The Alpha's Villainess Wife-Chapter 48: Something Horrible

A knock came at the door.

"Madam?"

Eve, lying on the bed, still in her pajamas, arms clenched around Malakai’s coat, lazily blinked her eyes open. She forced herself off the bed and approached the door, opening it to find the maid from early this morning standing with a polite smile on her face.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

The maid handed her a laptop. "The master said I should give this to you. He mentioned something about the lists of his employees." She also gave her a piece of paper. "The password is in there."

Eve lowered her eyes to the laptop.

She asked, "Where is he?"

"Mr. Basti?"

"Yes, my husband."

"Ah..." the maid responded, "He left for work just a few minutes ago."

"I see..." Eve collected the device from her and turned around to walk away, but the maid stopped her.

"Madam, um...a-aren’t you going to eat?" she inquired. "I already have breakfast made for a few minutes now, but you don’t—"

"What’s your name?" Eve asked.

The maid paused, but answered right after with a bow, "Elara. Elara Clarise."

"Well, Elara, I’m not really hungry right now. But don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine." Her lips stretched into an assuring smile.

Elara shook her head. "Madam, Mr. Basti wanted me to make sure you ate well. I-I might get fired... Please... Even if it’s a bite or two for the..." She pointed at her belly. "...Baby."

Eve glanced at her belly and met her gaze. She hesitated, but nodded. "Alright."

The maid’s face brightened with a relieved smile and she left.

Eve left the door open and walked over to the loveseat. She sat down, opened the laptop, and picked up the piece of paper for the password.

{Eve0921}

Her lashes flickered. She’d forgotten how to breathe for a second, just staring at the paper.

Why was her name and her birthday his password?

Eve tried to swallow the lump that had built up in her throat. Surely...he couldn’t care that much to do this...right?

Patro never even...

Her words trailed off in her mind and she quickly shook her head.

Patro didn’t matter. If she continued this way—thinking of him in every situation, Malakai just might think he mattered. And he didn’t. It rather simply felt weird—all these things Malakai did without her even asking, was she—

Elara walked in through the door with a tray of breakfast. She settled it on the glass table close to the loveseat and proceeded to pour a good amount of milk into the tea she’d made.

"How’d you know I like tea? Especially like that with lots of milk?" Eve asked, furrowing her brows.

The maid smiled up at her. "Mr. Basti told me. He also let me know of the things you like to eat, that’s why I had the kitchen staff make you a proper set. Everything’s all your favorites."

Eve’s eyes crossed over the delicacies settled on the table. They truly were all to her liking.

A soft breath fled her mouth, soothing the sudden pounding of her heart.

"Madam?" Elara called. "Are you okay?"

She looked at her. "Yes, why?"

"Nothing. You just seemed lost for a second there."

Eve blinked and slowly cracked a smile. "I have a question."

"Please, go ahead." Elara lifted her gaze to give her her full attention.

"Well, if a man did all this for you..." she began. "...Well, I mean, you know, caring about what you liked and didn’t like. Using your birthday for a password so he doesn’t forget, does that mean he cares?"

Elara wrinkled her brows and slowly nodded with amusement. "Yes...it does. You do these things, Madam, when you care deeply for someone."

"Then, what if they start avoiding and distancing themselves from you, what does that mean?"

"Hm..." she hummed thoughtfully. "I’m not really sure. Maybe they...uh, have something troubling them?" She added, "Is this about the master?"

Eve was quick to deny it. "No. Not really. It was just a part of a book I was reading. It had me a-a bit confused right there." Her chuckle was an awkward one.

Elara didn’t seem all that convinced, but she straightened up and bowed with a smile.

"Please eat well, madam. Call me if you need anything."

Eve nodded and watched her leave and as soon as she was gone, she lifted her palm to her chest and began to rub, soothing her pounding heartbeat.

Drawing a deep breath, she sat and proceeded to check over the entirety of his employees. One thing she was sure of was the spies. But as for who the actual person was, she couldn’t say she knew, though she had a suspect.

The man she’d seen earlier. His body language was enough for her to suspect him. He’d been too tense the very second he saw her and he wasn’t tense in the sense that he didn’t belong there, it was more of the idea that he’d seen what he was looking for.

And if there was anything he could be looking for, it was the USB.

———

The machine beeped slowly and steadily by the bed and the middle-aged man, Satvros Irvine, who was unconscious on it blinked his eyes open.

He stared at the ceiling for a few moments and forced himself off to sit on the bed.

"Is anyone...out there?" he asked as loudly as he could.

The door opened and an omegan nurse walked inside, a smile on her face. She was quick to check up on him.

"Do you feel alright, sir?" she inquired. "Do you feel pain anywhere at all? If you do, you should let—"

"No, no, I’m okay. W-where is my daughter?"

The nurse paused. "Eve Basti?"

"Basti...?" The man blinked. "Wait..." He shook his head. "M-my daughter is really married to Malakai Basti?"

The nurse seemed confused. How could he not know who his daughter was married to? Regardless, she responded, "Yes... she is."

His breath came out strained.

When he heard that Eve was married to Malakai Basti, he couldn’t believe it. He knew his daughter all too well and she’d never been involved with Malakai. Having An affair was out of the table—Eve was too moral for such a thing, so how could she have been married to Malakai, a man she had no relationship with prior?

It was the smartest move, seeking him out, but what he couldn’t understand was how she got Malakai to marry her. His daughter was clever, but he didn’t think Malakai Basti was an easy man to sway into such responsibility.

However, right now, this was not his biggest problem.

He’d just realized that he might have done something that might ruin Eve’s entire world that she’d just managed to build up.

The USB...

The files that held things on Malakai Basti...he’d been the one who created it...

He didn’t even know that Eve had her hands on the USB and only came to know through Patro who assumed he knew about it. He hadn’t meant to make the file, it had been Patro who forced him into doing it and one thing he couldn’t comprehend was what the USB had to do with Eve.

How did she get her hands on it? How did she even know of the USB? He had made it for Patro under forced orders.

What if Malakai Basti finds out that the father of his wife had been the one who created such a thing?

Shit!

He had no fear that no one else would be able to break into the data, but Eve, even if not now, would eventually be able to break into it somehow. After all, she took after him, both in looks and brains.

"I want to talk to my daughter," he said.

The nurse frowned. "Now? Sir, you need to be checked—"

"Right now, missy. Get my daughter on the phone, I need to talk to her!"

"Alright, alright." the nurse hurried to the phone on the table inside the ward. Eve had dropped her phone number before she left, so Mr. Stavros watched with nervousness as his daughter was reached on the other side of the phone.

[Hello, Mrs. Basti. Um, your father is awake and he really wants to talk to you]

The nurse nodded as she listened to Eve on the other side of the phone.

[Alright, I’ll put you onto him]

Mr. Stavros grabbed the phone from the nurse as soon as she got close to him. "Eve?"

[Dad?]

Eve’s voice came from the other side of the phone. [Is everything okay? Do you feel okay? I’ll come and see you in the morning. It’s late and if you can—]

"No, no, it’s okay. You can see me in the morning."

[You sound like something is wrong. What’s the problem? If something happened, you can tell me—]

"I did something very horrible, Eve. S-something that you might hate me for..." he said.