My CEO Ex: Let Me Go.-Chapter 24

"Isabella, I promised you I would be with you. Don’t worry, I won’t go back on my word."

"But you’re already married. You’re no longer mine. What do you take me for? If I had known you were already married, I would have never contacted you, never gotten involved with you. How am I supposed to face Vivienne?" Isabella sobbed uncontrollably.

"It’s my fault, not yours. I’ve already decided to file for divorce with her. I’ll be picking up the Divorce Decree soon."

"Isabella, will you trust me one more time? I swear I won’t break my promise."

"Really?" Isabella asked, her voice trembling.

"Really." I nodded, assuring her.

Without warning, Isabella threw herself into my arms, crying silently. "Alexander, I can’t bear to leave you. I really can’t bear it. If leaving you is the only choice, then I might as well die."

I held her close, gently patting her back to comfort her.

"CEO Hawthorne, I need to remind you of something." Eliza’s voice came from beside me.

"What is it?"

"Don’t forget, Isabella is a star. If your marriage is exposed, Isabella will become a public target as a mistress, and her career will be ruined. I hope you understand this. If you can’t guarantee her safety, don’t get involved with her."

"Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to Isabella," I promised solemnly.

"Good, then I can rest easy. You have no idea, when I met Isabella overseas, she was completely lifeless..."

Isabella glanced over and noticed a small red mark on the collar of my shirt, resembling a hickey. She stiffened, a flash of darkness crossing her eyes.

Suddenly, she pushed me away and began crying loudly.

"What’s wrong?" I was confused.

"Don’t come near me! Don’t touch me! If you’ve been with other women, don’t touch me!" Isabella cried.

I froze. I saw the full-length mirror in the room, walked over, and pulled open my collar slightly. Sure enough, there it was—a mark, unmistakably a hickey.

Eliza’s phone rang, and she quickly stepped outside to answer.

Through the phone, the assistant’s voice came urgently, "Eliza, you need to check the Trending Topics right now."

Eliza opened Twitter, and saw that "Stellar Entertainment Group" was trending.

The official statement from Stellar Entertainment Group clarified that their investment in Empire of Shadows had nothing to do with any female star—it was simply a routine business move, planned since last year.

The clarification had been reposted by several clickbait accounts, and the comment section was filled with various opinions, many of them defending their own views.

"Isabella hasn’t released any new work since returning to the country, yet she’s trending for this?"

"This is ridiculous. Some fans are so delusional, making their idols’ companies clarify things that aren’t even true."

Though I wasn’t an entertainer, I had my fair share of devoted fans. Beneath that tweet, many of them were showing up to support me like family.

Eliza quickly skimmed through the comments and rushed back into the room. "CEO Hawthorne, you need to see this."

She handed me her phone.

"I hope CEO Hawthorne can explain this to Isabella. Otherwise, these strangers will only think Isabella is using this for publicity, which would be extremely harmful to her."

I quickly browsed the comments and then contacted Jane. First, I needed to suppress the heat of the topic. Then, I reached out to the head of Stellar Entertainment Group.

The head of Stellar Entertainment Group spoke cautiously, "CEO Hawthorne, I really don’t have a choice. The chairman told me to handle it this way. He said if you have any concerns, you should ask him directly."

I stepped outside and called my grandfather.

The phone rang, and was answered quickly.

"Pop-pop."

"Alexander, what’s the matter? Why are you calling me this early?" My grandfather’s cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Pop-pop, was the statement from Stellar Entertainment Group that cleared things up something you had someone post?"

"Yes, since you took over Vanguard Global Enterprises, I haven’t been involved with company matters. Otherwise, those old guys would come running to me with complaints. But this time, it’s different. I had to step in."

"Look at what you’re doing now! You didn’t even eat breakfast. I thought you’d gone to the company, but you went to find Isabella? You’re ignoring what I said, huh? In these three years, Vivienne has never wronged you."

"If you didn’t want to take responsibility from the start, you shouldn’t have married her. When I handed her over to you, I expected you to give her happiness. Now, how am I supposed to face Vivienne?"

I fell silent for a moment. "Pop-pop, I promise it won’t happen again. But I hope you’ll consult me before you make decisions like this next time."

...

Vivienne’s POV

I woke up late, and Gabriella, the housekeeper at Ashford Manor, specially made me a new breakfast.

By the time I finished, it was already ten o’clock. I’d missed work, so I decided to stay at Ashford Manor with Grandpa and Grandma and ended up having lunch there as well.

When it was time to leave, Evelyn handed me an invitation. "This is an invitation to The Aurelia Gala. It was sent to me, but what use does an old lady like me have for it? You and Alexander should go. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him about it."

I could tell that Grandpa and Grandma were deliberately trying to push me and Alexander together.

But what they didn’t know was that we had already signed a Divorce Settlement Agreement.

"Nana, I’ve never been to such a gala. I’m afraid..."

"It’s fine, you’ll be with Alexander."

"There won’t be any problems. Vivienne, you have to be strong." Evelyn patted my hand.

I looked at Evelyn, mustered up some courage, and nodded.

I left Ashford Manor and headed to the company.

As I stepped out of the elevator, I was heading toward my office when I ran into the CEO’s office team secretary.

The secretary said to me, "Director Vivienne, CEO Hawthorne wants to see you as soon as you arrive."

"Okay, I’ll go right away."

I turned and walked toward the CEO’s office, knocked on the door, and entered after receiving permission.

"CEO Hawthorne, you wanted to see me?"

Alexander looked up from behind his desk, his eyes meeting mine. "You’re here. Just came from Ashford Manor?"

"Yes."

"I asked you to come because I need you to tell me something. I hope you’ll be honest."

"Go ahead. Ask."

"Did you tell Pop-pop that I went to see Isabella?"

A flash of surprise crossed my face, but I quickly shook my head. "It wasn’t me."

Alexander’s dark eyes fixed on mine, unwavering. "Are you sure it wasn’t you?"

I stared back at him, not backing down. "It wasn’t me." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Inside, a sharp pang of hurt struck me.

Alexander truly didn’t trust me at all.

The silence between us lingered, thick with tension. I pressed on, "Does Pop-pop know you went to see Isabella? It actually makes sense. Pop-pop and Nana have stopped handling the company’s business, which gives us the illusion that they don’t know anything. But in reality, they know everything."

Alexander let out a small "hmm." "I see. You can go back now. I’ll take you to get your makeup done after work."

Evelyn had already told him about The Aurelia Gala.

"Alright. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head out." I turned to leave.

"Wait."

I stopped and turned back to look at him. "What is it?"

Alexander reached up to adjust his collar. "Next time, don’t leave marks on me."

I froze for a moment, then noticed the marks on his neck and realized what he meant. I smiled softly. "Don’t worry. There won’t be a next time."

I left the office.

Alexander watched me go, his mind replaying my words over and over. An inexplicable feeling stirred in his chest.

No next time.

He slowly relaxed, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.