THE BILLIONAIRE STILL WANTS HER!
Chapter 171: Why I had come...

Chapter 171: Why I had come...

Alex stared at Arthur for what felt like an eternity, a smirk playing on his lips, his gaze piercing through the silence between them.

He couldn’t help but chuckle softly, clearly amused by Arthur’s unwarranted shock.

It was almost too easy to rattle him. Of course, Alex knew that Arthur, still riding on the privilege of being the nephew to Alex’s wife, thought he was untouchable—unshakable, even.

He had no idea what Alex had up his sleeve, and that, in itself, was a delicious irony.

"Well, why should you be so surprised by my visit to your office?" Alex broke the silence with an air of casualness, his tone laced with a certain smugness. "It’s been ages since I’ve seen this place. I thought I’d drop by to see if anything had changed in all these years."

He scanned the room, his eyes drifting from one item to the next, as if searching for some sign of evolution. But then, with a sudden shift in his gaze, he paused, eyes narrowing as he took in the familiar sight of Arthur.

Alex’s expression shifted into something colder, sharper, his tone now dripping with disdain.

"But it seems... nothing has changed at all. Same old behavior. Same old scent. Same old everything." His voice was now so icy that it seemed to freeze the air around them, and for a moment, the office felt smaller, more suffocating.

As if to emphasize the weight of his words, Alex made a slow, deliberate move, leaning on his cane as he took a step forward.

Arthur, visibly perplexed, couldn’t shake the nagging confusion gnawing at him.

Why the cane? The man before him was in perfectly good health—there was no reason for the prop.

Arthur’s irritation boiled over, and he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

"Are you seriously going to use that?" he snapped, the frustration clear in his voice. "Stop with the act. We both know you’re perfectly fine. What’s the point of the cane?"

At that, Alex let out another deep, mocking chuckle, his amusement palpable. "You’re such a silly man, Arthur," he teased, a growl slipping from between his teeth. He leaned back slightly, eyes still gleaming with mischief, as if the whole scene were a game he was already winning.

Arthur couldn’t hide his exasperation, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms.

The entire situation was maddening, and yet, there was something almost entertaining about it. The tension in the room was thick, but it wasn’t the kind that could easily be cut.

"By the way," Arthur interjected, his voice sharp as he forced his thoughts back to the matter at hand. "You mentioned something about you only knowing Sophia’s whereabouts. Care to elaborate on that?"

His gaze locked onto Alex’s, watching closely as he finally made his way to a seat. The moment Alex sat, a look of relief washed over him, and he placed his cane aside, as though the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders.

Alex didn’t break eye contact as he sat there, his posture casual yet deliberate, as if this conversation was between just the two of them and no one else mattered.

And in that moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the room, playing their own intricate game, each move carefully calculated.

"You ask too many questions for a gentleman like you," Alex remarked, a low chuckle escaping his lips. His eyes gleamed with amusement, as if savoring the tension he was stirring. "You know, now that I think about it, maybe it’s a good thing. At least it shows you might be breaking some old habits. A little change could do you some good." His voice carried an almost mocking edge, his smirk never wavering.

Arthur’s patience, however, was wearing thin. His eyes narrowed, and the calm, measured tone he had been maintaining finally cracked.

"Alex, I’d really appreciate it if you could just open your mouth for once without all these flowery talks. I don’t have time to waste listening to your games. I have something important to attend to."

His hands slammed down onto the desk, the sound sharp in the otherwise quiet room. His gaze, now steely, was locked onto Alex, every inch of him exuding irritation.

The moment the words left Arthur’s lips, Alex couldn’t help himself—he chuckled, the sound light but laced with something darker beneath. It was the laugh of someone who knew they had the upper hand.

"And yes, that’s exactly why I requested this little meeting with this little thing here," Alex said, as if Arthur had given him exactly what he wanted.

Then, with a deliberate motion, Alex reached down, raising the cane from the floor.

Arthur, still trying to make sense of Alex’s cryptic actions, was hit with another wave of confusion.

What was he playing at now?

But there was no denying the growing frustration that swirled within him. He had no time to waste here. Sophia’s whereabouts were still unknown, and every minute spent with Alex only put him further behind.

"You know," Arthur muttered, his voice tinged with disbelief, "this is crazy if you really stop and think about it."

Alex didn’t respond right away.

Instead, he smirked, a knowing look crossing his face. Then, without warning, he raised the cane and tapped something along its length.

Arthur barely had a chance to process what was happening before the cane extended with a sudden, smooth motion. Before he could react, the cane lashed out, striking his shoulder with a sharp crack.

Arthur’s breath caught in his throat, a guttural groan escaping as pain shot through his body.

He jerked back, instinctively cradling his hand as the sting spread across his skin. His eyes, wide with shock and fury, immediately found Alex.

The intensity of his glare was pure frustration, mixed with the kind of disbelief that only Alex could provoke.

"What the hell was that for?" Arthur demanded, his voice strained as he gingerly touched the painful spot on his hand.

His brow furrowed, his eyes practically bulging from the searing discomfort. It was clear that this was a line Alex had crossed—one he wasn’t prepared to let slide.

But Alex, unfazed by Arthur’s reaction, merely chuckled once more. His tone was calm, almost detached, but there was a chilling edge to it.

"I just needed to confirm that the material I’m using is the right one to teach you some manners." His voice was even, but there was an unmistakable darkness behind it, like a quiet storm about to break.

For a moment, the room seemed to pulse with the weight of his words. Alex’s gaze never wavered, and the tension between them thickened, like two forces locked in a silent battle—one using words and the other, actions.

Arthur’s fury was reaching a boiling point, and the frustration that had been simmering beneath the surface finally erupted.

He was seething—his heart pounding in his chest as his anger surged through him.

"What the hell—" he started to say, but before he could finish, Alex made another swift, deliberate motion with the cane.

It extended again with a sharp, mechanical sound, and before Arthur could react, the cane struck him again. The pain shot through his body like a jolt of electricity, making him wince and stagger back.

"Stop it!" Arthur roared, his voice laced with both rage and disbelief.

His hand instinctively reached for the desk, as though he might use it for support or to stop whatever madness Alex was orchestrating.

But he froze the moment Alex’s voice boomed again, commanding the room with a harsh, accusatory tone that cut straight through the tension.

"Is it so useless for you to just do the one task I asked of you?" Alex’s words rang out with cold precision, his disappointment palpable as it echoed in the room. "And yet, at the end of it all, you go and hold the woman I told you to get rid of— and make sure you abort that child she has. You’ve ruined everything, Arthur. The very woman you could’ve had in your life, the one you could’ve built a future with, you drove her away. And now, you’re behaving like some foolish man, lost in his own regret, simply because you heard she’s gone."

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