Chapter 48 The Weight Of A Name

• Alexander’s face was a mask of pain. He didn’t deny it. He couldn’t.
• “I was so afraid,” Vivian confessed, the words tumbling out now as if a dam had broken. “I was losing everything. My mind. My future. And I was losing you. Not to another woman, not really. To your own ambition. To your own… coldness. I thought if I could just be perfect, if I could be everything you needed, I could outrun it. But I couldn’t. So I decided if I was going to fall, I would take it all with me. The company. Your precious reputation. *Her.*” She didn’t even look at me. The “her” was just a concept, a symbol of everything she was losing.
• “The money from Black Oak…” Alexander prompted gently.