The Billionaire's Ex-Wife Returns!
Chapter 9: Coming Closer...

Chapter 9: Coming Closer...

"Oh, god..." Lucy stared at her best friend with wide eyes. "Tell me he’s not here. Tell me it’s not him who’s outside the door."

As much as Vanessa wanted to say those words, the devil stood outside the door, looking like he brought hell with him.

"Ignore him. He’ll leave when he thinks no one’s inside the door," Vanessa reassured her, but it did little to Lucy, who was visibly trembling from panic.

Why was Landon outside Vanessa’s apartment? How did he even know where her best friend lived? As far as Lucy knew, Landon had never met Vanessa. The only information he should have had about her best friend was what Lucy had told him.

Had he come here for her?

The thought filled Lucy with fear.

After seeing her name in the headlines, Lucy couldn’t trust Landon anymore. She was convinced he was only here to pressure her into going to court for his beloved Yvonne. He would do anything for his first love, after all. Didn’t he also leave her alone to accompany Yvonne to the hospital?

"Vanessa, I don’t want to see him." Lucy softly said, stepping away from the door.

What she feared most was herself. She couldn’t trust her heart not to behave sensibly with him being so close.

Vanessa cupped her cheeks and nodded reassuringly. "You won’t. I promise you."

’Thud!’

The doorbell rang again, followed by heavy knocking.

Lucy and Vanessa jumped, startled, and turned toward the door.

The small screen on the wall displayed not just Landon, but also his secretary, Alaric, and a stout middle-aged man beside him.

"Damn it!" Vanessa cursed under her breath, not believing what she was seeing right now.

Lucy shot her a questioning look.

"That’s the building owner." Vanessa hissed, glaring at the door, more precisely at the middle-aged man behind it.

Lucy flinched, recalling the incident Vanessa had faced just four months ago. A stalker—a perverse creep who had stolen her clothes multiple times and belongings from the locker—tormented Vanessa. Although she reported the situation to the authorities, the police merely filed a report and did nothing to stop the stalker.

But then, Vanessa found out who the stalker was.

It turned out to be the apartment building owner.

Vanessa went back to the police to report him. But the law didn’t side with her. They even dared to hint that she had wagged her tail at him.

In the end, she could only quietly settle things with him.

"Are you sure this is the right apartment?" Landon asked, locking his icy gaze onto the middle-aged man. "If you led me to the wrong place, you better pray you’ll get out of my sight faster than I can catch you."

The middle-aged man involuntarily stepped back, a chill running down his spine after just a single word from Landon.

He didn’t know why, but he felt as if his neck was now on the line.

Sobering up, he readjusted his thick glasses on his nose. "You don’t need to worry. I’ve been here before, and I’ve known Vanessa for a long time."

Landon scrutinized him carefully.

After leaving the mansion, he had tasked Alaric with finding a woman named Vanessa in the city.

It wasn’t an easy feat. There were likely over a hundred women with that name. But Landon was lucky that he remembered the details Lucy had shared about her friend.

In just half an hour, he narrowed down his list and brought him to this apartment.

"But sir, are you sure she’s here?" Alaric questioned.

Landon’s gaze fell to his secretary, who quickly screwed his mouth shut.

"We’ll find out soon."

The truth was, Landon was growing restless. Anxiety clawed at him as he realized everything he knew about Lucy came from things she told him.

Since their marriage, he had never bothered to look into her past or her background. All that mattered to him was how she could fulfill her role as his wife.

But now, that oversight was coming back to haunt him.

He couldn’t even understand why he was going through all the trouble to find her.

And it’s driving him mad.

"What if no one’s home?" Alaric was tired of bumping his knuckles against the door. "They could be out, and we might be just wasting our time here, sir."

"I’m not paying you to talk, Alaric," Landon snapped. He was losing his patience faster the more his secretary opened his mouth. " Keep knocking."

"Understood, sir."

Alaric resumed pounding his fist on the door, putting in so much force that he worried it might break or his that his arm would give out first.

Still, no one answered.

At this time, the middle-aged man also couldn’t wait any longer. He had only come along with them because he thought these men were up to no good, and he wanted Vanessa to pay for reporting him to the police!

"I can open the door," he offered.

Landon cocked his head, a suspicious gleam in his narrowed blue eyes. "And how are you going to do that?"

"I have a spare key," the middle-aged man confessed proudly.

Vanessa’s face blanched as the conversation outside the door was clearly transmitted inside the apartment through the intercom speaker.

There was no time to escape.

"Go." Vanessa urged, pushing Lucy back. "Hide in the closet and don’t make a sound."

"What about you?" Lucy asked, her heart racing. "I can’t let you face them all alone."

"Listen, Lucy. They’re not here for me."

Understanding what she meant, Lucy reluctantly nodded.

Grabbing her suitcase and bag, Lucy dashed towards the bedroom and did what Vanessa instructed. The closet was spacious enough to hide her, but the suitcase and bag posed a problem.

Landon would certainly recognize them as hers. Then, he would know she was here.

She didn’t have the time to weigh her options as she heard Vanessa’s voice just as the door opened. Quickly, she shoved her luggage under the bed and slipped into the closet.

Holding her breath, Lucy listened.

The sounds outside were muffled by the wooden walls that were now caging her in, but Lucy couldn’t stop worrying about Vanessa.

Vanessa has a short fuse as a temper. And just minutes earlier, Lucy was holding her best friend back from killing Landon.

And now that he had delivered himself on a silver platter, Landon was inching dangerously closer to Vanessa’s fury.

As expected, Vanessa’s voice turned louder and louder.

But Lucy found it was odd.

No matter how loud she was, it shouldn’t sound this close...

Before Lucy could grasp what was happening, the door to the bedroom swung open with a loud blast.

"If you set one foot inside in here, I’ll scream." Vanessa used her body to block the door while sending a murderous gaze at the pervert middle-aged man who let Landon in.

Landon stood across from her with a cold face, reminiscent of a statue made from a block of ice.

He had violated everything Lucy had described of him to Vanessa. He was no gentleman. Not someone with a principle. And he’s definitely not a good man.

He’s the devil incarnate.

With his eyes looking devoid of anything but obsession, Vanessa knew she could never let this man anywhere near Lucy.

Vanessa snapped her attention back to Landon.

Yet, Landon wasn’t looking at her.

Instead, his gaze was fixed on something behind her.

Then, he said with a firm belief, "She’s here, isn’t she?"