LOGINXAVIER I smelled the burning before I even opened my eyes.Smoke. Faint but unmistakable. The acrid kind that meant something had been left on the heat for too long.I sat up in bed, already reaching for my phone out of habit, then stopped. The clock read 7:14. Laura's side was empty. The sheets were still warm.I pulled on a shirt and followed the smell to the kitchen.She was standing at the stove with her back turned to me, spatula in hand, shoulders squared with the determined energy of someone who refused to admit defeat. The pan in front of her was doing something questionable. There was toast on the counter that had gone well past golden and was a crusty black at the edges.I leaned against the doorframe and watched her.She hadn't heard me come in. She was muttering something under her breath, nudging the contents of the pan like that might somehow fix whatever had already happened to them. Her hair was loose and she was wearing my old Princeton t-shirt that hit her mid-thigh
LAURA “I found someone complicated. Someone damaged by his upbringing but trying to be better. Someone who makes mistakes but owns them. Someone who—” My voice softened. “Someone I fell in love with, even though that wasn’t part of the original plan.”Sarah’s expression was thoughtful. “Some people would say you’re being manipulated. That Xavier Blackwell is a powerful man who knows how to make people believe they matter to him.”That stung, but I kept my composure.“Some people haven’t lived my life,” I said firmly. “I grew up in an orphanage. I was adopted by a family who treated me like an obligation rather than a daughter. I’ve spent my entire life learning to recognize when people are using me versus when they actually care.”I looked directly at the camera.“I’m not going to pretend our marriage started conventionally. But I’m also not going to let people who don’t know me tell me what I feel. I know my own heart. And I know Xavier’s.”Sarah asked about my lineage, my biologica
LAURA After Xavier’s promise to pamper me, I spent the rest of the evening being absolutely spoiled. A private spa came to the penthouse—actual professionals with massage tables and natural oils, hot stones and everything. I was genuinely impressed. I’d never experienced a masseuse before, talk less of all this. They set up in one of the guest rooms and for two hours straight, I was kneaded and buffed and moisturized until I felt like a completely new person. When I emerged, wrapped in a fluffy robe and feeling boneless with relaxation, Xavier was in the kitchen. Cooking. Or attempting to cook, at least. His back was turned to me, his black shirt clinging just enough to emphasize his broad shoulders and lean frame. He was so immersed in what he was doing he didn’t even notice me standing there. His eyebrows drew together in concentration as he sprinkled paprika into whatever he was making. What a sight this was. “What are you doing?” I asked as I moved closer, peeki
LAURA And just like that, my brain went into autodrive. My world as I knew it was tilting against its axis. “What do you mean by—” “This is not the proper place to talk,” he cut in, his voice low and careful. “I’ll drop the time and location of where you can meet me so we can talk. I know you have many questions, and I’ll answer all of them then.” The phone clicked before I could even respond. I slowly looked back at it in bewilderment, as if it had bitten me. “Laura?” Xavier called out, his face written in pure concern at my reaction. “Laura, who was that?” “My… my brother,” I whispered in disbelief. “I have a brother?” My vision suddenly blurred, my head spinning, and just before my knees gave out, Xavier laid his hands on my shoulders, settling me down against the sofa. My hand went to my throat as nausea curled in my stomach. How did I suddenly have a brother I knew nothing about? This entire time? Or was it simply a spam call? But it didn’t sound like one. The v
LAURA The first thing I felt was the cold, not the kind that comes from an open window, but the hollow, the whole long space between beside me where Xavier hit should have been. I reached out, my palm hitting rumpled silk sheets instead of warm skin, and the sinking feeling in my stomach took root before I even opened my eyes. The silence of the room was too deceptive. Beyond the heavy oak door, the world was already intruding. I didn't hear the man who had whispered promises to me under the stars just hours ago. I heard the CEO, the version of Xavier Blackwell who moved pieces on a chessboard with a voice like a sharpened flint, low, clipped, and dangerous. It was his crisis management tone, the sound of a man who was currently burning bridges to save an empire. I didn't reach for my silk robe. Instead, I stood and pulled his discarded dress shirt off the armchair. I practically drowned in it as it fell to my mid-thigh, the fabric still swelling of expensive sandalwood
LAURA I watched him act so emotional towards me, and that was all I needed from him. We both ate slowly, savoring both the food and the conversation. Xavier started a discussion as he ate slowly too. “I know I once had a dream,” he said. I smiled supportively. I wanted everything. This was what I always wanted for him. From him, he was truthful, telling me how he felt, telling me how everything was going for him. And that was what was important at this moment before the mafia consumed my life. “I wanted to be an architect once,” he said, and my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. “Really? You? An architect? I can't even imagine it at this point.” “Yeah, yeah, I wanted to be. I wanted to design buildings that would outlast me,” he said, then ended it with a chuckle. I stayed quiet, also knowing what he meant. He wanted us to share our dreams, what we thought about each other. And I wasn't going to stop at any moment. “I too had a fantasy—I'll call it—about opening
LAURA “Ughh,” I groaned as I tried to move my limbs but it was no use. Everything hurt.Pain was the first thing I registered as consciousness slowly crept back in—a throbbing sensation that radiated from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. As my eyes slowly opened, my vision swam, blurry
XAVIER “Right this way sir,” the chauffeur gestured to the elevator and I gave him a slight nod before entering.When the metal doors shifted to a close, I released a breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding.Tonight, I was meeting with the heads of the other families in Chicago at the China tw
LAURAI blinked slowly as I took in the view through the floor-to-ceiling window of the living room.It was early in the morning, the sun was just beginning to stretch across the sky, pale gold bleeding into blues. I wrapped my robe tighter around me and held onto the coffee I had made for myself.
LAURAI looked out of the window at the passing buildings as we drove at high speed. The car was relatively silent despite there being four people in it.The driver, Juniper at the front seat, and of course my lovely soon-to-be husband right next to me. The silence was suffocating.It wasn’t helpi







