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Chapter 18

Author: Ellie💕
last update publish date: 2026-09-25 06:52:36

Aftermath

The door closed behind Nathan and the silence that followed felt louder than everything that had been said.

I stood in the middle of Xavier’s living room and tried to breathe. My hands were cold. My chest felt scraped raw. Nathan’s last words kept replaying in my head, hitting the exact place I had been trying to protect for weeks.

When he gets tired of you, don’t come back. There won’t be anything left to come back to.

Xavier didn’t speak right away. He locked the door, then walked o
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  • HIS SECRET BARGAIN    Chapter 38

    The Warning The message from Rebecca sat on my phone like a live wire. I read it again in the dark kitchen after Xavier finally went to bed. The apartment was quiet except for the low hum of the city through the glass. My thumb hovered over the screen. Xavier is not who he pretends to be with you. There are things from before Lila. Things from the years he was building everything. People who got hurt and stayed quiet because his reach was already too long. Be careful, Aria. The man you’re standing next to has a longer shadow than you think. I had deleted messages from Nathan. I had ignored the group-chat screenshots. I had told myself the gossip was noise. This one I could not delete. I saved Rebecca’s number under a neutral name and locked the phone. Sleep did not come. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the email about the sealed name, the notebook line about keeping the Kane signature off certain deals, the way Xavier’s face closed whenever I pushed too hard. The warning fit t

  • HIS SECRET BARGAIN    Chapter 37

    The Outside WorldThe first message came before I finished my coffee.Unknown number. A screenshot of a group chat I used to be part of. Old friends from the charity circuit. The kind of people who smiled at dinner parties and collected secrets like jewelry.The caption under the screenshot was short.Finally someone said it out loud. She left her husband for her best friend’s man and still wants sympathy.I stared at the screen until the words blurred. Then I locked the phone and set it face-down on the counter.Xavier walked into the kitchen a minute later. He took one look at my face and stopped.“What happened?”“Gossip,” I said. “The polite kind. The kind that spreads faster because everyone pretends they’re only concerned.”He picked up my phone without asking. I didn’t stop him. He read the message, jaw tightening, then set it back down.“Who sent it?”“I don’t know. Restricted number.”“Forward it to me.”“It won’t help.”“Do it anyway.”I did. Xavier’s expression didn’t chang

  • HIS SECRET BARGAIN    Chapter 36

    Jealousy & Possession“You opened it.”Xavier’s voice was quiet. Too quiet. He stood a few feet away, still in the clothes he had worn to the meeting, tie loosened, eyes locked on me like he was deciding whether to cross the room or stay where he was.I stayed on the couch. My phone sat face-down beside me. The deleted message from Nathan still felt hot in my palm even though it was gone.“I deleted it,” I said.“That’s not what I asked.”“I opened it. I read it. I almost answered. Then I deleted it. That’s the full truth.”Xavier’s jaw flexed. He took one step closer. The air in the living room changed. It always did when he got like this, focused, still, dangerous in a way that had nothing to do with volume.“Almost,” he repeated.“Yes.”“What stopped you?”“You.” The word came out harder than I meant. “The fact that I’m still here. The fact that answering him would have been a door I couldn’t close again.”Xavier laughed once. It sounded nothing like humor. “You sat here alone, lon

  • HIS SECRET BARGAIN    Chapter 35

    TemptationThe message was still on my phone when the apartment went quiet again.Xavier had left for another late meeting. He didn’t say where. He didn’t ask if I needed anything. He just took his keys, looked at me once across the living room, and walked out. The door closed with the same careful sound it had made for days.I sat on the couch with my knees drawn up and the screen glowing in my hand.Nathan’s words hadn’t changed.If the place you’re in right now is hurting you more than it’s holding you, you can tell me. You don’t owe me anything. I just needed you to know the door isn’t fully closed on my side. Not the legal one. The human one.I read them again. Then again. The sincerity in them felt more dangerous than any threat he had sent before. Threats I could fight. This quiet offer of understanding sat in the exact empty space Xavier and I had created between us.My thumb hovered over the reply field.I typed three words.I don’t know.I stared at them.The apartment felt

  • HIS SECRET BARGAIN    Chapter 34

    DistanceThe question sat in the room long after I asked it.Xavier didn’t answer. He stood there with the towel still around his waist and the laptop closed under his hand, and the silence became the answer. I left the study before either of us could make it worse.That night we slept in the same bed with a careful stretch of mattress between us. He didn’t reach for me. I didn’t move closer. The heat that usually lived under my skin when he was near felt muted, like someone had turned the volume down on everything that used to be easy.Morning came gray. Xavier was already dressed when I walked into the kitchen. Coffee was made. A cup sat waiting for me on the counter. Ordinary things. They felt like props.“I have meetings until six,” he said.“Alright.”“I’ll be back after.”“Okay.”The short answers were the only kind we had left. He looked at me like he wanted to say more and chose not to. Then he left.The apartment felt larger without him in it. I moved through the rooms witho

  • HIS SECRET BARGAIN    Chapter 33

    ConfrontationI was still standing in the study when Xavier came out of the shower.He walked in with a towel around his waist and stopped the second he saw my face. His eyes dropped to the open laptop, then back to me. The temperature in the room changed.“You went through my things,” he said.“You left it open.”“That is not an answer.”I turned the screen toward him. The email was still there. Clear. Final.Confirming the last assets under the previous identity have been moved. No remaining trail connects to Xavier Kane. As requested, the original name stays sealed.Xavier’s expression didn’t change, but something behind his eyes went cold and still.“How long were you standing here?” he asked.“Long enough.” My voice came out steady. I hated how steady. “You told me there was no other name. You looked me in the face and said it was only a legal entity. Paper. Nothing more.”“It is paper.”“Then why does the email call it a previous identity? Why does it say the original name stays

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