"That’s impossible, Xavier has no reason to go after you. It can’t possibly be him."


    "And how sure can you be about that?" Bruce’s tone grew sharper, his voiceced with suspicion. "Yes, I have many enemies who could be following me, all looking for a reason to get rid of me, but something tells me this is Xavier’s doing."


    "The stalker was caught by my henchmen, but somehow, he managed to escape. Convenient, don’t you think?" His tone turned colder, carrying an edge of frustration. "You know what? Try asking Xavier about his findings on Anastasia. Has he mentioned anything to youtely?" he pressed, his words deliberate and probing.


    Mr Wace gave it some thought. He’d just realized that for thest few days, Xavier hadn’t included him in any of his ns of searching for Anastasia.


    He slightly shook his head.


    "Okay, even if it was Xavier, there is nothing to find out from you. You said it had been a while since you had visited Xattlewod and even if you did, Xander always made sure you were untraceable there. So, there’s nothing to worry about. Xavier can never find anything on you because it’s already toote. Anastasia is dead."


    Bruce gave it some thought and could only nod in agreement.


    "I’m still baffled by the fact that she’s dead. That happened way too soon," Mr Wace added. "If that’s all, I should get going now." With that, he stood up from his seat, shared a few nces with the other men, and left.


    Mr Wace was in his car, contemting the possibilities of Anastasia’s death. It waspletely unexpected since Xander had several ns for what he could do to her, but she died. Just like that.


    He recalled the past when Anastasia had faked her death for almost a year until Xavier revealed to them that Selene Jones was Anastasia.


    His heart skipped a beat ufortably and he had to pull down his tie to get thatfort he wascking all of a sudden but still, that didn’t do anything.


    He was tempted to give Xander a call but the possibility of thetter picking up his was nearest to none.


    "If Xander had already confirmed that she was dead, then she must be dead," he thought out loud. Ever since he found Xander, he’d noticed thetter never made mistakes. He was the perfect son he’d failed to acknowledge and take under this wing, but now, he couldn’t help but regret that action of his.


    Even though Xander had refused to acknowledge him as his father, Mr Wace wasn’t going to give up.


    **


    Xavier was at his mansion after being forced to leave his hideout by Ezekiel and Maxwell. They had grown tired of watching him drown himself in endless cups of coffee and pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion. Both men cared about him enough to kick him out, demanding that he rest and recover before returning to continue his search for Anastasia.


    Xavier took a shower and although he didn’t want to, his body needed the rest.


    His phone had been letting off notifications non stop but he had silenced it so it resulted in vibrations.


    He didn’t want to look at what was going on because he still had to rest.


    Just when he was about to close his eyes and take an hour nap, his phone vibrated harder and the sound made him anxiously ufortable.


    He sprang up from the bed and grabbed his phone from the bedside table, ready to get dressed and leave without even hearing what the caller had to say.


    "Xavier, there’s something you need to see. Check Mestagram." He checked the caller to find it was Maxwell.


    <i>Instagram</i>


    He despised that app because that was where Xander always posted cruel images of Anastasia whenever he felt like it, and Xavier had to wipe off the image from the inte before it was toote.


    Now that Maxwell was personally calling him to check the app again, Xander must have uploaded something again.


    His heart nearly leaped into his chest with worry but he wasted no time in checking the app.


    Right there, he saw a picture that appeared on his feed.


    It was ady with a broken face, the same hair color, and a simr body structure to Anastasia.


    Xavier’s phone nearly slipped from his hands, but he tightened his grip just in time. His heart raced as his eyes widened, staring at the screen. A part of him silently prayed it wasn’t what he feared, but no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, his mind kept circling back to the same dreadful thought.


    The caption read: <strong><i>RIP TO ANASTASIA WALLACE.</i></strong>


    Xavier let out a dark, humorless chuckle that echoed in the empty room, chilling enough to make anyone shudder had they been near. There was no amusement in it—only an emptiness filled with anger and desperation. His thoughts spiraled as he imagined his hands around the neck of a particr someone, squeezing the life out of them until their final breath.


    Without further dy, he wore back his clothes, the sleep, and fatiguepletely flushing out of his body after reading the post.


    He got back to his hideout, banging the door open, startling the people inside.


    "Xander just mistakenly gave us a clue," he said. He sat in front of his monitor, forwarded the picture to it, and zoomed in on the carving of the coffin the dead woman was in. "We need to search up this name and get more information from them."