CHAPTER 4

I opened the door.

Alexander was standing there.

Alone.

His suit jacket was gone, his sleeves rolled to his forearms, and somehow that made him look more dangerous than he had downstairs.

He looked at me.

Then past me.

His eyes landed on my laptop.

I moved instinctively, blocking his view.

"What do you want?"

His mouth curved.

"You already know."

"No, I don't."

"Then why are you shaking?"

I wasn't.

At least, I refused to let him see that I was.

I crossed my arms.

"You shouldn't be upstairs."

"And you shouldn't be running a secret account."

My heart stopped.

For one horrible second, neither of us moved.

Then I laughed.

A nervous, brittle sound.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't."

He stepped into the room.

I immediately stepped backward.

"Get out."

He closed the door behind him.

Not locked.

Just closed.

"You've always been careful," he said.

My throat tightened.

"About what?"

"Your face."

I said nothing.

"Your name."

Nothing.

"Your university."

My heart began hammering.

He continued calmly.

"Your location. Your family. Everything that could connect the woman behind that screen to the woman standing in front of me."

I couldn't breathe.

"How?"

He smiled.

"That's the question you've been asking yourself all night."

I stared at him.

"You're him."

He didn't answer.

He didn't have to.

I knew.

The anonymous gifts.

The messages.

The strange familiarity.

The way he'd looked at my birthmark.

Alexander watched the realization spread across my face.

"Now you understand."

I backed away.

"You've been watching me."

"I've been supporting you."

"You've been spying on me."

"I've never forced you to do anything."

"That's not an answer."

"No," he said quietly. "It isn't."

I looked toward the door.

"I need you to leave."

"Why?"

"Because you're marrying my mother."

His expression didn't change.

"That doesn't answer my question."

I glared at him.

"What question?"

"Why are you afraid of me?"

I laughed bitterly.

"Because you know everything."

"Not everything."

"Enough."

He took another step toward me.

I held my ground.

"What do you want?"

He was silent for a moment.

Then he said,

"I wanted to know whether you would recognize me."

"And?"

"You didn't."

I looked away.

"Congratulations."

"But you recognized the truth eventually."

My eyes snapped back to his.

"Why did you marry my mother?"

His expression hardened.

"That's a question you should ask her."

"So there is a reason."

"There are always reasons."

"Does she know about me?"

"No."

Relief washed through me.

Then he added,

"Not yet."

My stomach dropped.

"What does that mean?"

"It means your secret is still yours."

"Unless?"

He looked directly into my eyes.

"Unless you give me a reason to tell her."

I felt something inside me break.

"You'd blackmail me?"

"I'd never call it that."

"What would you call it?"

He considered me.

"An arrangement."

I shook my head.

"You're disgusting."

"And yet you haven't asked me to leave again."

I hated that he was right.

He moved closer.

"I could expose you tonight."

My pulse raced.

"You wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because you're marrying my mother."

"Exactly."

He leaned against the edge of my desk.

"Imagine the scandal."

I said nothing.

"Imagine your mother finding out."

My eyes burned.

"Stop."

"Imagine your university finding out."

"Stop."

"Imagine every person you've spent months hiding from suddenly knowing exactly who you are."

"Stop!"

Silence filled the room.

He watched me.

Then, unexpectedly, his voice softened.

"I don't want to destroy you, Ava."

"Then what do you want?"

His eyes held mine.

For the first time, he didn't smile.

"You."

My breath caught.

The word hung between us.

I looked away.

"This is wrong."

"I know."

"You're marrying my mother."

"I know."

"You've been paying me."

"I know."

"And you knew who I was."

"I know."

I laughed shakily.

"You've thought about this."

His silence was answer enough.

I walked toward the window, trying to put distance between us.

I couldn't think.

My secret was exposed.

My mother's marriage was suddenly tangled in it.

And the one person with the power to destroy everything was standing inside my bedroom.

I turned around.

"Suppose I give you what you want."

His expression changed.

"What?"

I swallowed.

"You heard me."

He stared at me.

I forced myself not to look away.

"You want me to keep quiet. I want my secret protected."

He said nothing.

My voice trembled.

"So maybe we make a deal."

His eyes narrowed.

"Ava."

"I know what you're thinking."

"No, you don't."

"Then tell me."

He stepped closer.

I could hear my own heartbeat.

"You don't understand what you're offering."

"I understand exactly what I'm offering."

He stopped inches away from me.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then he quietly said,

"Don't make a decision tonight because you're afraid."

That caught me off guard.

I stared at him.

"You came here to threaten me."

"I came here to tell you that I know."

"That's not better."

"No."

His eyes dropped briefly before returning to mine.

"But if you ever choose me, Ava, I want you to choose me because you want me."

My chest tightened.

Before I could answer, footsteps sounded in the hallway.

My mother's voice followed.

"Alexander?"

He stepped away from me instantly.

The door opened.

My mother stood there.

Her eyes moved between us.

Then she smiled.

"Everything all right?"

Alexander looked at her.

Then at me.

"Everything is perfect."

My mother smiled.

"I'll see you downstairs."

She disappeared.

Alexander turned toward me.

At the door, he stopped.

Without looking back, he said quietly,

"Think carefully about what you're willing to sacrifice to keep your secret."

Then he left.

I stood frozen in the middle of my room.

A few seconds later, my laptop chimed.

I looked at the screen.

A new message had appeared from the anonymous account.

One sentence.

You still haven't told me what you really want.

I stared at it.

And for the first time, I realized something terrifying.

Alexander hadn't come upstairs to expose me.

He'd come upstairs to see what I would do when I knew he had the power to.