Do you love me?

Alex’s POV

When we arrived around Evelyn’s district, I parked the car and took out my phone. My thumb hovered over the screen for a short while as  I searched for Evelyn’s contact. When I found it, I called her.

Two rings and the call was answered.

“Miss Evelyn?” I called calmly . “The… escort—he’s in the villa district. When will you be back home?”

There was a short pause then her voice came “Not tonight, Alex. I have other things to finish.”

She had the efficiency of a woman who never wasted words—always direct, never circling. I was still crafting a polite reply, something about whether I should have the escort wait or reschedule, but she had already hung up.

The call cut, leaving only silence in the car. I stared at the dead screen longer than necessary, the seconds stretching thin.

No one knew more about his affairs than I did. Beyond business—mining operations, logistics, contracts—the only matter left was his personal life. And that always circled back to Wyatt. His estranged brother.

Of course, besides me, I knew Mr. Ben himself was keenly aware of this too.

The leather creaked softly as Ben shifted in the back seat. He didn’t speak at first. He simply watched, his gaze steady, unreadable.

“Should I call her back?” I blurted finally, clinging to protocol as if it were a shield. “Maybe… ask if she wants me to reschedule?” The suggestion was more hope than plan. My voice sounded smaller than I intended.

Ben’s eyes didn’t flicker. His tone was flat. “No. I’ll go to her myself.”

My blood ran cold. My grip on the phone turned rigid. “What? Sir, no—please, you can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked

Panic shot through me faster than reason. “If you go—if you show up like this—Miss Evelyn will know. She’ll see right through me.”

The words tumbled out, desperate. “If she finds out I’m your inside man—your mole—she’ll erupt. Fire me, humiliate me, make me regret everything. She notices everything. One unusual move, and she’ll connect me to you.”

Ben said nothing. His jaw tightened, the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth, but his silence only made me nervous. He opened the door, stepped out of the car, calm as ever.

I scrambled after him. “Sir, listen to me—if you go yourself, she’ll know you planted me. Do you understand what that means? You’ll lose whatever chance you’re building with her.”

“Wasn’t she divorced with her husband? Are they going to spend tonight together?”

For the first time, he turned, meeting my eyes. The look that flashed across his face lasted less than a second, but it was enough. It wasn’t just determination—it was something much stronger.

Jealousy.

The realization hit me like ice water. Mr. Ben—the man I had known for discipline, for cold restraint—wasn’t acting out of strategy. He was acting because of her. Because Miss Evelyn had left him hanging after the banquet, likely to spend the night with her ex-husband.

And now he couldn’t stand it.

He didn’t respond to me, he just left.

If Ben decided to go to her—if she put together the wrong pieces—she’ll know I was the one who arranged Ben with her that night, and that I worked for Ben too. She’d never trust me afterwards, but that wasn’t the thing I feared the most.

For the time I had spent with Evelyn, I knew she was smart, so her payback would hit me when I least expected it.

I hoped Ben would remain rational.

Evelyn’s POV

After I’d hung up the call, the car felt too still. The engine’s hum filling the silence between Wyatt and me.

Wyatt watched me from the corner of his eyes, with a look that always read as an accusation before anything else.

“Who was that?” he asked, voice deceptively casual.

“Alex,” I said, impatient. “My assistant.”

His mouth pressed into a thin line. He didn’t believe me. He never did. At least I knew something hadn’t changed about him.

He tilted his head, challenging. “Your assistant? That guy who is a know it all?”

“I’m not interested in this line of interrogation,” I snapped, tired. I wasn’t interested in questions about my personal endeavors.

My voice stayed calm and controlled. “Remmeber, we agreed to this. We agreed to end things cleanly. Are you going to keep acting like we’re… what? Back together? Do you want to make this personal?”

He bristled. “I’m not making it personal. I’m trying to understand why you hang up on him after only three seconds and then act like he wasn’t one of your…” he paused as he slowed to a stop in front of my house

“What do you have to hide?” he asked

“I have nothing to hide, Wyatt. And even if I did, it would be none of your business what I do.” I turned my face away,  “So when you act like this—pushing and probing—do you realize what that makes me think?”

He leaned in and asked “What does it make you think?”

I could have said I thought he was vindictive, petty, that he wanted to hurt me every way he could, so that I’d stay dependent to him and only him. I could have said his move to strip the mines was a low blow.

“You’re making me wonder if you’ve… actually fallen for me,” I said. “Do you love me, Wyatt? Do you—really—love me?”

The question landed and hung like a live wire. I watched him for the reaction, for his response. He looked as if I’d knocked the air out of his lungs. He opened his mouth, closed it. For a moment, he was speechless, lacking a response.

I opened the door. The night air hit me as I stepped out before he could gather himself.

“Come find me when you’re ready to discuss our professional matters properly,” I said, deliberate and cold. Then I closed the door behind me and walked away.