<b>Chapter </b><b>157 </b>
The air smelled of salt and brine, heavy with the weight of the sea.
Alejandro stood at the edge of the pier, the wooden nks beneath his shoes creaking softly as the ocean stretched out before him.
He hade here because it was one of the few ces that didn’t demand anything from him. No guards, no family politics, no weight of responsibility pressing down on his shoulders. Just waves. Endless, ceaseless waves.
The ce had been his retreat for years–a ce only a handful of people knew he came to when he needed to think..
He had always preferred spots like this: open yet private, exposed to the vastness of nature but hidden enough that no one would disturb hirm
He shoved his hands into his pockets, staring at the horizon.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps approach behind him. Steady, unhurried, familiar.
He didn’t have to turn for he already knew who it was.
“Why did you call me here?” William’s voice carried the kind of patience Alejandro had always known in him.
William had never needed to raise his voice tomand respect.
Alejandro’s lips curved faintly, humorless. “I wanted silence. You just happened to answer the phone.”
William came to stand beside him, folding his arms as he gazed out at the water. The man’s hair had silvered over the years, but his presence hadn’t
dulled.
Where Alejandro’s father had been a storm, William had been the steady anchor in the aftermath both inside the family and beyond it.
Unlike Miguel–Alejandro’s father–William had never wielded his authority with cruelty. He had been the closest thing Alejandro had to a father <b>figure</b>, even when Miguel tried to keep them apart.
They stood together in silence for a moment, listening to the waves hit the pier. Then Alejandro spoke, his voice casual but edged with something sharper beneath.
“How long has it been now? With you and Aunt?”
William’s head turned slightly, a brow raised. “Almost thirty years. Why?”
Alejandro shrugged, eyes still fixed on the water. “Just curious.”
William gave a small chuckle. “You’ve never been the type to ask about marriage out of curiosity, Alejandro.”
Ignoring the jab, Alejandro pressed, “You and aunt,” he began, his eyes fixed on the moonlit. Even though it didn’t appear as such but it took a lot of courage to even talk about the matter.
“It wasn’t always… like this, was it?”
William arched a brow but didn’t look away from the “Like what?”
Alejandro shrugged as if the question barely mattered. “You two. I’ve seen the way you look at her, even now, after decades. You didn’t even want to
you still can’t seem to get marry her at first. Yet thirty yearster, you still/..<i>” </i>He gestured vaguely, searching for words that didn’t betray too much.” enough.”
William chuckled low in his throat, the sound rumbling like distant thunder. “You make it sound like a curse.”
Alejandro’s mouth twitched. “For you, it doesn’t look like one.”
<b>08:12 </b><b>Mon</b>, 1 <b>Sept </b>ti
“No,” William admitted softly, his gaze faraway. “It isn’t. However, I thought I’d been cursed, shackled. I was certain Alicia would be the end of my fredom.” He paused, a soft smile ying on his lips. “And yet, thirty yearster, she’s the one thing I can’t live without.”
there was another pause as Alejandro was trying to pick his words while William was waiting for him to continue.
Alejandro’s jaw tightened. He could feel William waiting on him, but he didn’t meet his gaze. “So, what changed? How does a man go from fighting marriage to…that?” He gestured vaguely, as if the words were too heavy to form.
William finally turned his head, his sharp eyes studying his nephew. “That’s a very specific curiosity, Alejandro.”
Alejandro smirked, masking the flicker of unease. “Call it… research.”
William let the silence stretch a beat too long before answering, forcing Alejandro to hold his gaze. Then the older man looked back at the sea.
“It’s been hell,” William said first, and Alejandro blinked. But then his uncle’s lips curved with something softer. “And it’s been heaven. I didn’t want <b>her </b>at the start. I thought marriage would be a chain. She thought I was insufferable. And maybe I was. God I was such an asshole to her,” he chuckled.
But Alicia broke through my defences and my excuses. And I-” His expression softened, his eyes reflecting the moonlight. “I realized I couldn’t breathe without her. That every fight, every denial, was me fighting myself. The truth was simple. I loved her. I was just too proud to admit it.”
Alejandro’s brows furrowed faintly, though he kept his expression schooled. “How did know?”
you
“That I loved her?” William asked.
Alejandro gave a nomittal nod.
William leaned his elbows on the railing, his voice calm, deliberate. “You never really know at first. It creeps up on you. At first, I thought it was obsession -wanting to see her, to hear her voice. Then it was anger–how easily she got under my skin, how much she mattered when I swore she wouldn’t. And then, one day, it hit me.” His smile grew faint.
“Losing her terrified me more than anything else. Because herughter stayed in my head even when I was drowning in work. Because when I hurt her, the guilt ate me alive more than any enemy’s de ever could. That’s how I knew.”
Alejandro’s throat tightened. He masked it with a faint scoff. “Sounds… inconvenient.”
“Love always is,” William replied easily.
Silence fell again. Alejandro’s questions came slower now<i>, </i>almost reluctant. “Did you ever… almost ruin it?”
William’s chuckle was dry.“I nearly lost her because of my pride. I said things I shouldn’t have, pushed her away when she wanted closeness. Alicia nearly walked out. And I’ll tell you this, Alejandro–nothing has ever shaken me more than realizing I’d driven her to the edge of leaving. That was when ! learned that love isn’t about control. It’s about choice. Hers. Mine. Both of us choosing each other every day, even when it’s hard.”
His tone grew heavier, distant with memory. “If I hadn’t woken up to what she meant to me, I would’ve lost the only thing worth keeping.<b>” </b>
Alejandro’s lips pressed into a thin line. Every word felt like it echoed inside him<b>, </b>cutting deeper than he wanted to admit.
His hand clenched in his pocket. Images flickered unbidden in his mind: Nivera’s sharp eyes when she spat her truths at him, the way she looked at him now with cold distance instead of fire. The pain that twisted in his chest when she pulled away.”
Every picture his uncle had just painted sounded painfully like he and Nivera. Even a blind man would see it.
“Why all these questions, hm?” William asked finally.
“Antonio,” he said, feigning casual. “He’s wrapped around Zabelle’s finger these days. Lsuppose that’s what made me wonder. He used to be like detached and practical. Now he’s all but useless when ites to her.”
William’sugh was low, filled with amusement. “Antonio, is it?” He shook his head. “You forget, Alejandro–i raised you, <i>boy</i>. I know how your mind works. You think you can throw me a decoy, but I see right through it. Besides, you can lie and convince the world but not me.”
Alejandro closed his eyes, letting the sound of the waves drown the thought
still there.
He was
losing her. And
for the first time
in
his life, he didn’t know what to do.
for a
moment.
But
when he
opened them again,
the ache
his chest