Chapter 2 The One Thing Xavier Feared

Everyone who knew Xavier knew there was one thing he hated more than anything else.

It was not betrayal or deception. It was abandonment.

When Xavier's mom became pregnant with him, his dad, Nathan Davis, was already engaged to another woman. She rented a tiny room in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods and raised Xavier alone.

Money was so tight that when she could not afford formula, she fed him watered-down rice cereal just to keep him from going hungry.

When Xavier was five, she brought him to the gates of the Davis Residence and told him to wait there while she went to buy him something good to eat.

So, he waited.

He stayed there for seven hours, long after the sun had gone down, until security finally called the police and Nathan eventually came outside.

His mom never returned.

She had taken 300,000 from Nathan, moved to another city, married someone else, and started a new family with a daughter of her own. She had built a new life for herself and left her first child at someone else's front gate.

Nathan considered Xavier an embarrassment and wanted nothing to do with him. Xavier was only allowed to stay because his grandpa insisted that no matter how he had come into the world, he was still a Davis by blood.

His stepmom never hit him or raised her voice at him. Instead, she treated him as though he did not exist.

Whenever she handed out gifts, Xavier was skipped. When the family took portraits, he was sent upstairs to study. At family gatherings, everyone had a place except him.

When Xavier was fourteen, one of his classmates mocked him. "Even your own mom didn't want you."

Xavier broke the boy's nose.

Nathan came to the school to deal with the incident. However, instead of defending his son, he looked at him in front of the principal with cold disappointment. "The boy takes after his mother. No class at all."

Xavier did not argue.

From that day on, he poured nearly every waking hour into studying, working, and making money. At eighteen, he left the country on a full scholarship. Three years later, he returned.

Within days, he had acquired sixty percent of Nathan's company.

Nathan called him personally and begged him to stop.

Xavier gave him only one answer. "You paid 300,000 to get rid of me. I'll return the money. Now, we're even."

Everyone called Xavier ruthless.

I never thought that was quite right.

He was not ruthless.

He was afraid of becoming that five-year-old boy again, standing outside a locked gate for hours and waiting for someone who had already decided never to come back.

That was why Xavier kept everyone at a distance, including me.

Eloise had been the only exception.

She was the only person who had entered his life willingly, walked away just as easily, and somehow still left him waiting for her three years later.

Now, she was back.

She had even brought his child with her.

…

That afternoon, I stood in the kitchen doorway and watched Xavier hold Kai in his arms. The tenderness in his expression made him look like a completely different man. "Kai, I'll never let anyone leave you behind again."

The little boy nodded and wrapped his arms tightly around Xavier's neck.

I stood there quietly, listening. 'What about me? What about the baby inside me? What about the child you have already sentenced to death before it even had the chance to be born?'

I did not ask, though.

There was no point.

I returned to the guest room, drew the curtains, and sat alone in the dim light for a while before taking out my phone and messaging Sue Bradshaw. 'Can you have someone appraise the Astoria Heights penthouse for me?'

Her reply came almost immediately.

'Why? Thinking of selling already?'

I replied, 'Just get me a number. I'm not in a rush.'

A voice message arrived a few seconds later.

"Play it cool."

I set my phone aside and rested a hand over my stomach. I was already four months along, which meant it would not be long before the pregnancy was no longer hidden.

Before then, I needed to make sure I had secured everything I was entitled to.

…

That night, Xavier did something unusual. He knocked on my door.

When I opened it, he stood outside holding a black credit card.

"For household expenses." He held it out to me. "The PIN is your birthday."

I took the card from him. "Thank you, Mr. Davis."

His brows pulled together slightly. "Call me Xavier."

I hesitated before answering, "Xavier."

Something in his expression softened. A moment later, he turned and walked away.

I closed the door and looked down at the black card in my hand.

For some reason, I almost laughed.

We had been married for two years, and for all that time, the PIN on the card Xavier gave me for household expenses had been Eloise's birthday.

Now, at last, he had changed it to mine. Not because I suddenly mattered more. Not because he had finally started caring about me as his wife.

Eloise was back now, and apparently, her birthday needed to be saved for someone else's card.