LEVEL UP: HAREM EMPIRE

CHAPTER FOUR: GRACE TO GRASS

After he left the gates of the villa with nothing but the sound of his own voice echoing behind him, Alex got straight into his car and drove away from the place that had once been his home and into the cold night with a heavy heart.

As he drove through the empty streets, the streetlights passed over him in quick flashes, and with each passing light, more thoughts crowded into his head until he could barely breathe through the weight of them. He already knew, deep down, that things were not going to be easy for him anymore, and he already knew that from this moment forward, his life would never remain the same again because Victoria had made it clear that she intended to silence him completely.

He could not afford to wait for her to make the first move against him, because if he did, then there would be nothing left of him to fight with. He had to start now, but the question that kept running through his mind was how, because how was he supposed to conquer a woman who now had everything in her name when he had nothing left to his name, and how was he supposed to deal with her when she now owned everything that he had ever worked for and everything that his father had built for him.

He felt as though he had spent and wasted so many years of his life chasing after loyalty and duty, only for all of it to amount to nothing in the end.

With those thoughts pressing down on him, he drove straight to his house in the hope that once he got there, he would be able to finally cool his head after the chaos of the day and think with some kind of clarity.

When he finally arrived, he pushed the door open and dropped his keys on the table with a loud sound that seemed to echo in the silence of the empty house. Without bothering to turn on the lights, he walked straight into the bathroom and stood under the hot shower for a long time, letting the water run over his body in an attempt to wash away not just the dirt from the day, but also the shame, the anger, and the helplessness that had settled deep in his chest.

After his bath, he wrapped a towel around himself and went to sit at the small desk in his bedroom, where he placed a pen and a blank sheet of paper in front of him with the intention of drafting out a plan on how to deal with Victoria. He wrote down words like lawyers, evidence, court, and exposure, but with every word that he wrote, he was reminded that each step would cost him money that he no longer had access to, and that realization made his hand freeze halfway across the page.

"What the hell have i gotten myself into?"

Eventually, he crumpled the paper in frustration and threw it across the room before lying down on the bed, even though sleep did not come easily, because he kept telling himself that maybe tomorrow would be better.

---

The next morning, he woke up to the morning sun coming through the curtains and falling across his face, and for a brief moment he tried to convince himself that he could still scale through this and that he was not yet finished.

That brief moment of hope did not last long, because almost immediately his phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand beside him.

He reached for it with a tired hand and opened the message, only to find that it was an two different mail. One email from his bank informing him that his account had been frozen due to fraudulent activity that was supposedly connected to his name.

`Your account has been frozen due to suspected fraudulent activity connected to your name. Please contact your branch immediately.`

And another one from the company. ‘Alex Kane, this mail is to inform you your services will no longer be needed within the organization, as someone else had being replaced with you.’

The moment he read those words, he sprang up from the bed so quickly that the sheets fell to the floor, and with his heart pounding in his chest, he dressed hurriedly because he already knew who was responsible for this.

It's no one but Victoria.

He also knew that if he tried to go to the bank directly, he would most likely be arrested on the spot, so there was only one other person he could go to, and that was the woman who had always been waiting for a chance to destroy him.

He got into his car and drove straight to the villa, which had once been his place of peace but had now turned into a complete nightmare for him.

When he arrived at the gates, he pressed the buzzer several times, but no one came to open the door for him.

After waiting for a few minutes, he got out of the car and walked up to the gate himself, where he called out to the security men who were standing on the other side.

“Open the gate,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm even though his hands were shaking.

One of the guards, a man with the name Dean who had worked there for more than ten years and who used to greet Alex every morning with respect, looked at him through the small glass window but did not move.

“Open the gate, Dean,” Alex said again, gripping the iron bars tightly. “You know me. This is my house.”

But he shook shook his head slowly and replied in a flat voice, “I’m sorry, sir. I have instructions not to let you in.”

“Instructions from who?” Alex asked, his voice rising. “From Victoria? Since when does she decide who enters my father’s house?”

“I don’t know, sir,”He answered, avoiding eye contact. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Your job?” Alex repeated with a bitter laugh that caught in his throat. “You’ve known me for ten years. Are you really going to stand there and pretend that I don’t exist?”

For a second, guilt flickered across his face, but then it disappeared, and he said, “I’m sorry, sir. If I open this gate, I will lose my job.”

“So you’d rather I lose everything instead?” Alex asked, stepping closer to the gate. “I’m not here to cause trouble. I just want to talk to her. I just want answers.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” He said again, and this time his voice was firmer. “No visitors. Please leave before I call for backup.”

“Backup? Against me?” Alex asked in disbelief, but he had already stepped away from the window.

"Hey!. Open the goddarn door!"He shouted gripping tye iron gates, shaking it over and over again.

"Open the fucking gate, you monster!!"He rattle it more, calling out Victoria’s name over and over again, and he banged on the gates with both fists until his hands started to hurt.

Still, no one came out, and the villa remained silent as though no one was inside at all.

Finally, his voice gave out, and his strength left him, so he slid down to the ground with his back against the cold iron gate and sat on the bare floor while quiet sobs shook his entire body.

The man who once owned everything could not even get through the front gate of his own home anymore.