Chapter 245/I Will Give Him Real Revenge

Chapter 245: 245/I Will Give Him Real Revenge

Chapter 245

Stephanie’s point of view

"I didn’t know for sure..." he admitted quietly, "...but I expected it."

"Expected it?!" I gasped. "How?!"

He cut his dark eyes back to me, his intense gaze searching my pale face.

"When you told me in the car that Claire didn’t know about your marriage or your pregnancy... I felt a chill run through me."

I furrowed my brows in confusion, so he continued with a sharper edge:

"Claire doesn’t leave a single stone unturned in this city. If someone as obsessively thorough as Claire couldn’t find a single trace of your marriage... it means the information wasn’t just hidden."

A wave of dizziness hit my head. His words were terrifyingly logical, making me feel like a fragile autumn leaf caught in a storm I couldn’t see.

"Are you saying..." I stammered, my voice breaking, "...that Alexander... Alexander himself might be the victim? Or maybe... he’s the executioner?"

Dominic clamped his jaw tight, the veins bulging on his hand resting against the seat. He didn’t answer immediately, but his gaze shifted toward the window, carrying an unbearable weight.

"I don’t know," he whispered, his voice almost lost in the heavy quiet of the cabin. "But what I do know is that we are standing in a landmine field now. Every step we take will reveal either the truth... or our end."

I looked down at my trembling hands, then back at Dominic, realizing I was no longer facing a mere legal puzzle, but a battle for my very existence. Drawing a deep breath, I scraped together the remaining shreds of my strength:

"Then let’s go back to the estate. I will find the truth, even if I have to tear this entire world apart to reach it."

Dominic offered a slow nod. An expression settled over his face that I had never seen before not a trace of possessive lust, but a dark commitment to a shared fate.

"What if you were never married to begin with, Stephanie?"

My pupils dilated wildly, my chest tightening so violently I felt suffocated. I slammed my back against the leather seat, my eyes staring blankly into space as the terrifying, ice-cold picture solidified in my mind with brutal clarity.

No one wiped the records clean... There were no documents erased by a hidden hand in the first place.

"The marriage..." The word slipped from my lips like a dying, shattered whisper: "...was fake. Everything... was just a staged play."

A suffocating silence descended over the car a quiet so profound I could almost hear my heart shattering, destroying every certainty I had built my life upon. The gown, the priest who read the vows, the heavy ring on my finger, and the eternal promises Alexander whispered in my ear... All of it was nothing more than a meticulously crafted lie designed to tighten his grip on me and trap me in a false sense of security.

I turned toward Dominic with agonizing slowness, my shaking hands falling weakly onto my knees:

"No one tampered with the system, Dominic... Alexander never married me. He tricked me... He made me believe I was his wife, while legally... and to him... I am nothing."

Dominic’s eyes locked onto mine, every trace of defiance or mockery completely vanishing from his face, replaced by a dark stone-cold jawline. He leaned his upper body toward me slowly, his hand freezing on the seat between us as he absorbed the true scale of this hideous deception.

"Fake..." Dominic repeated the word, his tone low and sharp as a blade, his dark eyes widening in a rare moment of grim dread.

Tears spilled quietly and rapidly down my pale cheeks, burning my skin. I brought my hand up to press against my small stomach, a muffled sob breaking from my throat:

"And my babies... The two children I’m carrying in my womb... Every night he spent with me, every gentle word... was just part of a disgusting script."

Dominic’s fist tightened around the leather edge of the seat until his knuckles turned bone-white. His voice dripped with suppressed fury and lethal promise:

"So Alexander Volkov wasn’t protecting you like he claimed... He was building you inside a cage of illusions."

I snapped my head up, locking my eyes into his, the terror in my gut fusing with something new a scorching spark of pure rage and humiliation.

I wiped the tears violently with the back of my hand, sharpening my broken voice into cold, unyielding steel:

"I am not going back to that estate as a clueless victim, Dominic... I won’t let him see a single tear from me ever again. If he gave me a fake marriage... I will give him the most real revenge of his fucking life."

I drew a ragged, deep breath, attempting to piece together my scattered mind and burning heart. I turned toward Dominic, my features set as cold as marble, completely stripped of any trace of weakness.

"I’m not going to the company today, Dominic..." I stated, my voice dry and unyielding: "...I need to return to the estate immediately."

Dominic studied my face for a few agonizing seconds, his dark eyes scanning my paleness with suspicion and suppressed concern. He glanced down at my trembling hands clutching the steering wheel with a white-knuckling grip, asking in a heavy, low voice:

"Can you even drive in this condition?"

"Yes, I can," I replied without a second of hesitation, locking my eyes straight ahead onto the sprawling road.

He gave a slow nod, then pushed the car door open and stepped out. Before shutting it, he leaned down slightly through the open window, fixing his sharp gaze into mine to deliver a grave, deadly promise:

"Stephanie... whatever you find over there, tell me immediately. Do not act on your own."

"Fine..." I shook my head coldly.

Dominic stepped back and slammed the door shut. I turned the ignition, pressing down on the gas pedal to send the car surging forward, leaving him watching my departure in the rearview mirror until he vanished from sight.

My hands clamped tight around the steering wheel, a light spell of dizziness playing with my head from the intense pressure. Exhausted, I reached for my phone, dialing Kira’s number... I desperately needed to hear one single honest voice in this world that had just collapsed around me. The phone rang endlessly... once, twice, three times, with zero answer.

I tossed the phone back onto the passenger seat in defeat, immediately altering my route toward her house.

I pulled up in front of Kira’s small house. I stepped out on shaking legs, my exhausted steps dragging up the stone stairs toward the front door. I raised my hand to knock, but pulled back at the very last second.

I paused for a moment, forcing myself to breathe slowly. Suddenly... an old memory flashed through my head. I tilted my head down, glancing at the clay flowerpot sitting beside the threshold. Bending my weary knees, I hoisted the heavy pot with some effort, my eyes catching the metallic gleam of the key left beneath it.

I snatched the key with icy fingers, fitting it into the lock. Turning it twice, the lock produced a faint creak before I pushed the door slowly open.

I slipped inside with light steps, pulling the door shut behind me to lock out the world. Amidst the suffocating silence hanging over the small hallway, the faint sound of Kira’s soft, cheap laughter drifted into my ears, laced with warm whispers coming from the direction of her bedroom.

I froze for a second, exhaling a tired breath while a bitter, broken smile touched my lips. Ah, Kira... As usual, she must have spent her night with another new guy.

But I was in no state to wait or play along with her usual banter; the inferno of the truth I had just uncovered was scorching my insides. I’m not married... My entire life with Alexander, my babies, my marriage contract... was nothing more than a filthy lie, a carefully directed play to exploit me. I needed Kira right now; I wanted to scream, to spill all this terror and panic into her arms.

Ignoring every rule of etiquette, driven by sheer disorientation, I rushed forward with hurried steps toward the wooden door of her room. I gripped the handle firmly and threw the door wide open without knocking...

"Kira, I have to—"

The words lodged violently in my throat. My eyes widened in horrific shock, a total paralysis seizing my exhausted body.

On the tangled bed, bathed in the dim light filtering through the drawn curtains... Kira was not with a stranger. Cedric was lying over her, their sweaty bodies entwined with violent, exposed lust, their heavy breaths filling every corner of the room.

Cedric’s rough movements snapped to a sudden halt. He turned his head toward me, his bare upper body exposed, his features twisted in utter shock, while Kira let out a startled gasp, frantically pulling the blanket up to cover her chest in sheer panic.

I stumbled back a step, my knees slamming together, staring at the man I loved the man I thought was my lover, who adored me having dirty, ruthless sex on the bed of the only friend I ever trusted.