Chapter 6

The Talk

Nathan didn’t sit down.

He stayed standing by the counter, arms crossed, staring at me like he was trying to see straight through my skin. The cold coffee sat untouched between us. Morning light came through the window and made everything look sharper than it should have.

“I’m listening,” I said again.

My voice came out steady. I was proud of that.

Nathan let out a breath that sounded tired and angry at the same time. “You’ve been lying to me.”

“About what?”

“Don’t do that. Don’t play dumb.” He dragged a hand down his face. “The marks on your neck. The way you disappear. How you flinch when I touch you. Something is going on, Aria.”

I kept my hands flat on the table so he wouldn’t see them shake. Inside, everything felt tight. Anger sat right next to a strange, heavy sadness. I hated that the sadness was still there. I hated that part of me still cared that he looked hurt.

“You’re seeing things,” I said.

“Am I?” He stepped closer. “Then explain the bruises. Explain why you came home at dawn smelling like someone else’s soap. Explain why you can barely look at me.”

I lifted my eyes and met his. For a second the old version of me wanted to soften. The new version didn’t let it happen.

“You want explanations?” I asked quietly. “Fine. Let’s talk about the last eight months. Let’s talk about all the nights you came home late and went straight to the shower. Let’s talk about the business trips that never had receipts. Let’s talk about why you stopped reaching for me in bed long before any marks appeared on my neck.”

Nathan’s face changed. The anger didn’t disappear, but something else moved underneath it. Guilt. He was not a good enough liar to hide it completely.

“That’s different,” he said.

“Is it?”

“I was under pressure. Work—”

“Stop.” The word came out harder than I expected.

“I’m tired of the word work. It doesn’t explain everything.”

Silence filled the kitchen. I could hear the fridge humming. I could hear my own pulse in my ears. Part of me wanted to scream the truth at him. The bigger part of me wasn’t ready for the fallout yet. Once the truth was out, the bargain with Xavier would change. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that either.

Nathan pulled out the chair across from me and finally sat. He looked smaller somehow.

“Are you sleeping with someone?” he asked. His voice had gone quiet.

I held his gaze. “No.”

The lie sat heavy on my tongue. It tasted like metal.

He stared at me for a long time. I didn’t look away. Eventually he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“I don’t know what’s happening to us,” he muttered.

“Maybe you should think about your own choices before you start accusing me.”

That landed. I saw it. For a moment I felt a sharp, ugly satisfaction. Then the satisfaction turned into something closer to grief. This man had been my whole world once. Now we were just two people sitting in a kitchen full of lies.

Nathan stood up again. He grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair.

“I have a meeting,” he said. “We’ll finish this tonight.”

“Alright.”

He paused at the door like he wanted to say something else. Whatever it was, he swallowed it and left. The door clicked shut behind him.

I stayed at the table until my hands stopped trembling. Then I picked up my phone.

Aria: He’s gone. I’m coming over.

Xavier’s reply was almost instant.

Xavier: I’ll be waiting.

I didn’t bother changing. I just took my bag and left.

The drive to his building felt longer than usual. My mind kept replaying Nathan’s face when I turned the questions back on him. The guilt in his eyes. The way his voice had cracked. It should have made me feel better. It only made the knot in my chest tighter.

Xavier opened the door before I could knock. He took one look at me and stepped aside.

“What did he say?”

“He knows something is wrong.” I walked past him into the living room. “He saw the marks. He asked me straight if I’m sleeping with someone.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“I lied.”

Xavier closed the door and followed me. He didn’t reach for me right away. He just watched me with those calm gray eyes.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

The question caught me off guard. People didn’t usually ask me that. Not like they actually wanted the real answer.

“I feel like I’m coming apart,” I said. “And I hate that part of me still hurts for him.”

Xavier nodded slowly. “That’s normal.”

“Is it?” I let out a short, broken laugh. “Because it doesn’t feel normal. It feels weak.”

“It’s not weak to feel something for a person you built a life with. Even if that person destroyed it.”

I turned to face him fully. “Why are you being soft with me right now?”

“Because you look like you’re about to break.” He stepped closer. “And I don’t want you broken. Not like this.”

Something in my chest cracked open. I hated how much I needed those words. I hated that he was the only person who could say them and make them feel real.

I walked into his arms. He let me. His hand came up to the back of my head and held me there while I breathed against his shoulder. For a few minutes neither of us spoke. The quiet felt safer than any conversation.

Eventually I pulled back just enough to look at him.

“I turned it around on him,” I said. “I made him face his own lies. For a second I thought it would make me feel powerful. It just made me sad.”

Xavier’s thumb brushed my cheek. “Sad is allowed. So is anger. So is wanting to burn everything down.”

“Is that what we’re still doing?” I asked. “Burning everything down?”

His eyes stayed steady on mine. “That depends on you.”

I didn’t know how to answer that. The bargain had started as revenge. Somewhere along the way it had turned into the only place I could breathe. Admitting that out loud felt dangerous.

Xavier seemed to read the hesitation on my face. He leaned down and kissed me once, slow and deliberate. Not hungry. Not punishing. Just present.

When he pulled back, his expression had shifted into something sharper.

“I’m done being careful,” he said.

My pulse jumped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m tired of hiding. Tired of watching you go back to him. Tired of pretending this is still only about revenge.” His hand slid down to my waist. “Tonight I’m taking you somewhere we could be seen. If someone from our circle is there, so be it.”

Fear and something darker mixed in my stomach. “That’s risky.”

“I know.”

“Why now?”

“Because the longer we stay in the shadows, the more power they keep. And because I want every person who looks at you to know you’re already taken.”

The possessiveness in his voice sent heat down my spine. At the same time, a small voice in the back of my mind whispered that this was moving too fast. That I still didn’t know everything about him. That I was giving more of myself than I had planned.

I pushed the voice away.

“Where?” I asked.

Xavier’s mouth curved, cold and certain.

“You’ll see. Wear something that shows your neck. I want the marks visible.”

I stared at him. The old Aria would have argued. The woman I was becoming only felt the pull.

“Okay,” I whispered.

Xavier kissed me again, harder this time. When he finally let me go, my lips felt sensitive.

“Go home and get ready,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at eight. Tell him whatever you need to. Just be ready.”

I nodded.

At the door he caught my wrist one last time.

“Aria.”

I looked back.

“Once we walk into that place together, there’s no more pretending. Are you sure?”

The same question he had asked me the first night. This time the answer came easier.

“I’m sure.”

Something dark and satisfied moved through his eyes.

“Good,” he said. “Then tonight we stop hiding.”