Chapter 9: The doting husband
The top floor boardrooms of the Carter Corporation skyscraper always felt colder than the rest of the building.
Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling glass, reflecting off polished tables and shining silver water carafes, but the heat never seemed to reach Kian’s chair.
At the head of the long table, Kian rested his hands flat against the dark wood.
Around him, executive vice presidents and lead financial strategists presented slides, their voices blending into a low, droning hum.
They were laying out the blueprint for an intercontinental expansion... a massive, multi-billion-dollar deal that would seal the company’s foothold across three continents.
Normally, Kian loved this part.
He loved the quiet power of holding total control over hundreds of board members. But today, his eyes were fixed on the silver pen resting between his fingers.
Every time he tried to focus on the numbers, his mind drifted back to the quiet house on the edge of the city.
To Isabella. To the strange, distant way she had been acting over the last few weeks.
"...which brings us to the closing timeline for the Singapore acquisition," the senior director said, tapping a laser pointer against the screen at the front of the room. He turned to face the head of the table.
"Mr. Carter, should we move forward with the final filing before the end of the quarter?"
The room went still, waiting for the nod that everyone knew was coming. Kian had spent three months pushing his teams to swallow that competitor whole.
Kian stared blankly at the screen. The silence stretched a second too long.
"No," Kian said softly.
The entire boardroom froze. The director’s hand stopped mid-air. Executives glanced at one another in sudden, sharp confusion, nobody daring to speak aloud.
Standing just behind Kian’s left shoulder, holding an iPad with a leather cover, Alice felt her stomach drop. She stepped forward quietly, leaning down until her breath brushed his ear.
"The Singapore acquisition, Mr. Carter," she whispered.
Kian blinked. The heavy fog in his mind cleared for a fraction of a second, and he caught the bewildered expressions staring back at him from around the long table.
He didn’t flush nor falter. He simply adjusted his cuff links, his face smoothing back into a mask of complete composure.
"Proceed," Kian said flatly, his voice leaving no room for questions. "Ensure the local regulatory boards are settled first."
The director swallowed hard, nodding quickly. "Of course, sir. Right away."
Kian leaned back in his leather chair, tapping his fingers against the armrest. He cleared his throat, looking around the room.
"Regarding the intercontinental summit next month. My wife will be joining me on the trip. Make sure the private transport and accommodations are arranged for her comfort."
One of the board members frowned slightly, leaning forward.
"Sir, with all due respect, Mrs. Carter’s health condition... the long flight and heavy press presence might be difficult for her. It isn’t strictly necessary for her to attend."
Kian tilted his head, his dark eyes narrowing just enough to make the man sit back in his seat.
"My wife comes with me," Kian said smoothly, a warm, doting smile touching his lips that didn’t reach his eyes. "I prefer keeping her close. She feels safer when I’m nearby."
No one argued further.
When the meeting finally adjourned, the room emptied out in a quiet rush of sliding chairs and hushed footsteps. Soon, only Kian and Alice remained in the grand boardroom.
Kian stood up, pulling his suit jacket straight and stepping toward the double doors. He pulled his phone from his pocket and immediately dialed a number.
"Luke," Kian said the moment the line picked up.
"Mr. Carter," the bodyguard answered over the speaker.
"Where is Isabella?"
"She’s at home, sir. Resting in the study. She had lunch half an hour ago."
Kian walked down the long glass hallway, his leather shoes clicking evenly against the marble. "How was the rest of her day? Did everything go smoothly at her doctor’s appointment?"
"Yes, sir," Luke replied without hesitation.
"The appointment finished on schedule. Everything was routine, except for a brief delay on the drive home. Traffic was slowed down by a security checkpoint, but it was just standard procedure. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Kian let out a long breath, the knot in his chest loosening just a fraction. "Good. Keep the front gates locked, and make sure she stays inside for the rest of the evening."
"Understood, sir."
Kian ended the call and slipped the phone back into his coat. As he reached his private corner office, Alice walked in behind him, shutting the heavy wooden door with a quiet click.
She carried no files now, her stance dropping the stiff professionalism she maintained in front of the board.
She walked over to him, her eyes tracing the tight line of his jaw. She reached out, her fingers lightly brushing an invisible speck of dust from his dark lapel before smoothing the silk of his tie.
"You were completely somewhere else during that presentation," Alice said, her voice dropping into a soft, murmuring tone.
She stepped closer, looking directly into his eyes. "And you haven’t kissed me all week, Kian."
Kian looked down at her face, his expression unreadable.
He reached up, taking her chin between his fingers, and kissed her mouth. It was a slow, lingering kiss, but it lacked the fire It used to have months ago. To Alice, it felt almost like an errand he was crossing off a list.
She pulled back slightly, her brow furrowing. "You’re getting paranoid. You keep staring at your phone like she’s going to vanish. Don’t tell me you’re starting to feel soft for her."
"I’m not soft," Kian said evenly, stepping back toward his desk.
"Good," Alice said, her eyes flashing with a cold, sharp bitterness. "Because you know what she is. You know It’s what she deserves. Getting rid of her is the only way we ever get to enjoy what’s ours."
"You should understand that her father was a prominent figure, Alice," Kian reminded her, his voice low and cautious.
"Isabella isn’t some nobody. The moment something happens to her, eyes will turn to me. The board is already uneasy about how quickly I assumed voting control over the estate after her sight failed."
Alice let out a short, dismissive laugh. "You have millions now. You own the company. You buy the judges, you buy the investigators, you make it look like her depression finally took over. She’s blind, isolated, and losing her mind. People will believe whatever story you give them."
"It isn’t that simple," Kian muttered, opening his leather portfolio to sign a stack of documents. "I need time to make sure her passing looks completely natural."
Alice stared at him, a sharp knot of doubt forming in her chest. ’He’s not lying to me, is he?’ she wondered.
A quiet chime sounded on her wrist, her smartwatch lighting up with a bank notification. She looked down. A fresh transfer of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars had just been cleared into her offshore account.
She looked from the screen back to Kian’s calm, detached face.
Months ago, a transfer like that would have come with a glass of champagne and a weekend away in the mountains with her friends.
Now, it felt like hush money. A heavy payment to keep her quiet while he rushed home to play the doting husband.
"Isabella is waiting for me," Kian said softly, gathering his coat.
Alice swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and forced a small smile. "Don’t keep her waiting, then."
Kian left the skyscraper under the heavy guard of three black SUVs. On the drive back across the city, the sun began to dip below the skyline, casting long, bruised purple shadows over the concrete avenues.
As the motorcade passed through the high-end shopping district, Kian’s eyes caught the warm glow of a luxury jewelry boutique.
He raised a hand, signaling his driver.
"Pull over here."
Five minutes later, Kian stood inside the silent, plush showroom. The store manager bowed nervously, bringing out velvet trays of diamond rings and gold chains, but Kian’s eyes settled on a simple, delicate platinum necklace holding a single, teardrop-shaped emerald.
He remembered before Isabella had completely gone blind, during one of the dates he took her on, they had walked past this very shop, and she had stopped, her fingers lightly pressing against the glass display.
She hadn’t asked for it. She hadn’t said a word. But she had smiled... a real, genuine smile that she slowly became rare as her sight declined rapidly.
Back then, despite how pricey it was, Kian had offered to buy it for her but she declined gently, telling him it was pointless for her to purchase it if she could no longer appreciate its beauty soon enough.
He had remembered It ever since.
The realization sent a strange, cold prickle through Kian’s chest as the jeweler wrapped the box in ribbon. He was supposed to be waiting for her to break.
He already took what he wanted from her and was supposed to be planning her quiet end. Yet here he was, buying her emeralds because he couldn’t stand the thought of her looking at him with those hollow, empty eyes.
By the time his car pulled up the long driveway of the Kingston estate, night had fully fallen. The grand stone house sat quiet against the dark trees.
Kian stepped into the warm foyer, hand-delivering his coat to the butler. Aria, the head housekeeper and Alice’s mother, stepped out from the dining room, smoothing her apron.
"Good evening, Mr. Carter," Aria said politely.
"Where is Isabella?"
"She went upstairs early, sir," Aria replied. "She complained of a faint headache right after supper and asked not to be disturbed."
Kian’s jaw tightened slightly. "Did she eat?"
"Very little, sir."
Kian nodded, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. He walked down the quiet hallway to his private study, where Luke was standing near the desk, reviewing the evening security logs.
"You can take the night off, Luke," Kian said, leaning against the edge of the dark wood desk.
"Thank you, sir. The perimeter guards are set for night shift." Luke turned to leave, but Kian raised his voice just enough to pause him at the threshold.
"Luke."
"Sir?"
Kian stared at his security chief, his expression calm, almost casual. "When you were stopped at that checkpoint today... can you swear to me that she was never out of your sight?"
Luke hesitated. It wasn’t a long pause, barely a fraction of a second but it hung in the quiet room like a heavy stone.
Luke had been led into the command van for verification while a female officer escorted Isabella to a safer spot. He had trusted the uniform. He had believed the lane was secure.
"The police had an officer with her the entire time, Mr. Carter," Luke said carefully.
Kian’s dark eyes locked onto Luke’s face. He didn’t yell or snap. He simply nodded, his thumb slowly tracing the edge of his wrist watch.
"Alright. Go rest, Luke."