Chapter 105

By the time Evelyn had the IV removed and arrived at the company entrance, Alexander was already gone.

A flicker of loneliness passed through her gaze, but just then, a sleek vintage car rolled to a stop in front of her.

Evelyn’s eyes lit up again.

Simon stepped out, his voice calm. "Mrs. Whitmore, Mr. Whitmore instructed me to take you home."

Her gaze instinctively darted to the back seat, but Alexander wasn’t there.

He’s angry… yet he still sent Simon for me?

She slid into the car without another word.

As they drove, Evelyn realized they weren’t heading toward Whitmore Manor—but to the apartment she’d been staying in these past few days.

So he had been keeping tabs on her.

A warmth spread through her chest.

Alexander… what kind of man are you, really?

She knew he was principled. Unyielding. A man who didn’t tolerate deceit.

Yet here he was, silently ensuring her safety despite his anger.

The contradiction made her pulse quicken.

What else didn’t she know about him?

The name Alexander Whitmore carried weight in Cresthaven.

As the head of the Whitmore family, his influence was undeniable.

But beyond that, Evelyn Carter knew little about him—except for that fateful encounter ten years ago when she had saved his life.

Back then, he had been drenched in blood, a deep wound carved into his chest, hidden in an unassuming haystack in the countryside.

If she hadn’t known acupuncture, if she hadn’t stopped the bleeding in time—he wouldn’t be alive today.

"Mrs. Whitmore, are you thinking about Mr. Whitmore?" Simon Graves glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

The flickering streetlights outside painted shifting shadows across Evelyn’s face as she leaned against the seat, her voice soft. "I think I hurt him."

"You flirted with him like that in front of everyone. He thought it was real, but you were just acting." Simon’s tone was blunt. "Of course he’s upset."

His words struck her like cold water.

So that was the problem.

Simon exhaled. "Mr. Whitmore... he’s someone who’s never really known love."

Evelyn’s fingers tightened around her phone. "What do you mean?"

Simon's voice grew heavy with emotion.

"At just three months old, he was sent away to live with a farmer's family. But when they had children of their own, they shoved him into the woodshed. Leftovers were all he ate, and in winter, he barely had enough clothes to survive. For fifteen years, the Whitmore family acted like he didn't exist."

Evelyn's chest tightened painfully.

She had never imagined Alexander endured such cruelty. How could anyone treat a child like that? she thought, anger simmering beneath her shock. The Whitmores are one of the most influential families in Cresthaven. How could they abandon a three-month-old baby and then cast him out like trash?

"And after he turned fifteen?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"At fifteen, he got lucky—the police academy took him in. But it wasn’t until last year, when Titan Capital Group was bleeding money and the Whitmores needed an heir, that they finally remembered him. Sir Whitmore dragged him out of retirement. Alexander clawed his way back into the family on his own strength."

Evelyn clenched her fists. They ignored him for over two decades, only to summon him when they needed a savior? The hypocrisy made her sick.

Then she remembered—the jagged scar across Alexander’s chest. It must have been from one of his missions.

All this time, he had been fighting for survival. Alone.

And now, the very family that discarded him expected him to save them.

Her heart ached for him.

Evelyn's delicate brows knitted together.

"Mrs. Whitmore, people call Mr. Whitmore heartless and unfeeling. But from childhood, kindness was a foreign concept to him."

"While other children basked in parental love and family warmth, his world consisted of a freezing tool shed and backbreaking farm labor."

"I see." Evelyn nodded slowly.

Alexander's formative years were marred by psychological scars.

At the police academy, brutal training regimens and dangerous missions pushed his body to its limits.

No wonder he'd clung to that memory of her saving him for ten long years.

That single act of compassion might have been the only genuine kindness Alexander had known in his twenty-nine years of existence.

The realization settled heavily in Evelyn's chest.

She pictured a small, dark-haired boy shivering in that shed, his small hands raw from chores.

The image made her throat tighten.

Simon's voice grew quieter. "The first time I saw him smile was after meeting you, Mrs. Whitmore."

Evelyn's fingers curled into her palms.

She'd known Alexander had a difficult past, but hearing the details carved fresh wounds in her heart.

The man who now commanded boardrooms with icy precision had once been that lonely child.

The man who protected her with fierce intensity had known no protection himself.

Evelyn blinked away unexpected moisture in her eyes.

She suddenly understood why Alexander reacted so violently to betrayal.

Trust didn't come easily when your earliest memories were of abandonment.

Love was a risk when you'd never been shown any.

Evelyn made a silent vow then.

She would fill Alexander's life with so much light, it would eclipse all those years of darkness.

Starting tonight.