Chapter 237

Ella POV

I stood frozen, my mind racing with a thousand questions. I could feel the tension in the air, thick and suffocating, wrapping around my chest like a tightening vice.

An image of August’s tear-streaked face flashed through my mind. He tried to warn me about this. Now, I understood his fear.

Alexander was afraid, too. His hand was wrapped tight around my wrist and I could feel that he was shaking. His fear terrified me.

I didn’t know if anyone else could sense it, though. Alexander's gaze, usually so composed and distant, flickered in the dim light of the room, revealing just a hint of the turmoil hidden beneath his cold exterior.

I had always trusted him—trusted that he was the person he showed me, the one who had fought beside me, the one who had held me when the world seemed to be falling apart.

But now, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had shifted. That something was wrong. Why was he so afraid?

"I don't understand," I murmured, my voice trembling slightly. "What else is there, Alexander? What else are you hiding from me?"

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stood there, his jaw set in that way I knew too well, as if he was holding something back. But even that wasn't enough to disguise the weight in his eyes.

It was a look I had seen before, but never directed at me—always aimed at something far more dangerous, far more elusive. The coldness, the walls he had built so carefully over the years, seemed to crack just a little, exposing the chaos beneath.

“Are you going to share your secret, pup?” Ironfang asked mockingly.

I looked at him sharply, hatred filling my heart at hearing him mock Alexander.

"It doesn't matter," I said, my voice growing steadier, though my heart ached. I realized that he was afraid of more than just Ironfang. Something was happening here that I didn’t understand.

There was some secret that Diana was threatening to reveal. Something more than Alexander’s identity as the Ice King or the existence of his daughter. Something he was afraid of me finding out.

"If there's more it changes nothing, I trust you. I don’t need to know everything." I stepped toward him, my hand reaching out, wanting to bridge the distance between us. “I trust you, Alexander.”

His gaze flickered down at my hand, and for the briefest of moments, I thought I saw something like regret in his eyes. But it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by something far darker.

He looked away from me, his lips tight as though he was struggling to find the right words.

And then, just as I thought I might hear his voice reassure me, the silence shattered. His head snapped up and he glared dangerously at Diana.

"You've gone too far, Diana," Alexander said, his voice low, cold. He took a step forward, his presence like a storm about to break. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."

Diana stood opposite him, trembling, her face pale, but her eyes were burning with something wild—something close to fury. "I know exactly what I’m dealing with, Alexander," she spat, her voice breaking. "You're a murderer. You've killed, you've betrayed everything—everyone."

My breath caught in my throat, my hands trembling at my sides. The word echoed in my mind, reverberating with disbelief. A murderer?

The accusation hung in the air like a weight too heavy to bear. I looked at Alexander, trying to read him, trying to understand what Diana meant.

But there was nothing in his expression that gave me any clue. Instead, he stared at the ground, his eyes narrowed, and his face an unreadable mask.

Sabrina, standing just behind Diana, took a step forward, her eyes wide with confusion. "Wait," she said, her voice shaky. "What do you mean, Alexander is a murderer? What is she talking about?"

Lexie was looking at Alexander wide-eyed, confusion clear in her little features that were so much like his own.

My heart hammered in my chest, my thoughts spinning wildly. The air around me grew thick, suffocating. The trust I had placed in him, the belief I had held so tightly to, was starting to crack.

I fought against it. This was what they wanted. They brought Sabrina, Lexie, and me here to turn us against him. I couldn’t let that happen.

But, my thoughts were spinning out of my control now.

Could it really be true? Was there something in his past that I hadn’t known? Something so dark, so terrible that it could shatter everything we had?

Alexander didn’t meet any of our eyes. His gaze remained fixed on the floor, his fists clenched at his sides. It was as though the very idea of speaking the truth was more painful than silence.

“Alexander,” I said softly, trying to break through his thoughts.

"I didn't..." Alexander began, his voice barely a whisper, but he faltered, unable to finish. His words hung in the air, unfinished, broken.

I took a step toward him, my voice gentle but filled with the weight of the emotions I couldn’t hide. "What are you saying, Alexander? What did you do?"

But before he could answer, a voice cut through the air, sharp and commanding.

"I don't have time for family drama," Ironfang said, stepping forward from the shadows with a calm that sent a chill through my spine.

His eyes locked onto Alexander, cold and calculating. "I'm here to finish what was started. And you're in my way."

My breath hitched as I saw Ironfang’s eyes flash with something dark—something dangerous.

There was no mistaking it now. The man before them was not just a shadow of the past; he was a force of destruction, and he had come for something. For someone.

As Ironfang stepped towards us, a knife gleamed in his hand, catching the light. My heart froze in my chest, my entire body going cold.

I could feel the weight of the blade in the air, the danger thick around us. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

"Stop resisting, Alexander," Ironfang said, his voice low and menacing. "You don’t have a choice in this matter anymore. All of the grace and goodwill that was extended to you has run out."

My eyes shifted between the two men—Alexander, whose silence spoke volumes, and Ironfang, whose presence seemed to consume everything in the room.

The knife in Ironfang's hand gleamed, its sharp edge reflecting the flickering light of the old warehouse.

Alexander didn’t move.

Diana’s voice cracked, her words coming out in a breathless sob. "You’re finally going to answer for your crimes."

Ironfang glared, his eyes never leaving Alexander. "Your role is finished, woman. Be silent. Alexander—" he paused, as if savoring the moment, "he knows what happens next."

I felt my pulse quicken. This wasn’t just about family anymore. This wasn’t just about trust or betrayal.

This was something deeper, darker. And as I looked at Alexander, standing there, silent and distant, I realized that the man I thought I knew might never return to me.