Lucian

I knew something was wrong the moment Lexi walked into the office Monday morning. She moved differently, held herself like she was bracing for a blow. Her usual smile was nowhere to be found.

"Good morning," I said as she passed my office doorway.

"Morning, Mr. Cross." She didn't stop, didn't look at me directly.

Mr. Cross. She had never called me that.

Marcus appeared in my doorway minutes later. "Sir? You asked me to inform you if Miss Carter seems... distressed."

"And?"

"She's been sitting at her desk staring at her computer screen for ten minutes. She hasn't typed a single word."

Concern twisted in my gut. "Did something happen over the weekend?"

"I'm not sure, sir. But Rodriguez mentioned that Miss Laurent was asking questions about Miss Carter's whereabouts on Saturday."

Ice formed in my veins. "What kind of questions?"

"Where she lived, where she liked to spend her free time. He thought it was odd, given that Miss Laurent barely acknowledged Miss Carter's existence before the gala."

Giselle. I should have known.

I was already reaching for my phone when Marcus cleared his throat. "Sir? Perhaps a direct approach isn't wise. If Miss Laurent did speak with Miss Carter, confronting her about it might make things worse."

He was right, but every instinct I had was screaming at me to fix this, to find out what poison Giselle had poured in Lexi's ear and neutralize it.

Instead, I forced myself to wait. To watch. To hope that whatever damage had been done could be undone.

But as the day wore on, it became clear that something fundamental had shifted. Lexi was polite but distant, professional but cold. She answered my questions with single-word responses and avoided eye contact completely.

By Wednesday, I was ready to lose my mind.

"Lexi." I cornered her in the break room during lunch. "We need to talk."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cross, but I have a conference call in five minutes."

"It's Lucian. And no, you don't. I checked your calendar."

She flinched slightly. "I'd prefer to keep things professional."

"Professional?" I stepped closer, noting the way she immediately stepped back. "What happened? What changed?"

"Nothing changed. This is how things should have been from the beginning."

"Bullshit." The word came out harsher than I intended. "Last week you were... we were..."

"We were what?" Her green eyes flashed with something that looked like pain. "What exactly were we, Lucian?"

The question hung in the air between us. Because the truth was, I didn't know. We weren't dating. We weren't sleeping together. We weren't even really friends, not in any traditional sense.

But we were something. Something that mattered, something that felt important and real and worth fighting for.

"I don't know," I admitted quietly. "But I know it was more than this."

"Was it? Or was I just another charity case for you to fix?"

The words hit me like a physical blow. "Is that really what you think?"

"I think you're a good man who saw someone struggling and wanted to help. And I think I mistook that kindness for something else."

"Lexi…"

"I need to get back to work." She moved toward the door, then paused. "Oh, and I'll be moving out of your house.”

She was gone before I could respond, leaving me standing alone in the break room with the taste of regret bitter on my tongue.

That evening, I found myself in front of Giselle's apartment building. The doorman recognized me and waved me up without question.

"Lucian!" Giselle opened the door with a bright smile that immediately faltered when she saw my expression. "What a lovely surprise."

"Cut the act, Giselle. What did you say to her?"

"To whom?" But her eyes gave her away. She knew exactly who I meant.

"To Lexi. What poison did you pour in her ear?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She turned and walked into her living room, her movements casual, unconcerned. "Would you like a drink?"

"I want the truth."

"The truth?" She poured herself a glass of wine, not offering me one. "The truth is that I saved you from making a terrible mistake."

"By lying to her? By manipulating her?"

"By telling her exactly what her life would be like if she stayed with you." Giselle's voice was calm, matter-of-fact. "The media attention, the scrutiny, the constant judgment. Do you really think she could handle that?"

"That should have been her choice to make."

"Should it? Really?" She took a sip of wine. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like she made the smart choice. She's protecting herself, and she's protecting you."

"From what?"

"From the scandal that would destroy both of you." Giselle set down her glass and moved closer. "Lucian, I've known you since we were children. I know you think you care about this girl, but you don't really know her. You don't know what she wants, what she needs. You only know that she's different from the woman you usually date."

"I know enough."

"Do you? Do you know that she's been sending money to her parents every month since she started working for you? Do you know that her father lost his job six months ago and they're behind on their mortgage?" She watched my expression change. "I thought not."

I smiled. Giselle was a bitch. Lexi's mother was dead and her father, nowhere to be found.

"She didn't tell you because she was ashamed," Giselle continued. "Because she knew how it would look. Poor girl, desperate for money, attaches herself to a billionaire. The media would have a field day."

I watched her silently, allowing her to enjoy her lies.

"Isn't it? Lucian, be honest with yourself. If you really cared about her, wouldn't you want what's best for her? And what's best for her is a clean break. A chance to build her own life without being defined as Lucian Cross's charity case. I can see you're thinking about it," Giselle said softly. "That's good. That means you really do care about her."

"Don't." My voice came out rough. "Don't pretend this is about her. This is about you getting what you want."

"What I want is what's best for everyone involved." She reached up and touched my face gently. "We make sense, Lucian. We always have. Our families, our businesses, our lives, they fit together perfectly."

I caught her wrist and moved her hand away. "We don't make sense, Giselle. We never have. And if you ever manipulate someone I care about again, I'll destroy you." My tone dropped.

Her mask slipped for just a moment, showing the calculation underneath. "You'll thank me for this someday."

"No," I said quietly. "I won't. And next time, do a proper research before talking.”

I left her there, standing in her perfect apartment with her perfect life, and drove home to my empty penthouse. The silence felt heavier than usual, oppressive in a way it hadn't been before Lexi had filled it with her presence.

Maybe Giselle was right. Maybe I was being selfish.