Falling For My Ex's Uncle - Chapter 155: Chapter 155

As Alex turned and walked into the room, he came face to face with Sophina, who was stepping out.
The moment Sophina saw Alex, her face twisted into an expression of surprise mixed with fear.
'Alex cannot be that terrifying, can he?' I thought.
At least, when I first met him, I was stunned by his looks, but I certainly did not feel scared.
After spending more time with him, sure, there were moments when Alex seemed intimidating, especially when his eyes, sharp and cold, seemed to look right through me. It often gave me the feeling that a cold wind was blowing behind my back.
But I could not understand why Sophina was so afraid of him.
He had a chiseled, handsome face, a strong nose, smooth skin, and an impressive family background. He should be popular with young women, if anything.
"Hi, Mr. Herrera." Sophina lifted her head nervously to glance at Alex.
Alex slightly furrowed his brow and turned to look at me, his expression puzzled as if silently asking why she was here.
I, however, was too tired to explain.
Sophina was my assistant, and she had come back with me. It was his idea that she stay by my side the entire time. I could not just leave her alone at the hotel.
After seeing Alex disappear into the room with a dark expression, Sophina quickly walked over to my side."Mrs. Herrera, does Mr. Herrera not want me staying here?"
"It is fine. Leave him alone," I said, rubbing my sore neck.
Sophina's voice wavered, tinged with a near-cry. "Mrs. Herrera, should I just go back to the hotel then?"
"Don't mind him. He is not going to kill you," I said gently, then looked up at her with a curious expression. "Why are you so scared of him?"
"Even Miss Herrera is afraid of Mr. Herrera," Sophina whispered.
"Are you afraid of him too?" I asked, noticing the pale expression on Sophina's face. She seemed a bit shaken, almost pitiful in her fear.
"I hit Leah, yet I didn't see you afraid of me," I added.
"It's different. Everyone in the Herrera family is afraid of Mr. Herrera." Sophina lowered her voice as if fearing Alex might overhear.
'The Herrera family is afraid of Alex?' I thought. I didn't think so, at least not in the way Sophina implied.
Lena, for instance, harbored nothing but hatred for Alex, not fear.
The younger members of the Herrera family were afraid of Alex for a reason. After all, Alex was an elder in the family.
Even if they had grievances with their younger uncle, they didn't dare openly defy him.
More importantly, Alex controlled the vast majority of the companies under the Herrera Group.
If the younger generation of the Herrera family wanted to work in the Herrera Group, they had no choice but to listen to Alex, their uncle despite a man only a few years older than them.
The fear the others felt toward Alex was likely because of his control over the Herrera Group, and because he was Raphael's most favored son. Offending him could easily lead to Raphael's displeasure.
They were just cautious, I supposed.
Everyone in the Herrera family hoped to get Herrera Group. However, what I didn't understand, though, was why, when Alex mentioned leaving the Herrera family, even Lena had chosen to compromise.
'Does Herrera Group not function without Alex?' I mused.
Sophina leaned closer to my ear and whispered, "The members of the Herrera family talk behind Mr. Herrera's back. They call him a demon passed down through the generations. Anyone who offends him has no good end."
A demon? This demon certainly looked quite good.
"Anyone who offends him has no good end? But Leah is living just fine, isn't she?" I tugged at my lips, giving a cold smile.
"That's because they're all members of the Herrera family. Do you know Mr. Herrera was kidnapped when he was young?" Sophina continued.
I nodded.
"The two men who kidnapped him are dead. They were said to have died over a dispute about the ransom. But in reality, that wasn't the case. Back then, the Herrera family didn't pay the ransom. The police had provided fake money, with only a small portion of it being real," she added.
I froze for a moment. I remembered Austin mentioning that Alex had been kidnapped as a child. The Herrera family was wealthy, yet they hadn't paid the ransom. It was clear they had wanted Alex dead.
"The kidnappers took the money, and the police couldn't catch them. Everyone thought Mr. Herrera was as good as dead, but to everyone's surprise, he returned home. He had a high fever for three days, and when he woke up, he had no memory of what happened," Sophina continued.
Sophina paused before nervously saying, "Later, the police were alerted by locals and discovered the bodies of the three men in an abandoned chemical factory."
I didn't believe a child could have killed three men. Maybe it was just a matter of conflict among the kidnappers, and Alex had survived simply because his fate hadn't come to an end yet.
Sophina, noticing my skeptical expression, shared another piece of information.
When Alex came back that year, the company had suffered huge losses due to poor investments. In order to recover the funds, Alex was forced to take the position of president at Herrera Group. It was also the year he and Samantha, his childhood friend, parted ways.
The first thing he did was lay off staff, mostly high-level executives. One of the men didn't agree with Alex's decision and secretly tried to kill him.
But before he could even reach Alex, he was discovered by security. As he tried to flee, he fell down the stairs and hit his head on a vase. He died on the spot. And that vase had only been placed there for less than a week.
I had always been an atheist, and I didn't believe in these fantastical stories. From these two incidents, however, it was clear that Alex had incredibly strong luck.
I looked at Sophina, who appeared nervous and unsettled, and couldn't help but find her a bit endearing.
"As long as you don't offend him, you'll be fine," I said gently, patting her on the shoulder.
Just as Sophina opened her mouth to reply, the sound of a doorbell broke the silence in the room.
I opened the door and found Javier standing there, looking somewhat dejected. It seemed he had found out from Maliyah about Angela going abroad.
I had already noticed that Javier had been harboring feelings for Angela. But I wasn't sure when he had started liking her.
However, I knew for certain that Javier would never be interested in someone younger than himself. I had always pretended not to notice.
"Laurel, why did Angela suddenly go abroad?" Javier asked, as though he didn't quite believe what Maliyah had said.
"I don't know," I answered. I didn't want to lie to Javier, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. He would find out sooner or later.
As soon as I spoke, Javier glanced at Sophina behind me, his expression frozen for a moment. After a long pause, he finally spoke, "Sophina, why are you here?"