Alden POV:
The news hit me like a physical blow. A yacht, adrift, ravaged by the storm. Katelynn. Missing. Presumed dead.
My phone rang. It was my father, his voice clipped, angry. "Alden, what in God's name is happening? The news is going insane! Katelynn Walls is... oh, God, my son."
I stared at the television screen, the flickering images of the wrecked yacht, the search and rescue teams. No. Not Katelynn. Not my Katelynn.
"Father, it's a mistake," I choked out, my voice raw. "She was just... clearing her head. She wouldn't..."
"She wouldn't what, Alden?" he snapped. "Leave you? She's been nothing but devoted to you for five years! And you treat her like a convenient distraction!"
My assistant, Marcus, appeared in the doorway, his face pale, his eyes wide with horror. "Sir, they found... they found debris. And a distress beacon activated right before the yacht went under."
"She activated it?" I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the storm outside. A distress beacon. She hadn't been taking a joyride. She had been in trouble.
"Why didn't you tell me she was going out in this weather?" I roared at Marcus, my fists clenched. "Why wasn't I informed?"
Marcus flinched. "Sir, I tried to call you. Your phone was dead. And Ms. Walls specifically asked to be alone. She was insistent. She seemed... very calm, sir. Almost too calm, when she left."
My phone. Dead. Of course. I had been with Gabriella, soothing her after her "scare." I had put my phone on silent, then forgotten to charge it. For Gabriella. Always for Gabriella.
A thought, cold and venomous, slithered into my mind. Gabriella. Could she have done something? She was always so jealous of Katelynn's intelligence, her quiet grace. No, it was impossible. She was fragile, pregnant.
"Where's Gabriella?" I demanded, my voice tight.
Marcus hesitated. "She's... she's also being hounded by the media, sir. About her appointment to the board. And a few other things."
Suddenly, my phone buzzed. Once, twice, a barrage of notifications. The connection was back. Hundreds of messages flooded in, news alerts, social media tags, frantic calls. My fingers fumbled, opening the first news link.
It was a video. Katelynn. Her face, pale but resolute. Her voice, steady, unwavering.
"If you're watching this," she began, her eyes locking onto the camera, "then Katelynn Walls is no longer. For five years, I loved Alden Stone. I believed in his promises, his affection. I believed in our future."
My blood ran cold. My heart hammered against my ribs. No. This wasn't happening.
"But his love was a performance," she continued, her voice slicing through me. "A calculated deception to shield his lifelong obsession with Gabriella Butler. He gave me 'Gabriella' roses, telling me they were my favorite, a cruel, daily reminder of his true affection for her."
The screen showed a close-up of a single crimson rose, then a quick cut to an image of a garden magazine page, highlighting the "Gabriella" rose. The proof.
"And then, he stole my life's work. My cancer treatment formula. He orchestrated its theft and gave it to Gabriella, allowing her to claim it as her own, to secure her position within his family. When I confronted him, he threatened to destroy my career."
The video then showed a series of screenshots: my login records to her private lab server, dated just days before Gabriella announced her "discovery." Then, emails between myself and a patent lawyer, discussing "acquiring rights to a new biotech formula." The evidence was damning. Undeniable.
I looked up from my phone, my gaze landing on Gabriella, who had just walked into the room, her phone pressed to her ear, her face contorted in a mixture of fear and outrage.
"You!" I roared, striding towards her. "You took her work! You stole her formula! And you let her think I was protecting you! You used her!"
Gabriella dropped her phone, her eyes wide. "Alden, darling, what are you talking about? It's a lie! She's jealous! She's always been obsessed with you. She's just trying to frame me, to ruin us!"
Her hand instinctively went to her stomach. "She's trying to hurt our baby!"
"Our baby?" I scoffed, a bitter laugh tearing from my throat. "There is no baby, is there, Gabriella? It's another one of your lies! Just like everything else!" The words were out before I could stop them, a desperate, gut-wrenching realization.
She recoiled, her face paling further.
"Alden, you fool!" my father' s voice boomed from the doorway. He stood there, holding his own phone, his face gray with fury. "The media has just released the full report! Gabriella's 'pregnancy' is a fabrication! A calculated deception to secure her position on the board and within the family! And these emails... Alden, you gave her Katelynn's research!"
He looked at Gabriella with pure disgust. "You are not welcome here. Get out of my sight. You are a disgrace to this family, and your appointment is revoked. Immediately. And that bracelet," he pointed a shaking finger at her wrist, "take it off. It was Katelynn' s design. I recognize it from her old sketchbooks."
Gabriella, tears streaming down her face, fumbled with the clasp of the diamond bracelet. It fell to the floor, scattering diamonds like shattered hopes. She stared at me, then at my enraged father, her carefully constructed world crumbling around her.
"Alden," she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Alden, don't let them do this! You love me!"
But I couldn't even look at her. All I could see was Katelynn's face on the screen, her unwavering gaze, her quiet dignity, even in her last, desperate act. I felt a cold, crushing wave of regret. She had been right all along. I had chosen wrong. I had betrayed the one person who truly loved me.
"Get out, Gabriella," I said, my voice hollow, devoid of warmth. "Just get out."
She fled, her sobs echoing down the hallway.
My father turned to me, his shoulders slumped. "You just lost us everything, Alden. The corporation's reputation, our alliance, everything. And Katelynn..." His voice trailed off, filled with a sorrow that mirrored my own.
I wanted to find Katelynn. To tell her I was sorry. To tell her I finally saw. But it was too late. The storm. The distress beacon. The wreckage.
I sank to my knees, the weight of my mistakes crushing me. The images of Katelynn's face, her voice, her quiet accusations, replayed in my mind. She was gone. And I had killed her. Not with my hands, but with my blind obsession, my cruel indifference, my unforgivable betrayal. The world believed Katelynn Walls was dead. And I was left to live with the ghost of her memory. My empire, my carefully constructed life, lay in ruins around me, a wasteland of sorrow and regret.
