CHAPTER 393
**FIFTEEN MINUTES EARLIER.....**
Harmony’s heels clicked against the cold tile as she paced the length of Zach’s apartment, her hands trembling as she clutched her arms. The sunlight cast long shadows across the walls, stretching and twisting like the storm brewing inside her.
Zach, already pulling his phone from his pocket, frowned as he glanced at her. “You okay? You don’t usually drop by this early.”
She forced a small, casual shrug, her expression carefully composed. “Yeah… I’m fine.” Her voice was flat and dismissive, and she didn’t even bother looking at him as she continued pacing back and forth, her heels clicking sharply against the floor.
Zach watched her closely, unconvinced. “You sure you’re okay?”
Her jaw tensed, her movements becoming more rigid. Then, just as quickly, she forced a saccharine smile, her lips stretching unnaturally. “I said I’m fine.” Her voice was sharper now, a crack in the perfect facade she always wore. And for the briefest moment, something dark flickered in her eyes—something unsettling.
Zach hesitated, momentarily thrown. Harmony had always been sweet, soft-spoken even. But this? This was different.
Before he could push further, his phone buzzed in his hand, breaking the tense silence. He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Alright… well, um, make yourself at home. I’ll be back in a minute.”
As soon as the balcony door clicked shut behind Zach, Harmony’s expression twisted, her breath coming out in sharp, furious exhales. She clenched her fists so tightly her nails bit into her skin, but the pain was nothing compared to the storm raging inside her.
“How dare he,” she hissed under her breath, her voice trembling with quiet fury. “I was right there, and he barely even looked at me. Like I was nothing. Like I didn’t give up everything for him.”
She had been to see Xander earlier that day, playing her role flawlessly. She had gone to his office to offer him comfort, knowing he must be raw and vulnerable after everything with Arianna. It was the perfect opportunity—the moment she had been waiting for.
If there was ever a time for him to lean on her, it was now.
But he barely even looked at her.
Harmony’s breath hitched, her fingers digging into her arms. She had spoken in soft, understanding tones, placing a gentle hand on his arm, offering him the unwavering support she had always given him. But he didn’t care.
All he wanted was to see her.
Arianna.
No matter what Harmony did, no matter how many years she had devoted to him, he had never looked at her the way he looked at her.
She had loved him since she was a child—obsessively, endlessly, destructively. She had done everything for him. And if he knew even a fraction of what she had done for him, would he finally see her? Would he finally understand that no one else could love him the way she did?
He didn’t know the lengths she had gone to.
How she had dealt with any woman who dared to get too close.
A slow, eerie laugh bubbled up from her throat as a memory surfaced—one that made her pulse quicken with twisted satisfaction.
That charity gala two years ago. Xander had been charming as always, oblivious to the way that red-dressed whore had been eyeing him all night. Harmony had watched, seething, as the woman boldly took his hand, leading him onto the dance floor, pressing herself too close, whispering into his ear that she belonged there.
Harmony’s fingers twitched as she recalled the aftermath. The woman had found her car tyres slashed in the dimly lit parking lot; her designer dresses mysteriously ruined with an untraceable acid that ate through the fabric and burned her skin just enough to leave a mark—a reminder. A warning.
She had cried. Begged for help. But no one had been around to hear.
Harmony smirked, shaking her head at the memory. Poor thing never even knew why it happened.
Her grip tightened on the edge of the couch. “And neither will Arianna.”
She had always followed him, tracking his every move, knowing his routines better than he knew them himself.
How, years ago, she had risked her life for his, taking the injury that would cost her the ability to ever bear children. She had bled for him, suffered for him.
And still, he only cared about her.
Harmony swallowed the scream rising in her throat, her nails digging into her palms until they nearly broke the skin.
She had to do something. She would do something.
Harmony’s fingers tightened around her phone, her breath coming in sharp, shallow bursts.
The rage clawing its way up her throat, the unbearable pressure behind her eyes, the sheer nerve of Xander ignoring her.
Her hands trembled as she swiped through her contacts, her thumb hovering over his name.
Xander King.
He always came when she called.
Always.
The poor man felt so guilty about what had happened to her—about what she had done for him. The accident, the injury, her inability to ever conceive… It was the one thing she had over Arianna, the one thing that bound him to her. Because no matter what, he would always feel responsible for ruining her.
And as long as he carried that guilt, he was hers.
She pressed the call button and lifted the phone to her ear, a slow, twisted smile curling her lips as the line rang once… twice…
And then—click.
The call disconnected.
Harmony froze, staring at the screen in disbelief. Her pulse pounded in her ears, her fingers tightening around the device until her knuckles turned white.
Xander had never cut off her call before.
Never.
A sick, bubbling laughter rose in her throat, but she swallowed it down.
No, no, no—there must have been a mistake. Maybe his phone died. Maybe he was in the middle of something.
She called again.
Buzz. Buzz. Click.
Disconnected.
Again.
Harmony’s entire body went rigid, her nostrils flaring as a hot wave of fury crashed over her.
He hung up on me.
He had never done that before. Not once.
Her grip on the phone trembled as she fought the urge to hurl it at the wall. No. She had to stay calm. She had to—
Her eyes flicked to the screen again, and suddenly, she knew.
Her.
That witch.
Arianna.
This was her doing. She was poisoning him against her, twisting his mind, making him forget who had always been there for him.
Harmony’s chest heaved, her vision tunnelling as a red-hot rage coiled around her thoughts, suffocating everything else.
She wanted to scream, to smash every single thing in this apartment until the world felt as shattered as she did.
But instead, she let out a slow, shaky breath.
She was not going to be ignored.
Not by Xander. Not by anyone.
And if he refused to answer her call—
She would make sure he had no choice but to come to her.
...............
(After seeing Bunny Call)
“Oh, well, what a shocking turn of events,” Arianna drawled, her voice thick with biting sarcasm as she folded her arms across her chest. “Bunny probably needs you— of course, she does! When does she not?”
Her laughter was sharp, humourless, and laced with fury.
“Tell me, Xander, does she have a special radar for when you’re with me? Or is it just instinct at this point? Because, God forbid if you spend too much time away from her—she beckons, and you go sprinting like the obedient little lapdog she’s so perfectly trained you to be."
Xander flinched, watching the anger in her eyes blaze, fueled by every word, every bitter accusation. And the worst part? He couldn’t deny it.
He had let his past with Harmony blind him and had been so wrapped up in her drama that he hadn't stopped to think about what it would do to Arianna. He had let his need to be there for Harmony cloud his judgment, and now it had blown up in his face. He didn’t know how to fix this.
Arianna’s voice rose again, her anger cutting through the tension.
"Well, go ahead. Answer it. I’ll just be on my merry way. Wouldn’t want to keep your precious Bunny waiting, would we?"
Xander’s fingers hovered over the phone, his movements quick and sharp as he swiped the reject button without hesitation. His eyes locked with hers, guilt and frustration coiling inside him, his jaw clenched tight.
"Arianna," he said, his voice low but tense, "right now, you're the only thing that matters to me."
Really?" she interrupted her voice sharp and cutting.
"Don't give me that. We both know you're just waiting for the right moment to run to her like you always do."
His jaw tightened, a flash of frustration crossing his face. “No, Arianna. Right now, it's just you and me. Bunny can wait.”
She let out a short, humourless laugh. “It's strange, isn't it, that Bunny seems to have impeccable timing. Almost like she knew you’d be here with me”
Before he could respond, his phone vibrated against the table again.
Arianna’s gaze flicked down just as Bunny's name lit up the screen.
Xander muttered a curse under his breath and immediately rejected the call again.
Arianna tilted her head, a bitter smile playing at the corners of her lips.
“Seems like she’s getting impatient... Aren’t you even a little curious?”
His jaw clenched, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “No... I don’t care. All that matters—”
RING. RING. RING.
Arianna arched a brow. “Wow. Persistent, isn’t she?”
Grinding his teeth, Xander rejected the call again, his grip on the phone so tight his knuckles turned white.
Arianna leaned forward, resting her chin on her palm, eyes gleaming with sharp amusement.
“Should I grab some popcorn? Because I think we both know how this show ends.”
Xander ran a hand through his hair, tension coiling through every muscle.
“Arianna, I am right here. With you. Doesn’t that count for something?”
"Are you, though?" Arianna challenged her voice quiet but laced with frustration.
"Because even when you’re sitting right here with me, it’s still about her. Her calls, her interruptions—she’s in the middle of us. It’s like she never really leaves, does she? She's here, even when she isn’t."
Xander’s jaw tightened, his hand curling into a fist on the table.
“That’s not fair, Arianna. I rejected the calls. I’m right here with you, aren’t I?”
She exhaled slowly, her gaze sharp as she fixed him with a look. “Are you....?"
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