My hand grasped nothing but air. Damn. I'd given my jacket to Tatyana earlier.
The realization hit me like ice water. Had Anna witnessed that?
Perhaps I should have introduced Tatyana to Anna sooner, butevery time the opportunity arose, I hesitated. I wasn't certain our relationship could withstand that revelation yet.
She turned at the sound of my footsteps. Those usually warm green eyes were cold now, her expression unreadable.
"Anna." I approached her, reaching to encircle her waist. "What are you doing out here alone?"
She gracefully sidestepped my touch. "Let's go."
Just two words, but the detachment in them made my stomach clench.
The drive back to the manor was suffocatingly silent.
I kept watching Anna. Though she sat beside me, there might as well have been an ocean between us. She stared out the window with none of the excitement or nervousness from earlier. Since leaving the terrace, she'd erected an invisible barrier I couldn't penetrate.
I reached for her hand. She pulled away again.
"Anna, are you feeling unwell?" I ventured.
She simply shook her head. "Just tired."
Her voice was flat, emotionless. Nothing like her usual tone. I studied her profile, those eyes that used to steal glances at me now fixed solely on the passing scenery, as if something out there held more importance than I did.
A sense of foreboding settled in my chest.
When we arrived at the manor, Sofia was waiting in the living room wearing pink pajamas, clutching her favorite bunny plushie. Her face brightened immediately upon seeing us.
"Alex! Mommy!" She launched herself into my arms, small hands wrapping around my neck. "You're back! I waited so long!"
I lifted her up, her warmth providing some relief from the tension. "Little princess still awake?"
"I wanted to wait for you both." She nuzzled against me. "Alex, can you play with me for a little while? Even just read me a bedtime story?"
I was about to agree—this was my favorite part of each day—but Anna suddenly interrupted with unusual sternness.
