Tense a Night

“I will accept your offer to join your company. I will submit my resignation, but clearly it will take time, about a month for the process. Um, could you make it easier?” she asked Darwis.

“Of course. I’ll ask someone to speed up your paperwork. And yes, Alexi, my company is yours too because you are my wife’s daughter.” Darwis nodded in satisfaction.

“Thank you. I want to rest.” After the tense dinner, Alexi sat with her parents in the living room, while Hagia and Austin went upstairs.

“Take your time. When you feel better, just tell me and I’ll introduce you to our company,” Darwis said with a relieved smile. His muscular arm wrapped around his wife, pleased with Alexi’s decision.

Climbing the stairs toward her room, Alexi passed through darkness with no lights on. A room rarely used, as if it was proof that she was not truly part of the family. She and her mother were once strangers who had suddenly become members of a conglomerate family after her mother married Darwis Midaz.

After showering, still in a white bathrobe with wet hair, she stepped onto the balcony, letting her hair dry naturally.

Her gaze drifted as she replayed everything she had been through. Arron’s treatment, and now being trapped in a relationship with her stepbrother. “I hope he forgets what happened.” She looked out at the vast yard surrounding the house.

“Am I going to become a Midaz slave? This isn’t funny,” she muttered. She wanted a life without her stepfather’s shadow, but that was difficult, because she herself had asked to join his company.

She turned when she heard a window open from the next room. Her brows lifted when she saw Austin stepping out of Hagia’s room, his shoulders rising and falling, his breath heavy. “Did you just have hot sex?” she guessed.

Austin curved his lips into a grin and walked to the edge of the balcony to get closer to her. “If it was with you, girl.”

“Hissh. You maniac.” Alexi shuddered. Fragments of memory flooded her mind. The tearing sensation at her core throbbed painfully. She could not recall clearly how Austin had entered her, but from the pain alone she guessed he was skilled at pleasing women. She felt a sting of jealousy toward Hagia, who would get to see and feel Austin’s masculinity every day.

“Are you cold? Want me to warm you up?” Without warning, Austin swung his body and crossed the two-meter gap to Alexi’s balcony.

“Austin, what are you doing?” Alexi stepped back as he approached, breathing hard. She glanced behind him, afraid Hagia might see him. “Are you crazy? What if Hagia comes out?”

Ignoring her, Austin moved closer and touched the bandage on her forehead. “What happened?”

Alexi swatted his hand away and retreated. “Get out of here.” She turned, fear tightening her chest at the thought of Hagia stepping outside and seeing them. What would her sister think?

Austin grabbed her shoulders and pushed her inside the room.

“Get out, Austin.” Alexi glared at him, her eyes darting between him and the balcony window.

“Who did this to you?”

“None of your business,” Alexi snapped, still trying to shake his grip.

“Should I tell them that we slept together, spent the night together?”

“Are you threatening me?” Alexi lifted her chin, meeting his eyes and the menace in his voice.

“And I’m sure they’ll believe me more than you. They’ll think you’re cheap. Or is that the truth?” Austin remembered being left after they slept together, and his anger surged. “Do you think I’m a gigolo? You get what you want and then walk away?”

“Yeah, isn’t that what you are?” Alexi shoved him, forcing him back. “You already have a fiancée but you sleep with another woman. What’s the difference? All men are the same.”

She turned and walked to the edge of the bed. “Go back to your place, Austin. Forget what happened between us.”

“That easy?”

Alexi tilted her face away, not looking back. “Yes. That easy.”

Her decision was not easy for Austin to accept. “What happened to your head?”

“Answer me.” Austin stepped in and closed the window behind him. “Who hurt you?”

“It’s not important.”

“It’s important to me.” His tone sharpened.

“You’re Hagia’s future husband.”

The words struck like a slap.

“Don’t use Hagia to dodge me,” Austin hissed. “I didn’t leave you. You ran.” His fists clenched, muscles straining beneath his skin.

Silence spread. The wall clock ticked like a judge passing sentence.

Austin drew a breath. “That bandage. Tell me now.”

Alexi hesitated. “It’s my problem.”

“Alexi.”

“I fell.”

“You’re lying.”

She glared at him. “Why do you care?”

“Because I touched you,” Austin said. “And I can’t pretend it meant nothing.”

Alexi smiled faintly. “You’re good with words.”

“I’m honest. You know you were a virgin when I touched you.” He leaned in, whispering in her ear. “And I was the first man to touch you.”

Alexi’s body prickled, his warm breath brushing her skin. She remembered how he had touched her. A bitter smile formed on her lips. “Your honesty came too late.”

Austin stepped closer, the distance between them barely a span. “If I’m late, don’t make me lose the chance completely.”

“What chance?” Alexi whispered. “To make me your secret?”

Austin stiffened. “I’m not making you a secret.”

“But I’m still hidden,” Alexi replied softly, her smile tinged with pain.

Austin ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Then his gaze softened. “Tell me what this bandage is from.”

Alexi closed her eyes. “Don’t force me.”

“I will,” Austin said. “Because if someone touched you roughly…”

“Enough.” Alexi raised her hand. “Go. This will only make things more complicated.”

“No.” Austin shook his head. “I’m not leaving until you’re honest.”

Alexi opened her eyes. “If I’m honest, will you stop?”

“No.” He answered quickly. He touched her chin, his jaw tightening when he saw the white cloth stained with red. He brushed it gently. “If your injury has anything to do with me…”

“Stop,” Alexi cut in. “You’ve already made my life chaotic enough.”

Austin stepped closer. “Tell me one thing. After that night, do you regret it?”

Alexi fell silent for a long moment. Then she lifted her face and said, “Very much. I regret meeting you that night, even more that something happened that I never wanted.”

“You’re not good at lying, Lex. But I don’t regret it.” Austin grabbed her waist and pulled her into an embrace. He captured her lips, kissing her greedily and insistently.

Outside, footsteps approached down the hallway.

Alexi shoved Austin away, her heart pounding as she glanced toward the door. “Someone’s coming.”

Her body went rigid. “You have to go.”

Austin hesitated, then moved toward the window. Before climbing out, he turned back. “You still haven’t answered about your injury.”

Alexi opened her mouth, but the bedroom door began to creak open. “Austin,” she whispered urgently. “Go.”

The door handle was pressed from outside. Alexi shook her head slightly, her eyes darting wildly as a clear voice called out.

“Alexi.”