His Return: Revenge Of The Rejected Son-in-Law

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

The two women locked eyes, exchanging polite words laced with unspoken hostility.

Then, Uncle Ryan appeared. He shared a subtle nod with Regina before looking away. Fiona noticed but said nothing.

Though he smiled, the crowd responded with sneers and turned heads. Alexander wasn’t surprised to see him. Ryan and Edward had long been close allies.

“President Alexander,” Ryan said smoothly. “A pleasure. It’s been a while since that… unfortunate incident.”

Alexander offered a civil smile, unmoved. Ryan had visited his office often since, pretending friendship but Alexander never trusted him.

“Good to see you too,” he replied coolly.

They shook hands. Ryan turned to Edward, exchanging pleasantries.

“We’ll leave the ladies to their talk,” Edward said, motioning Alexander toward a reserved seat.

Alexander followed. Ryan trailed behind.

But just as Alexander settled in, the lights cut out.

Darkness swallowed the hall.

A collective gasp rose from the crowd, followed by murmurs of alarm.

Alexander tensed, instincts flaring.

What the hell’s going on?

“What the heck—” Edward started, but was cut off as a hidden plasma screen lit up, casting the only glow in the room.

Gasps echoed as all eyes turned to it.

“How did that even get there?” Edward muttered. No one answered, everyone was fixated.

Alexander’s gut twisted. Something sinister was coming.

Beside him, Ryan shifted uneasily.

The screen came to life.

First: Geraldine, lounging in a designer robe, smugly resting her feet on Alexander’s back when he was still Gilbert, as she ate strawberries.

Second: Sierra Brook, slapping him repeatedly.

Gasps. A few chuckles.

Then the third clip played, and silence fell.

Alexander, on screen, choking an elderly man… then stabbing him in the chest.

His jaw tightened.

It was a lie. The footage had been expertly manipulated, narrating as the villain once again.

How was this resurfacing now after he thought that chapter had closed? Who still had access to this? Was it the Brooks? A warning? A threat?

In the eerie glow of the screen, Alexander turned to Ryan, whose face was suddenly pale and slick with sweat.

“I swear, it’s not me,” Ryan whispered.

Alexander said nothing. Just stared, then slowly looked away.

The crowd erupted.

“I can’t believe I’m sitting near a murderer,” someone hissed.

“He looks like a damn professional. Why did he let his ex-wife, Geraldine and her family take the fall if he was the real culprit?”

“I pitied him. I defended him. We’ve never seen this footage before but this changes everything.”

Alexander’s fists clenched beneath the table.

In the shadows, a masked man chuckled, quiet and menacing. “The game's just starting."

Then Alexander’s phone buzzed. It was Clara.

Why was she calling at this hour?

He answered, steadying his voice.

“H-Hello, boss?” she whispered over blaring sirens. “The company…our company. Someone’s set it on fire.”

Time seemed to freeze, but before he could react, the plasma screen flickered again.

A new message appeared in bold red letters:

“Alexander Steele, I know you’ve received the message about your company. But this... this is only the beginning.”

The screen cut to black.

And then—

BANG!

A gunshot shattered the silence.

Screams erupted.

Panic spread like wildfire.

And Alexander stood in the middle of it all, eyes cold, jaw tight, while the world burned around him.

*****

If Alexander thought the scandal, his company’s destruction, and that damning footage were the worst… he was wrong.

The real nightmare had just begun.

Days after the fallout, darkness crept in.

His sister, Alessandria, went from vibrant to bedridden overnight, her body covered in painful, unidentified sores.

Not even her husband could hide the horror on his face when he flew in to care for her.

Then, the morning after the fire, his PA Clara was nearly killed in a car crash. It'd been a brake failure, no explanation.

By week’s end, all staff across his empire were mysteriously ill or injured in bizarre accidents.

It felt like something, or someone, was waging a silent war.

Even Alexander wasn’t spared. For three days, dizzy spells and bloody coughs plagued him. Medical tests showed nothing, no virus, no cause. Yet his health kept declining.

Hospitals had no answers. Not for him. Not for Alessandria. Every top facility offered only silence and unease.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t natural.

In his darkest thoughts, Alexander wondered: Was this retribution? The Brooks? A curse tied to his new position?

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of town…

In a secluded clinic, Geraldine lay pale and trembling in a hospital bed. She’d been in labor for a week, yet the baby wouldn’t come.

When her water broke, she'd only been at eight months, but that hadn’t concerned the doctors, premature births weren’t uncommon. But this… this was unnatural.

Her mother hovered close, praying beneath her breath, while nurses rushed around, checking monitors and IV lines. A doctor stood nearby, his brows furrowed in frustration.

Even a C-section, the logical solution had been ruled out because the baby’s vitals would suddenly plummet every time they prepped her for surgery.

The anesthesiologist refused to proceed. “The fetus reacts violently whenever we approach,” he had said gravely. “It’s as if it’s… resisting us. Almost like it senses something.”

But that explanation didn’t sit well with Geraldine. No scientific reason could justify this, none that made sense.

“It’s not normal,” she whispered to herself, writhing in pain. “This isn’t normal…”

Her body screamed in agony. Sweat poured from her skin. Still, no progress. It was as if the baby was stuck, trapped, or waiting….for something.

The ordeal had begun right after the horrific incident at her office, the one that triggered her early labor. No one else had seen what she had. Since then, her body had been trapped in agonizing limbo.

Tears streamed down Geraldine’s face as another contraction ripped through her. Even the medical staff looked worried now.

“I can’t… I can’t do this anymore,” she sobbed. “Please… get it out…”

A nurse gently wiped her forehead.

Her body was weak, but something inside her refused to let go. Each time she closed her eyes, images flickered, Alexander’s face… and a man with long white hair. His voice whispered, “Don’t give up.”

It was cruel, how her mind still clung to Alexander.

Yet somehow… it kept her breathing.

******

Alexander sat alone on a bench at the edge of the amusement park. Evening had fallen, but the joy around him couldn’t lift the weight in his chest.

He was exhausted, beyond the rumors, the betrayal, the ruin.

This wasn’t just revenge anymore. Whatever haunted him… was unnatural.

Suddenly, he started coughing violently like he's been doing over the week. After he finally stopped, blood dropped into his hands. He immediately wiped it.

Then—

> “Chosen One… thy burden is great, but all shall end once thy purpose is fulfilled.”

The voice jolted him.

He looked up.

An old man stood before him. Tall, otherworldly, with flowing white hair and a gown embroidered with glowing golden sigils. In his hand, a staff carved with pulsing runes.

Alexander rose, alert. “Who are you? What do you mean by Chosen One?”

The man’s eyes sparkled with ancient knowing, a faint smile on his lips.

> “Names are for men bound by time,” the old man said, his voice layered and deep. “I am a herald of forgotten truths. I’ve come not to harm, but to awaken what sleeps within thy blood.”

Alexander frowned. “What are you talking about?”

> “The winds whisper your suffering. The earth trembles beneath your pain. A curse coils around your destiny. The balance is broken and the key lies not in vengeance, but in what was sealed by your bloodline’s first flame.”

He lifted his staff, which pulsed with faint light.

> “Seek ye the Book of Ages. An ancient tome, wrought in the breath of stars and bound by your forefather, King Richard Steele, Sovereign of Aurelis, guardian of the sacred balance.”

Alexander blinked. “Book of Ages? My grandfather? I've never heard of it. How do I find it?”

The old man stepped closer. The air grew heavy.

> “The Book of Ages cannot be found by sight alone,” the old man said. “It sleeps in secret, hidden even from kings. Only Richard Steele’s blood can awaken it, and only a pure heart can wield its power.”

“What?!”

He continues, > “It heals the sick, restores the broken… and it is your only hope. But beware—if it falls to greed, the world will burn.”

The wind stirred.

> “You must find it, Chosen One, not just for yourself, but for all who bear your name and blood. What plagues you now is only the beginning.”

Alexander’s voice shook. “But how? Where is it? How do I even use it?”

The old man’s robes fluttered in the wind.

> “I cannot say. The path must be earned, not given. The Book lies where the realms of man and spirit blur. To find it, you must search beyond the visible, through both the natural and the supernatural. Only the worthy will see its light.”

Alexander’s heart pounded.

> “When thou findest the Book,” the old man said, changing his tone. “know this: it is sealed not by iron, but by blood and truth. Only the life force of one most dear, one thou hast loved and denied can awaken its pages.”

“Loved… and denied?” Alexander asked, tense.

> “She is thy fated bond,” the man said, raising his staff as the ground trembled. “Her blood must join with thine to break the ancient seal. Only then shall its power rise. And even now, she lies in pain, calling out onto thee, bearing thy offspring, waiting in the dark. The child delays its birth, bound by fate, needing you.”

Alexander’s thoughts raced. What's all of this?

“Do not blame her for she’s but a pawn, drawn into shadows not of her making but ensnared by blood bound to dark craft.”

The old man’s eyes gleamed. “Make haste. Time bleeds. The woman has mere days. Thy sister… only seven. Their fates coil in your grasp.”

With a crack of light from his staff, he gave one final warning:

> “Guard the Book well. For if the shadows claim it, the world will fall.”

He turned.

> “I am one of the ancient priests… Keepers of the Seven Seas. Thy journey begins at the edge of forgetting. Prepare.”

Then he vanished.

Alexander stood frozen, the prophecy all sinking in. What secret was guarding this ordinary Alexander that he thought he knew?

His Offspring? His fated one?

Could it be Regina?

She had fallen ill too since the calamites… but she was only two months pregnant.

Or was it someone else? Was there something he didn't know?

And the Book of Ages, how could he find something lost to time?

All he knew was one thing:

He had to move.

Because fate would not wait.