Now You Want Me? Too Late

Later that afternoon...

Elias and Noah sat face to face in a café. Neither spoke for a long moment. They just kept staring at each other.

The tension between them was palpable.

Noah pulled out a check and slid it toward him.

"You once threw a one-billion-dollar check at me," he said coldly. "Now I’m giving you two billion. Take it and leave Elena."

Elias glanced down at the check. He couldn’t stop his lips curling upward, amusement flickering in his eyes.

His empire was worth hundreds of billions. Two billion meant nothing to him.

"This is the difference between you and me," Elias said, his tone calm and composed. "You treat her as a commodity. You keep her when it’s convenient for you. When you are happy, you treat her well. When you are upset, you hurt her. You are even willing to put a price on her. But I am nothing like you."

Noah sneered. "Really? You are nothing but an opportunist. You took advantage of the lowest point in our lives to get close to her. I don’t know what your real intentions are, but I’m certain they are anything but noble."

Elias chuckled. "You think I approached Elena with some vile motive?"

He leaned back in his chair. "Well..."

Amusement flickered in his eyes. "Noah Sinclair, your arrogance is far more than I’ve ever imagined. You refused to accept reality. Or perhaps you simply chose not to see it. You only see what you want to see."

The smile on his face vanished.

"Elena loved you, but you took that love for granted. Now that she has left you, you suddenly want her back."

His voice turned colder.

"This is not love. You don’t miss her. You only missed her presence. You miss having someone who catered to your needs, cleaned up your messes, and made your life comfortable."

He snorted. "You never saw her as your wife. You treated her as a maid."

"Shut up," Noah hissed, fixing a burning glare at him. "You know nothing about us."

The storm of anger that was brewing inside him was ready to burst open.

"She is now my wife," Elias said. "And I know everything about her. She doesn’t need you anymore. So stop trying to win her back. It’s not going to work."

"She is mine." Noah slammed his hand on the table.

The cups rattled.

"She loved me for years. That kind of love doesn’t disappear overnight. She is only upset with me."

His eyes blazed with certainty. He was sure she would come back to him.

"She is with you not because she loves you, but because she is trying to get back at me. And I will do whatever it takes to bring her back."

His tone turned threatening. "Don’t stand in my way. If you want a peaceful life, take the money and leave."

Elias looked at him as though he were looking at a fool.

"Your threat is not going to work on me."

His voice was calm but carried absolute confidence.

"You had the chance, and you lost it. Now, Elena is my woman. No one is taking her away from me. Try it. You will regret it."

With that. Elias stood up and walked out of the café. The check was left untouched on the table.

Noah remained seated there, a muscle of his jaw twitching. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned pale.

"You challenged me," he muttered under his breath. "I accept the challenge. Let’s see who regrets it."

He picked up the check and stormed out of the café.

As soon as Elias got into the car, he called Elena.

After a few rings, he heard her voice from the other side of the line.

"Hello?"

"Where are you? Still at the office?"

"No... I came shopping with Evelyn," came Elena’s reply.

"Give me the address. I’m coming."

"The shopping is almost finished," Elena replied. "We are heading out for dinner soon."

"Wait for me. I’ll join you."

"Then come to Grand Meridian. We’ll be waiting for you there."

"See you soon."

Ending the call, Elias turned to the driver. "Take me to Grand Meridian."

The driver nodded and turned the wheel.

At the mall...

"Who is it?" Evelyn asked knowingly. "Elias?"

Elena shoved the phone inside her bag and turned to her. "Yes. He is coming."

"Oh! He can’t bear being away from his wife, can he?" Evelyn chuckled teasingly.

Elena’s face turned red. "It’s not like that. He is coming because he is worried about you. He doesn’t want anything to happen to you."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "You really think so?"

"Yes." Elena nodded seriously. "He is coming for you."

She turned her face away, hiding her smile as if she were afraid Evelyn would see it.

Evelyn only laughed. "You know, Elena... Elias is madly, hopelessly in love with you."

"What?" Elena snapped her head toward Evelyn.

"He can’t think of anything but you," Evelyn continued. "A few hours apart from you feels like torture to him."

Elena’s face flushed red. "You know about your brother very well."

"We are twins," Evelyn shrugged. "Of course, I do. I can feel his emotion."

Elena paused, her words turning her thoughtful.

She had never had siblings. She had never experienced the bond between brothers and sisters, much less twins.

For the first time, she felt a hint of envy toward Evelyn.

"That must be nice," she said softly. "I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but I heard that twins share strong connections."

"You are right. Twins often share very strong connections." Evelyn smiled fondly. Her mind drifted to the past.

"When we were little, if I cried, he would start crying too. If I got sick, he would become restless and refuse to leave my side. We always knew what the other was thinking. We even developed the same habits."

She continued speaking enthusiastically.

"And if one of us was upset, the other could sense it immediately."

Elena chuckled. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Evelyn nodded. Her smile slowly faded. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"But everything changed after that incident."

Elena’s eyes dimmed too.

"He grew quieter." Evelyn’s voice dropped. "He even stopped talking to me. His confidence was gone. Most days, he’d sit alone in a corner, staring into space."

She let out a sigh heavily. "Grandpa was worried. He did everything. He hired the best psychiatrists and specialists he could find, but nothing seemed to help."

Pain was evident in her face. "I was terrified. I thought I was going to lose my brother, too."

She swallowed the lump in her throat.

A heavy silence settled between them. Elena stared at her with palpitation in her heart.

"That phase of life was tough for all of us," Evelyn added slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Then you came..."

Surprise crossed Elena’s face. "Me?"

"Yes." Evelyn’s smile resumed. "You stood up to those bullies and saved him. After that, something changed in him. He started talking again. He became more confident. It was as if someone had pulled him out of the darkness."

Her expression grew warm. "And do you know the first thing he told me afterward?"

"What?" Elena asked, curious.

"He told me about a little girl who stood up against those boys," she replied. "He said you looked so fearless that he was almost enchanted. He thought you came just for him."

Elena stared at her, speechless. Her heart raced. She didn’t know her simple act could have pulled him out of his despair.

"He really said that?"

"Oh, he said much more." Evelyn grinned. "He said he would find you someday and marry you. I never took it seriously. I thought he would forget about you with time. But he never did. He found you in the end."