Chapter 19: Collateral

RAYA

The cabin of the jet was quiet, save for the steady, low hum of the engines as we crossed back into local airspace.

Sixteen hours ago, I was walking along a warm beach in Singapore with wet hair, watching the city lights flicker across the water. Now, the tropical warmth felt like a distant dream, replaced by the cool, artificial air of the private cabin and the heavy reality waiting for us back home.

Across the leather aisle, Xavier was back in his dark suit. His jacket was unbuttoned, his tie pulled straight, his face set in that familiar, unreadable stone as he reviewed files on a tablet.

He hadn't raised his voice once since Nadia's call. He hadn't paced. When things went wrong, Xavier didn't explode. He went quieter instead, colder, harder to read.

I stood up, stepping across the aisle, and set a fresh glass of water on his table. "You've been reading the same page for twenty minutes."

Xavier didn't jump. His eyes rose slowly from the screen to meet mine. The harshness in his expression didn't vanish, but it dulled a fraction, the subtle shift he only ever seemed to make when I was standing directly in front of him.

"It's the preliminary assessment," he said, his voice flat, gravelly from the long flight. "The West District site handles forty percent of our domestic transfers. A fire there stalls our quarterly timeline."

"Do they know what caused it?" I asked, resting my hand against the back of the empty leather chair beside him.

"Not yet." He reached out, his fingers wrapping briefly around my wrist, a steady, deliberate touch that grounded me before he let his hand fall back to the table. "Nadia's meeting us at the hangar."

I looked down at him, taking in the faint shadow of stubble along his jaw, the rigid line of his shoulders. Whatever this fire actually cost him, he wasn't going to let it show on his face.

"You don't have to shut me out of it," I said softly, holding his gaze. "I know how my family operates, Xavier. If this is connected to Sinclair Gems—"

"I don't shut people out, Raya." His voice lost some of its edge for just a moment, something almost gentle sitting underneath the words before the certainty came back over it. "I manage the threat. That's different. You don't need to carry this one."

"I'm the reason they're looking at you."

His jaw set. He didn't offer a reassuring smile, but his eyes stayed on mine a beat longer than the sentence required.

"You are my wife," he said, quieter than before. "Whatever comes with that, I handle. Sit down. We're landing."

We touched down in Verimont just as dawn was breaking through a light, misty rain.

The moment the cabin door opened, the sharp morning chill hit us. A black sedan idled on the tarmac near the stairs, hazard lights flashing against the wet pavement.

Xavier stepped out first, extending a hand to steady me as I walked down the slick metal steps. His grip stayed firm until my feet were planted on the ground, then he guided me into the back seat.

Nadia was already in the front passenger seat, turning around with a tablet as the car pulled away.

"The fire chief's keeping the site cordoned off," she said. "Terminal 4's main storage bay is gutted. The electrical grid for the western block is down."

"And the cause?" Xavier asked, settling back beside me, close enough that his shoulder brushed mine with every turn the car took.

"An accelerant was found near the breaker box." Nadia's eyes flicked toward me in the rearview mirror. "Set intentionally. The chief's keeping that off the official report for now, but the timing isn't a coincidence. It happened three hours after our filing against Sinclair Gems went public."

A cold, heavy knot formed in the pit of my stomach.

My family. Victor couldn't touch Xavier in a courtroom, so he was hitting the infrastructure instead. Burning something real to prove a point, that tying himself to me was going to cost him.

I looked at Xavier. His face had gone completely still, his profile carved out of stone as he watched the rain streak the window.

How long before he decides I'm not worth the collateral damage?

The thought hit like ice water. He'd married me for leverage. If my family started burning his assets to the ground one at a time, at some point the math would stop working in my favor.

My phone buzzed in my lap before I could sink any further into it.

Not a notification. A text from an unlisted number.

My fingers weren't quite steady as I unlocked the screen.

A small taste of what happens when you play house with Locke Holdings, Raya. Tell your husband to drop the injunction and release the Sinclair assets by Friday, or the next fire won't be at a warehouse. He'll cut you loose the moment your debt exceeds your value. Come home before he drops you himself.

My breath caught. My pulse slammed against my ribs hard enough to make me lightheaded.

Victor knew exactly where to strike, and he hadn't bothered sending this to Xavier, because he knew Xavier would bury it and handle it quietly. He'd sent it to me instead, to make sure I understood exactly what I was to him now. A liability with a price tag.

"Raya."

Xavier's voice cut through it.

I flinched, tried to dim the screen, but he was already looking at my hands. He didn't ask. He reached over and took the phone straight from my grip.

I watched his face while he read it.

I expected annoyance, maybe a flicker of hesitation, something that said this is getting complicated. Instead his expression went completely blank, and the temperature in the car seemed to drop several degrees in a single second. He turned the screen off and set the phone face down on the armrest between us.

"Xavier." My voice was barely a whisper. "He's going to keep hitting your distribution lines. He wants you to drop the agreement. He wants me back in Verimont, unprotected."

He turned his head, his eyes finding mine. There was no hesitation in them, no second-guessing, just something cold and absolute.

"Your family thinks they're threatening me," he said, quiet, flat, lethal.

He reached out, his hand settling at the back of my neck, thumb resting against my jaw, holding me steady.

"They think if they burn enough buildings, I'll hand you back to save the balance sheet." His gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second before returning to my eyes. "They don't know me very well."

"Xavier, it's millions of dollars in damage—"

"I have billions." His fingers tightened gently, grounding rather than gripping. "They can burn ten more warehouses. It changes nothing. You're staying exactly where you are."

He let go of my neck and rested his hand flat over mine in my lap instead, squeezing once.

"Nadia," he said, eyes finding the mirror.

"Yes, Xavier?"

"Double the security detail at the suite. Tell legal to expedite the asset seizure on Sinclair Gems." His voice didn't waver. "We're not waiting until Friday. We move today."