Chapter 153
**Stephanie's Point of View**
His sharp, hawk-like gaze darted with quick agility between Alexander's warm palm resting tenderly against my cheek and the contours of my deathly pale face. For the very first time since I had known him, his customary icy detachment shattered, replaced by an expression of genuine, glaring astonishment that he could neither conceal nor disguise behind his stern mask.
Alexander immediately noticed my locked posture and the slight tremor rippling through my limbs. He slowly withdrew his hand from my cheek and turned his entire powerful torso around to see exactly what had triggered my sudden desire to vanish and shrink out of sight. At that exact second, I felt the walls of the venue closing in on me violently, as if all my terrifying nightmares and fears had materialized before me as an inescapable, tangible reality.
