Chapter 206/The Ultimate Three-Way Clash

Chapter 206: 206/The Ultimate Three-Way Clash

Chapter 206

Stephanie’s POV

A long, suffocating silence blanketed the corners of the room the agonizing kind of silence that you desperately pray will last forever to shield you, yet simultaneously beg to dissolve just to rid your chest of its crushing weight. My confession was a ticking time bomb that I had detonated with my own hands. For the very first time, I had forced that grotesque truth out into the open, loud and echoing: the terrifying reality that my wretched heart was swinging like a pendulum between two brothers, both holding a piece of my soul, and both demanding to possess me entirely.

Every trace of the mocking sneer vanished from Alexander’s face. His skin turned a deathly, horrifying pale as the veins along his neck aggressively bulged beneath the surface. When he spoke, his voice dropped to a hollow, ragged whisper:

"Stephanie..." He took a slow, rattling breath, his chest rising heavily. "...are you honestly trying to drive me into absolute madness?"

I tightly closed my eyes, forcing my eyelids shut to mine for any remaining shred of strength. I suppressed the tears threatening to spill, and forced my cracked, exhausted voice out into the quiet:

"No, Alex... I am not driving you to anything." I opened my eyes, staring directly into his frozen pupils. "I am merely placing the truth in your hands the same truth that has ruthlessly devoured my soul and drained me until I cannot bear its weight for a single second longer."

In a split second, his frozen composure fractured into a roaring volcano. He advanced on me, his massive boots slamming against the hardwood with heavy, earth-shattering strides. He caught me by the upper arms, his grip bruisingly tight as his face dropped mere inches from mine. His voice exploded like a deafening thunderclap, vibrating against the very stone walls of the mansion:

"Stephanie! Did you actually betray me?!" He shook me once, violently, his eyes wild. "Did you fuck my brother behind my back?!"

My entire body violently recoiled, a primitive terror gripping my chest as my heart hammered frantically against my ribs. For a fraction of a second, panic almost made me scream, almost made me claw those words back and bury the evidence to save myself. **But in a flash, a parade of horrors rushed through my mind **the maid blackmailing me, Vincent threatening me with that lethal audio recording, and Isabella had cornered me, knowing every sickening detail of this wretched secret. It was going to come to light sooner or later.

I swallowed the bitter lump of oppression, lifting my chin to look straight into his burning eyes. I blindly twisted my shoulders, tearing my arms away from his iron grip, my tear-blurred gaze filled with desperate defiance as I unleashed the poisoned words:

"I... I slept with him once, after our wedding!" I took a sharp step back, my breathing shallow. "I couldn’t control my feelings or restrain myself... I love him too, Alexander, and I can no longer deny it!"

He didn’t give me a single heartbeat to breathe. He lunged forward like a feral beast, and in the blink of an eye, his massive, powerful hand clamped tightly around my throat.

He slammed me back until my spine hit the rigid wood of the bedpost. The burning pressure of his fingers cut off my oxygen entirely. For a terrifying second, I genuinely believed he was going to squeeze the life out of me, erasing me from existence.

Then, as if he had accidentally brushed against a scorching piece of iron, his fingers abruptly released me. He stumbled two steps backward, his palms violently striking the sides of his own head in a crazed, hysterical motion. He staggered blindly against the side table, knocking a heavy lamp slightly off-balance, his voice tearing into a broken, maddened shriek:

"I am going to lose my godforsaken mind because of you!... I am completely losing my sanity!"

My knees buckled, and I collapsed heavily onto the floorboards, my hands desperately grasping the edge of the mattress for support. Panting for air, my voice leaving my throat in a fragile, broken whisper, I murmured:

"And I..." I pulled myself slightly upward, leaning my forehead against the dark duvet. "...I lost my sanity and my mind a lifetime ago, Alex."

Alexander suddenly straightened his towering frame. He aggressively closed the distance between us once more, bending down to grab me by the front of my dress and hauling me back to my feet. He loomed over me, his eyes ablaze with lethal, burning sparks. His bitter roar shook my very core:

"How could you do this to me, for heaven’s sake?!" He shoved his hand through his hair, pacing in a small, frantic circle before locking his eyes back onto mine. "How could your heart allow you to deceive me with such utter filth?! How do you fuck my brother in the dark while you carry my name, sleep in my bed, and live as my wife?!"

Tears cascaded like a waterfall down my pale cheeks, my legs trembling so violently I had to lean against the wall. I gasped:

"Alex... you know the intricate details of our past and everything that happened between us perfectly well." I reached up, wiping my face with a trembling palm. "To my absolute misfortune, and to yours, my wretched heart beats for both of you with the exact same intensity!"

He aggressively buried his fingers into his dark hair, pulling at the strands in sheer fury. He stopped pacing, freezing in the center of the room like a statue. His gravelly voice sliced through the air with a dry, rigid sharpness:

"That is impossible, and it makes absolutely no sense, Stephanie!" He turned around slowly, fixing me with a look of pure disgust. "A woman cannot love two men like this. You have to choose one of us to establish a life with!"

"I cannot choose between the two of you under any circumstance!" I shrieked in absolute agony and despair, my voice cracking. I marched toward the exit, my hand reaching frantically for the brass door handle before I pushed the final blow: "And for that exact reason... I am abandoning you both and leaving. I want a divorce!"

His eyes instantly narrowed into freezing, absolute slits, his expression hardening into an impenetrable mask of pure authority.

In a single motion, his hand shot out, slamming flat against the wooden door right above my head, blocking my path entirely.

"I will absolutely never allow you to divorce me!" He leaned down, his chest pressing slightly against my back, trapping me. "Print that into your mind as an unbending rule I will never let you walk away from my protection and power so easily!"