<b>Chapter </b><b>134 </b>
Alejandro’s <b>eyes </b>followed Nivera’s line of sight to the ss in his hand.
<b>“</b><b>It’s </b>just a little drink!” He shrugged casually.
“Alejandro, you were probably drinking while talking to Martins. You had a ss in your hand when you came to call me up for dinner–the <b>same </b><b>when </b>came down. It’s not just a little drink.”
“Did something serious happen?” She probed.
“A little trouble at work, but nothing I can’t fix,” Alejandro lied to get her off his back.
“Sure you will; you always do,” she stated, and a smile appeared on his face. “Either way, it’s not healthy for you.”
He squinted his eyes when she suddenly stretched her hands to him.
“Seriously?” A scoff broke out of him when he realized what she was asking for.
“Seriously!” Nivera confirmed.
He was fucking Alejandro Garcia! Heir to the most powerful family. He had ruined men and so, there was no way anybody was going to stop him from drinking,‘ he thought to himself as he handed over the ss to Nivera.
She had no power over him. He just handed it over because he was tired of drinking, he told himself.
Dinner went on with small exchanges after that, but her mind was still tangled around their conversation.
When it ended, she returned to her room to sleep, as she was beyond tired. As soon as she got there, she realized how oddly empty it felt.
The bed, neatly made, looked bare. It was ridiculous – she didn’t want Alejandro’spany. She didn’t need it. And yet…
Shey down, staring at the ceiling, restless. The room was silent except for the faint hum of the air conditioning.
The silence pressed in on her. She tossed once–twice–thinking of how the other night, despite his frustrating personality, she had slept better in his bed than she had in weeks.
No, she wasn’t about to spend hours lying awake in bed because of Alejandro guing her thoughts.
Before she could overthink it, she slipped out from under the covers and padded barefoot down the hall.
She knocked once on his door. There was no answer, and so she knocked again.
From inside, she heard a low voice speak, “It’s open.”
She pushed the door open and stepped in.
Alejandro was leaning back against the headboard, in a ck T–shirt and sweatpants, reading through something on his phone. He looked up when <b>she </b>approached him….
“What happened?<b>” </b>
“There’s a spider in my room,<i>” </i>she said without missing a beat.
His brow arched. “A spider.”
“Yes.” She crossed her arms, holding her ground. “A very big one. With legs.”
Alejandro <b>didn’t </b>move <b>for </b>a moment, then set his phone aside. “So your solution is toe to <b>my </b>bad instead of killing it?”
“<b>My </b>solution,” she said primly, “is to stay somewhere I can sleep without worrying about creepy little monsters crawling on me. Your bed just happens ko qualify.”
<b>“</b>Convenient.” He shook his head. “Let me go check for it.”
“Good luck finding it,” she stated. “I tried to scare it away, only for it to disappear. That thing almost killed me,”
Alejandro chuckled under his breath, shaking his head, but didn’t stop her as she slipped under the covers on the far side of the bed.
The scent of him surrounded her immediately–warm spice and something darker, sharper. She kept her back to him, but the awareness of his presence was impossible to ignore.
Within minutes, the tension in her body began to ease. Her eyelids grew heavy, and the steady rhythm of his breathing lulled her.
She’d never admit it out loud, but she slept better with him near.
She was asleep before she realized it, the faintest trace of a smile tugging at her lips. <ol start="2"><li>2. </li></ol>
As soon as her breathing was even, Alejandro turned to look at her, and he drew the duvet over her properly.
Taking onest look at her, he got out of bed and walked to the balcony, as he wanted some fresh air.
He leaned against the balcony railing, the cool night air brushing over his skin.
Beyond the mansion, the city lights bled into the horizon.
Fuck, his throat itched, and he was tempted to go to his ss of whiskey. Nivera wouldn’t know that he had gone back to drinking.
However, no matter how much he tried to convince himself, he couldn’t bring himself to go grab the ss.
He didn’t want to remember. Hell, he’d spent years making sure he didn’t. But the human brain had a cruel sense of timing–it chose the quiet moments to throw you back into the noise of the past.
In a few days, it would be the anniversary. He didn’t need the calendar to remind him; his body always knew before his mind admitted it.
That day–the one that split his childhood in two–was stitched into his bones.
He remembered waking up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare. He was six or so.
The hallway was dimly lit as he made his way to his parents‘ room to go to his mother.
His father wouldn’t like that; he would say he was weak, and he would scold him, but his mother would protect him like she always did.
As he got there, his father’s voice roared from the slightly open door, and it was sharp and unyielding, the kind of sound that made the walls tremble.
His mother’s voice came next, quieter, and she was begging his father. From the slight opening, he could see she looked scared, like always.
Alejandro didn’t understand back then but felt it in his bones.
He had stood there, clutching the corner of his shirt, listening to his father yell at his mother.
Then there had been the crash–ss shattering–followed by a silence that had been worse than the yelling.
He remembered pushing open the door and seeing <i>her</i>…
She had blood on her tip and a handprint on her cheek.
11:42 <b>Sat</b>, <b>16 </b>Aug 25
Chapter <b>134 </b>
<b>And </b>his father–his immovable<b>, </b>untouchable father–looking at him with a coldness that told him just how big of a monster he was
<b>His </b>mother had been crying. Not the open sobs that could beforted, but the silent kind that made her shoulders shake and her face tum away from
him<b>. </b>
He had stood there, clutching the doorframe, trying to understand why her eyes
wouldn’t meet his.
He couldn’t remember what his father said to him, as all his focus was on his mother, who was trying to pretend like nothing had <b>happened</b><b>. </b>
That was the first of many, and that day he was forced to grow up.
He sighed, running his fingers through his hair roughly. It was in the past; the man was gone, and so there was no use dwelling over <b>it</b>.
Alejandro pushed off the railing and stepped back inside.
Nivera was still asleep<b>, </b>curled into the pillows, as her chest rose and fell steadily.
His gaze softened despite the turmoil inside him.
A loose strand of hair clung to her cheek, and before he could think better of it, he reached out, brushing it back with the lightest touch. <b>She </b><b>didn’t </b>stir, but her lips parted slightly, and he found himself staring far longer than was decent.
She then shifted, curling closer to the warmth of the nkets, and something deep in his chest tugged painfully.
He told himself it was nothing. Just a man noticing the woman in his bed. But he didn’t notice women like this. Not their breathing, not the way the moonlight framed their face, <i>not </i>the way their presence made the silence in the <i>room </i>feel… safe.
Mainly because no woman had ever spent the night in his bed.
He sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to wake her, and for a long moment, he simply stared.
There was something infuriating about the way she could make the tension bleed out of him without even trying because he already felt at peace<b>, </b>and all he did was look at her.
He slid into the bed, the mattress dipping beneath his weight.
The air between them was warm, and the knot <i>in </i><i>his </i>chest finally loosened as he closed his eyes.
He had been expecting another one of the many sleepless nights Ke had had.
However, all thanks to a certain woman who had unexpectedly shown up, that had gone out the window.
Hisst thought before sleep imed him was one he’d never admit aloud:
He always slept better when she was there.
And tonight was no exception.
O