Chapter 432

Her fingers hovered over the phone for three heartbeats before answering.

A rich baritone voice melted through the receiver. "Are you back at the office?"

"At my boutique actually," Evelyn responded coolly. "Shouldn't you be buried in meetings? What brings this call?"

The pause that followed crackled with electricity. "I found myself missing you," Alexander confessed, then added with devastating sincerity, "Terribly."

Those two syllables sent Evelyn's pulse into chaos. She focused on the computer screen, but the numbers blurred as her composure shattered.

"Vivian," his voice dropped an octave, "I won't make it back tonight. Will you ache for me like I'm aching for you?"

The silence stretched between them, filled only with the sound of her shallow breathing.

Finally, she whispered, "Yes. God, yes I will."

Alexander's chuckle vibrated through the phone, warm and intimate. "Hold onto that thought. When this is over, I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

The line went dead before Evelyn realized she'd been holding her breath. Something about his words left her unsettled.

Shutting down her computer abruptly, she drove straight to the detention facility.

Victoria's face twisted from hope to venom when she recognized her visitor. Dark circles shadowed her eyes as she shuffled in, chains clanking.

She'd seen the news - the Montgomerys had publicly claimed Evelyn as their blood, yet remained oblivious to her Vivian Prescott identity.

"You here about that bastard child of yours?" Victoria sneered, gripping the table. "The one you whelped like an animal?"

Evelyn's gaze never wavered. "I'd love to know, but we both know you'd rather die than tell me." She leaned forward. "Let's discuss something else - why desecrate my grave? Why steal my ashes?"

"Ashes?" Victoria's laughter echoed off concrete walls. "Oh Evelyn, I wish you were just ashes! If I'd known you were breathing, I wouldn't have wasted time on that pathetic shrine!"

Evelyn's pulse jumped. "So you admit destroying my memorial?"

"Damn right I did!" Spittle flew from Victoria's lips. "Had it cursed too! Wanted your ghost to suffer for eternity!"

The venomous words should have shaken her, but Evelyn focused on one staggering revelation - that grave had truly been meant for her.

"Don't celebrate yet, bitch!" Victoria slammed her shackled wrists on the table. "When I get out, that brat dies first. You'll spend decades drowning in regret!"

Evelyn rose gracefully, looking down at the seething woman. "That day will never come. Once Sophia and Henry's murders are solved, you'll be counting down to your execution. And that clock's ticking fast."

"Evelyn! Come back here! You'll never find that half-breed spawn of yours!" Victoria's screams followed her out.

That night, winter's first chill kissed Evelyn's cheeks as she stood on the balcony. The questions haunted her.

That desecrated grave was really mine?

Why would he build me a memorial? And why did he look so shattered when it was destroyed?

Morning found her dropping Ethan at preschool before heading to Blackwood Enterprises.

"Vivian." The voice stopped her at the glass doors.

Sebastian approached, his gaze intense. "Do you have the drive?"

Evelyn pushed aside her swirling thoughts, retrieving the device from her purse. "Here."

The moment her fingers brushed his, familiar heat encircled her wrist. She looked up into Alexander's stormy eyes.

His grip tightened. "Don't give it to him."