The Billionaire's Dangerous Obsession - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

The drive was quiet, save for the tense energy crackling between them like static.
She wanted to ask where they were headed to as it didn't look like they were going back to his mansion but she didn't want to give him an opportunity to insult her and so she kept mute.
The car turned into the underground parking lot of a skyscraper she recognized from endless business magazines—the main headquarters of the Garcia Empire.
“The Garcia headquarters?” she said with disbelief.
He didn’t answer. Just stepped out of the car and walked around it, extending a hand, which she ignored. She followed anyway.
“You’re dragging me to work?” she asked in disbelief.
Alejandro didn’t even glance at her as he adjusted his cuffs. “Five minutes. I need to pick up something.”
“Then I can wait in the car, there's no need for me to follow,” she said as she proceeded to open the car door.
However, she was unable to as it was locked and when she turned to face Alejandro, he was staring at her with a bored expression on his face.
“Don't tempt me. I still very much have my gun,” he threatened her.
“You won't shoot me, you need me so I can attend the wedding with you,” Nivera pointed out, feeling a bit brave.
“You know, me shooting you will be the perfect excuse to miss the wedding as no one will scold me for missing it to attend to my poor date who was shot by one of my enemies,” he declared and Nivera gulped.
“You won't shoot me,” she said even though she wasn't sure anymore.
“Keep talking and find out,” he smiled and that shut Nivera up. “Now, let's go.”
As they stepped into the grand lobby, she was enveloped by the luxurious atmosphere of a palace built on ambition and glass.
The gleaming marble floors reflected the light, casting an ethereal glow, while the high ceilings seemed to stretch up to the sky.
The air was thick with pristine silence, a hush that commanded respect.
But the moment she and Alejandro walked in, the calm was disrupted.
Heads swiveled in their direction, conversations paused mid-sentence, and whispers began to spread like ripples on a pond.
The room seemed to come alive, and she was the catalyst. of whom turned to stare as they passed.
Nivera felt the burn of every glance, but Alejandro, the perfect picture of charming confidence, nodding and smiling with the ease of a beloved heir. His mask of charm was flawless. His employees lit up when he passed.
But Nivera—she could feel it. The tension in the way his hand sometimes tightened at his side. The coolness in his gaze when no one was watching. The cracks in the golden persona.
He was pretending. For all of them.
If they only knew what he was like when the cameras and smiles weren’t there.
He even stopped to shake hands with a few executives, his grip firm, his grin devilish.
To them, he was the friendly prince of the empire.
But Nivera knew the truth. If only they could see the version of him she’d seen—the one who could smile and strip away your choices in the same breath.
Alejandro paused outside a glass-walled conference room where two assistants waited with files. He turned to her with a smirk.
He led her through the executive floor, not toward an office, but past it—through wide glass doors into a hall filled with sharp-suited men and women. A deliberate choice. He wanted them to see her.
“Stay close. I want them to see.” His words confirmed her thoughts.
Of course he did. The whispers had already started—people wondering if she was his newest conquest or his secret girlfriend.
He wanted rumors. He was planting them deliberately. And she was the unwitting flower in his twisted little garden.
She folded her arms and glared at him. “What’s the endgame here, puppet master? You trying to make your other toys jealous?”
Alejandro didn’t stop walking. “You know, appearances matter. And nothing spreads faster than a good rumor.”
She halted. “You’re using me to bait the press?”
“Bait, distract, disarm—semantics, really. Besides, there's someone who won't believe me easily if I just show up with you tomorrow.”
“Won't believe what easily?” She probed, wanting him to be clearer.
But before he could respond, a voice sliced through the crowd behind them. Feminine. Sharp. Laced with venom.
“Oh, Alejandro. You didn’t tell me you were going to be here.”
‘Shit, you've got to be kidding me!’ Nivera heard Alejandro mutter under his breath and she turned.
The woman who approached was stunning in the most artificial way—perfectly styled blonde hair, sharp cheekbones, and a dress designed to show everything and leave nothing to the imagination.
Her heels clicked loudly with every step she took toward them. Her eyes found Nivera instantly, and her smile twisted.
The fake smile she wore barely masked her disdain.
Alejandro didn’t even react, simply offered her a nod and a neutral, “Carmen.”
Carmen’s eyes swept over Nivera, slow and assessing. “I see you’ve picked up a stray, Alejandro!”
Huh, Nivera frowned, not wanting to believe the woman was referring to her.
“Didn’t think you’d traded refined tastes for street experiments,” she continued.
Nivera blinked. Street experiments?
She turned to look at Alejandro who remained infuriatingly silent, his gaze flicking toward a passing associate as if he’d heard nothing at all. Her pulse ticked at her jaw.
Fucking asshole.
Carmen smiled wider, clearly encouraged. “Though I suppose it’s cute in a charity case sort of way. I assume she doesn’t speak unless told to?”
Nivera’s fists clenched at her sides.
She glanced up at Alejandro, expecting—hoping—for some sort of defense.
Nothing.
Just a brief flicker of something unreadable in his eyes as he checked his phone.
She inhaled sharply. That was the moment she snapped. If he wasn't going to caution one of his crazy admirers, she might as well do it.