The Ex Who Became His Obsession novel Chapter 23

Without any hesitation, Leonard kicked Alyssia away like kicking aside a worthless pebble on the roadside.

Both hands on the wardrobe, he pushed it harder toward the window.

“Leonard…” Alyssia didn’t care about the pain throbbing in her knees. She scrambled forward and wrapped her arms around his leg again, her words tumbling out in a broken, pleading mess. “Lenny, don’t… Please don’t do this… It’s all my fault…”

She didn’t dare argue with him anymore. She didn’t dare gamble with his rage, not when Charlie’s life was on the line. Charlie’s life was a red line no one was allowed to cross.

She owed Charlie too much, more than she could ever repay in this lifetime. She couldn’t afford to lose him.

Alyssia begged through sobs, “I’m begging you. Please, let him go… I can do anything you ask. You can take my life if you want… Just don’t hurt Charlie. Please…”

From inside the wardrobe came Charlie’s furious voice, “Alyssia, shut up! Don’t you dare beg him!” He had already guessed what Leonard was about to do. His voice cracked with rage and helplessness.

When Alyssia came to apply for a job at Vanguard Media, Charlie had told HR to give her the offer.

That was all he could do for her–offering her a humble job and fixing a faulty door of a wardrobe. He wanted to give her something more, but she never accepted it.

But Charlie never wanted her to beg that bastard for him and throw herself back into that golden cage the Rivera family called a home.

When Alyssia stood in front of Charlie that day, her face was so pale. Her face still shone, but she looked like a rose that had long since withered. She looked like someone whose soul was missing, her body just chasing the faintest pulse of survival.

But in the days since, Charlie had watched that light come back to her, little by little. Her face, once dull and lifeless, began to glow again. Her smile, once gone, returned piece by piece. Her eyes regained their old spark.

Charlie was willing to use his death to exchange Alyssia’s freedom to smile, to breathe, and to fly.

Maybe it was the way she sobbed–so raw, so heart–wrenching–that made Leonard finally stop. He looked down and saw her tear–streaked face.

Alyssia looked up, her watery eyes fixing on Leonard’s furious and cruel face.

Leonard reached down and used his finger to brush her face. Then he lifted his hand and opened his palm, gazing at the tears smeared on his fingertips.

“You cried,” he said, his voice so flat, so deathly calm that it made the air drop a few degrees. “Alyssia, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you cry like this. And it’s for a man…”

‘For a man who isn’t Leonard, thought Leonard bitterly.

Suddenly, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back, forcing her chin upward. “You actually cried for him.”

His voice was shaking with fury now, every word sharpened to a blade. His eyes blazed red with something close to madness. “You beg me and apologize for him. You cried, for the first time, for him.”

His voice cracked with something between a laugh and a snarl. He repeated over and over, laughing that same strange, hollow laugh. “Seriously? You cried for him? For him…”

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Chapter 23

Alyssia was shaking violently–partly from pain, mostly from fear. She had never seen Leonard act like this before.

Leonard used to mock, belittle her, and break her down–but this was something else. She’d never seen what he looked like when he was pushed to his limit.

Leonard leaned in close and whispered dangerously to her ear, “I’ll push him out the window. Let him hit the ground and smash to pulp. Shhh–don’t be scared, Alyssia. I’ll be right here as your accomplice. We killed him together.”

With that, Leonard threw Alyssia to the floor like a rag doll.

“NO!” Alyssia’s scream tore through the night like a knife.

She pulled herself up from the floor and ran to the window.

Standing in front of the wardrobe, she spread her arms wide, hair falling loose over her shoulders. Her face was ghostly pale, her voice hollow and sharp like the wind howling along a cliffside. But in her eyes, there was fire and desperate resolve.

“Push me out first,” she snapped. “Step over my corpse if you want to commit murder. Leonard, tonight you’re the only kille here.”

Leonard’s patience snapped. He slammed the wardrobe to the side. The massive thing crashed to the floor with a thunderous noise, sounding like it would shatter into pieces.

Then he lunged forward. His hand clamped around her neck, and in one violent motion, he shoved her forward–face- down toward the open window.

“You think you’re the only one willing to die?” Leonard hissed, his voice tangled with the wind rushing past them. “You think your family cornered the market on death?

“You think I’ll just stand here and let you throw yourself out with Charlie? You think I won’t follow you

down?”

Under his grip, Alyssia couldn’t help coughing violently. Blood rushed to her head as half her body hung suspended over the edge. Her world flipped upside down, spinning, fractured.

She could feel Leonard pressing down, dragging her deeper into this nightmare.

His breath was hot against her ear, merging with the night wind. Then something warm and wet fell on her cheek–blood, or tears, she didn’t know.

Leonard whispered, “You want to die, Alyssia? You only get to die with me.”

*****

Alyssia didn’t remember how she got back inside. She had no idea when Leonard let her go.

When her mind finally caught up with her body, she was sitting on the floor, gasping for air. Her throat burned, and every

breath hurt so much.

The toppled wardrobe lay nearby. A jagged hole split open near the base. Blood dotted the floor and smeared across the

walls.

Two groups of people had stormed the room. They locked in a standoff, voices raised, fingers pointing, threats flying.

Charlie stood on one side. His hand was bleeding–thick drops falling from his knuckles.

Leonard stood across from Charlie, supported by two men. His face was pale with fury, his lips cut, and his collar stained

red.

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Chapter 23

Joseph squatted beside Alyssia, his voice loud, anxious, pleading.

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Alyssia tried hard to focus and heard Joseph say, “Ms. Clairmont, please go back. Mr. Rivera hasn’t slept a minute since last night. He hasn’t eaten or had a sip of water. Don’t torture him anymore.”

Alyssia was still coughing–but now, she was laughing too. It was a bitter, breathless laughter.

She scoffed inwardly, ‘He nearly killed me. He tried to murder Charlie. And now his people are asking me to stop torturing him? Excuse me? They want me to let Leonard go?‘

“I’m telling you the truth, Ms. Clairmont,” Joseph continued, his eyes going glassy with emotion. “Ever since you started arguing with him last week, he’s barely rested. And even so, when he saw that dress you liked, he told me to buy it for you.

“Yesterday, he had me go to the hospital and track down the best doctor to help you with your sore neck.”

Joseph was nearly in tears now, rambling like a frantic mother. “Just say you’re wrong, Ms. Clairmont. And this whole thing will blow over. Mr. Rivera has never really held anything against you.”

Joseph wondered, ‘He once forgave worse things you did. As long as you come back, Mr. Rivera will pretend none of it ever happened.‘

But Alyssia didn’t respond. As if none of those words had entered her ears, she slowly got to her feet. Step by step, she walked over to Charlie.

Her eyes dropped to his hand–cut and bloodied from breaking through the wardrobe. Her throat ached, but she swallowed the coughs. She bit down on her lip, held back tears, and asked, “Charlie, does it hurt?”