The apartment was empty.
Curtains drawn. Phone switched off. No sign of Maria or Junior.
Alexander stood in the middle of the living room, staring at the silence. It was deafening.
She was gone.
His driver had said she left early that morning with a suitcase and a sleeping child. No forwarding address. No goodbye.
Just... vanished.
He sank onto the couch, head in his hands. How did things spiral so quickly?
The media storm had only gotten worse. Gossip shows, Twitter threads, headlines like wildfire. Everyone had a theory, an opinion, a lie.
And she'd been right. He couldn't protect her—not fully.
His phone buzzed.
A message from his assistant.
"Boss, Vanessa was seen meeting with a journalist from City Pulse. Something's not clean."
Alexander's jaw clenched. He stood.
"No more games," he muttered.
He would find Maria.
Not to force her back. Not to control her.
But to stand with her. For real this time.
---
Meanwhile...
Maria sat by a small window in a quiet compound outside Abeokuta. Her aunt's place. Safe. Simple. Hidden.
She watched Junior play with pebbles, his laughter echoing through the quiet yard.
She hated running. But what choice did she have?
He was her son. Her responsibility. Her world.
And love alone couldn't shield him from the chaos Alexander's name brought.
But even now, a part of her missed him.
Not the billionaire. Not the boss.
The father.
The man trying.
The man who looked at her like she mattered.