Rebirth Of The Heiress And The Tycoon's Lover (Alina) novel Chapter 316

**Collapsed 316**

**Chapter 316**

**AUTHOR’S POV.**

Before Alina had the chance to fully process her emotions, her legs were already propelling her forward, as if an unseen force had taken control of her body.

“Alina…no, no, no—” Talia’s voice was a frantic whisper as she sprinted to catch up, her hand clasping Alina’s arm in a desperate grip. “Don’t do this. Seriously, it’s a terrible idea. Let’s just walk away.”

But Alina was resolute, yanking her arm free with a fierce determination that didn’t waver. “No.”

Talia, filled with urgency, stepped directly into Alina’s path. “Alina, please, just listen to me—”

“Listen to you?” Alina snapped, her voice low yet powerful enough to create a ripple through the crowd, forcing people to shift aside. “That man is my man, Talia.”

“Babe—”

“A man I nearly married,” Alina continued, her frustration bubbling to the surface with every word, her strides growing more intense, more furious. “If it weren’t for my family crashing the wedding…he would have been my husband right now.”

Talia exhaled, her eyes wide with panic as she matched Alina’s pace. “Alina, I know that, but—”

“He’s the same man who has been ignoring my calls, Talia.” The rawness of her voice cut through the air, each syllable dripping with hurt. “The same man who doesn’t respond to my texts. Not even a simple ‘I’m alive.’”

“Alina, please—”

“And now he’s here,” Alina pressed on, her heart racing in her chest as she locked her gaze onto Lucian, still entwined with another woman. “Smiling at something she said as if…as if she’s the center of his universe? And she’s clinging to him like he’s her lifeline?”

Talia grabbed her arm once more, her voice urgent and low, “I understand how you feel. I really do. But you need to think about the family you belong to now. You can’t just—Alina, people will talk. There are cameras everywhere. Let’s just think this through—”

Yet Alina was no longer listening.

Her jaw was clenched, and her breaths came in sharp, quick gasps. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the bustling mall around her.

She had no concern for the onlookers, the cameras, the hushed whispers, or the reputation of the Evergreen name.

All she could see was Lucian.

With someone else.

And her feet were already carrying her toward him.

—

Talia let out a deep sigh, one that echoed her defeat, and hurried after Alina.

“Lord, please let this not end in disaster,” she muttered under her breath, quickening her pace to keep up.

Alina reached them before Lucian even registered her presence.

Ace, standing nearby, was the first to notice her, his eyes widening slightly as he braced himself for the inevitable storm. The tension in Alina’s steps was palpable, a warning that things were about to spiral out of control.

“Really, Lucian?” Alina’s voice sliced through the ambient noise of the mall the moment she confronted them, sharp and unyielding.

Violet flinched visibly at the sound.

The girl instinctively shrank against Lucian, as if trying to disappear into his shadow. Her fingers tightened around his arm, knuckles pale—not out of possessiveness, but sheer trepidation.

Alina caught this immediately, a scoff escaping her lips before she redirected her fierce glare back to Lucian.

“Is this why you’ve been ignoring me?” she demanded, her chest rising and falling with the anger that had been brewing for far too long. “Is this the reason for your cold shoulder? How long has this been going on? How long have you been seeing another woman? Is this why you didn’t fight for us?”

Lucian felt an instinctive urge to reach for her, to pull her close and offer explanations, to erase the hurt etched in her eyes. But the memory of her laughter with Cassian crashed into him like a wave, a painful reminder of her joy with another man.

Her laughter.

Her smile.

Her leaning in toward someone else.

Lucian’s fist clenched at his side, his expression hardening.

“Dahlia Evergreen,” he said, his voice quiet yet clipped, “please control yourself. You are creating a scene.”

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