War God is Back for his Mother

Chapter 10: The Guest Room

The panic in Selena's chest made her do the worst possible thing. Without thinking, she reached for the one subject that felt safe to her.

"Dennis went to the office today," she said quickly. "Even though he was still hurt. He dragged himself out of the hospital just to check on things. But he's almost fully recovered now. The doctors said he'll be fine. So you don't have to worry. I won't need to keep taking care of him much longer."

The moment the name left her mouth, the air in the room changed.

Alex Crown's eyes locked onto hers. The coldness in them sharpened into something dangerous. Something that made her take a small step backward without realizing it.

"I don't want to hear his name," Alex said. His voice was low and controlled, but barely. "Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ever again in this house."

"Alex, I'm just telling you the situation so you can stop worrying about nothing."

"Nothing?" He turned to face her fully. "You're standing in front of your husband on the second night of your marriage, in an empty house with no dinner on the table, and the first thing out of your mouth is his name. And you call that nothing?"

"He's injured. He went to work while he was still sick. That takes dedication. I was just acknowledging that."

"Dedication." Alex repeated the word like it burned his tongue. "A man who ruins your wedding night, drags you out of your honeymoon bed, makes you sleep in a hospital chair, and then shows up at your office the next morning looking pitiful so you'll feel sorry for him again. And you call that dedication."

"You're being cruel. You have no compassion at all. Can't you see the reality? He was a patient in a hospital bed. He's a hardworking employee who came to work despite being in pain. What exactly is wrong with me recognizing that?"

"What's wrong is that you can't see what's right in front of your face."

"And what's that?"

Alex stepped closer. His voice dropped even lower.

"Dennis Doom is the reason this marriage is falling apart. He is the crack in the wall. He is the poison in the water. And every time you open your mouth to defend him, you pour more of that poison down my throat and expect me to swallow it with a smile."

"That's not true."

"It is true. And you know it. You know it better than anyone. But you keep bringing him up. You keep forcing his name into every conversation. You keep making me sit here and listen to how wonderful he is while my own wife treats me like furniture."

His voice cracked. Just barely. Just enough to show the pain underneath the anger.

"If you think Dennis Doom is so perfect," he said, "then go be with him. Let him cook for you. Let him take off your shoes at the door. Let him plan your future and name your children. I'm sure he'd love that. I'm sure he'd marry you in a heartbeat."

"Alex, stop."

"Better yet, let's make it efficient. We divorce on a Monday, and you marry Dennis on the same day. Save everyone the trouble of pretending this was ever going to work."

Selena's face went white. "How can you say that to me? How can you stand there and say those words to my face?"

"The same way you can stand there and choose him over me every single day."

"I am not choosing him! There is nothing between us! Why won't you believe me?"

"Because your actions don't match your words, Selena. They never have. Not once in six months."

"You need to apologize to me. Right now. You have completely overreacted and you have said things tonight that I will never forget."

Alex looked at her. And the look in his eyes was something she had never seen before. It was the way a person looks at a stranger on the street. No recognition. No warmth. No history. Just emptiness.

The words died in Selena's throat. She could not speak. She could not breathe. The distance between them felt like miles even though he was standing right there.

He turned away from her.

"Alex, wait."

She moved before she could think. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and pressed her face into his back. Her fingers locked together against his chest.

"Please," she whispered. "Please stop fighting with me. I can't take this anymore. We just got married. We're supposed to be happy. Please just stop."

The room went silent. Neither of them moved. She could feel his heartbeat under her hands. It was steady. Too steady. Like the heart of a man who had already made up his mind.

"Fire Dennis Doom," he said quietly. "Cut him off completely. That's the only way this ends."

Even as the words left his mouth, a mocking smile curled onto his lips. She could not see it from behind him. But it was there. Bitter and knowing and full of pain. Because he already knew what she was going to say.

"Alex, I can't fire him." Her voice was strained. "It's not that simple. He's one of the most capable people in the company. He handles accounts that nobody else can manage. The projects he runs bring in thirty percent of our quarterly revenue. If I fire him without cause, I lose a key employee and the board will question my judgment."

The mocking smile deepened. The bitterness in his eyes grew darker.

"Then stop making excuses," he said coldly. He reached down and pulled her hands apart. Firmly. Without gentleness. "If you can't do it, just say you can't do it. Don't dress it up as a business decision. Don't hide behind the company. Don't pretend this is about revenue and quarterly reports when we both know the real reason you won't let him go."

"There is no real reason. I'm telling you the truth."

"You're telling yourself a story. And you've repeated it so many times that you actually believe it."

Another silence. Longer this time. The clock on the wall ticked. The refrigerator hummed in the kitchen.

"Fine," Selena said at last. Her voice was tight and small. "I'll keep more distance from him. I'll set boundaries. I won't answer his calls after work hours. I won't go to his apartment anymore. I'll make it professional and nothing else. But I can't fire him, Alex. I've already compromised as much as I possibly can."

In her mind, she had bent as far as she could bend. She had offered something real. Something concrete. She expected him to meet her halfway. She expected the tension to break.

Alex Crown stood perfectly still. The mocking smile was still on his face, but his eyes were wet. Not with tears. With the kind of moisture that comes from pain so deep it has nowhere else to go.

He did not believe her. He had heard promises like this before. Keep distance. Set boundaries. Make it professional. They were just words. Beautiful, empty words that would dissolve the moment Dennis Doom shed his next tear or clutched his next injury.

And underneath all the anger and all the exhaustion, one truth became clear to him. Selena Sterling had already developed feelings for Dennis Doom. She just didn't know it yet. She couldn't see it. She was blind to her own heart. And no amount of arguing or begging or threatening would open her eyes.

Even though he had already prepared himself for divorce, this realization still felt like knives sliding between his ribs.

Without a word, he walked into the bedroom. Selena watched from the hallway as he gathered his clothes from the closet. He picked up his toiletries from the bathroom counter. He folded everything neatly and tucked it under his arm.

Then he walked past her toward the guest room at the end of the hall.

"Alex?" Her voice cracked. "What are you doing?"

He did not answer. He stepped inside the guest room, closed the door behind him, and locked it. The click of the lock echoed through the empty hallway.

Selena Sterling stood alone outside the closed door. The house was completely silent around her. She stared at the handle and thought about knocking. She thought about begging. She thought about screaming.

But she did none of those things. She just stood there, and her mood sank to its lowest point, deeper than anything she had felt in years.