ログインXAVIER I didn’t get home until 4am in the morning.Exhausted didn’t even begin to cut it. I was running on zero sleep, my patience stretched out to nothing, and my entire body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.The warehouse situation had turned out to be a complex waste of time—one of my newer guys had gotten paranoid over absolutely nothing, going on about moving shadows and convinced we had intruders when it was just the building settling.Marcus should have handled the situation because he was mainly responsible for this sector, but he had other things on his hands to handle.He was keeping a close eye on Alexie and if I was being completely honest, that’s all I needed him to do.By the time I’d gotten there and personally verified that everything was fine—no threats, no break-ins, nothing worth the emergency call that had pulled me away from Laura—it was past 2am. I’d crashed at one of my safe houses nearby rather than making the long drive back to the penthouse. It had s
LAURA That evening, I heard Xavier’s key in the lock around 8:30 PM.I’d been sitting on the couch for the past hour pretending to read a book, the same page staring back at me because I couldn’t focus on a single word. Every sound in the penthouse made me jump, thinking it was him.And now he was finally here.Xavier walked in looking exhausted—his tie loosened, his slightly tussled from running his hands through them, dark circles under his eyes that told the day had been as brutal for him as it had been for me.He stopped in his tracks when he saw me on the couch, something flickering across his face. “You’re still up?” He asked, his voice dripping with concern.“Can we talk?” The words came out smaller than I intended, my voice betraying all the vulnerability I’d been trying to hide.Xavier studied me for a long moment, then nodded. He set his jacket and briefcase down and came to sit beside me on the couch, leaving just enough space between us that we weren’t touching.The di
LAURA I didn’t even give Xavier the chance to say another word. I was already out the door. I couldn’t stand being in that room for another second.Feeling like the complete idiot I probably looked like.Vanessa Whitmore was everything I wasn’t, and seeing that—live and direct—burned something inside me.She was polished, confident, fluent in business talk. Completely at ease in Xavier’s world, while I was just—I was just me.I could barely hold my own against her.Those lifeless blue eyes saw right through my façade, like she already knew I wasn’t worthy. That I didn’t stand a single chance against her. That I was nothing more than an imposter in a life that could never be mine.The way Vanessa looked at Xavier killed me even more—the familiarity in it. That stupid, syrupy tone she used with him. That devious smile of hers.For a split second, I felt like nothing—like an intruder in my own marriage. And I hated every single moment of it.I didn’t realize when I started running inst
XAVIER “Do you know how I felt ambushed by those reporters?” She asked and I could see her fingers trembling. “I stood in front of them and I told them I was lucky to be your wife,” she said quietly. “I defended you and our marriage without a single ounce of hesitation. Can you say the same for me?” My eyes widened at the question. “Can you honestly say that you’d defend me the same way?” Laura continued, her voice steady despite the tears now staining her cheeks. “Or am I still just the contract you had to sign to get what you wanted?” The question hung in the air between us, heavy and devastating. And I realized with growing horror that Laura didn’t actually know how I felt. We’d slept together, yes. I held her at night, whispered things in the dark that I could barely admit to myself. But I’d never actually said the words out loud. I never made it clear once that this stopped being about the contract a long time ago. That somewhere between her jumping out of a movi
XAVIER Laura turned to face me, and my heart plunged to the very depths of my stomach. Her expression was broken, clouded with hurt and it killed me knowing I was the one who made her feel this way.“Nothing to do with us?” She laughed, but I knew it was nothing close to a joyful one. “Xavier, everything about your business is entangled with us. Our marriage exists because of your business. You came for me when I was kidnapped because I’m connected to your world now, because Alexei saw me as leverage against you.”She took a step toward me, her eyes blazing.“You can’t keep some parts of your life separate and locked away and expect me to just be fine and accept it. Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after—”She stopped, her voice cracking slightly.“Not after what we did,” she finished quietly.“That’s different,” I said, but even I could hear how dumb and insensitive that sounded.Why was I like this? Why couldn’t I just put my pride aside and explain things like a
XAVIER The elevator ride to my office was suffocatingly silent.As though my day couldn’t have gotten any worse, Laura just had to show up to my office at the worst time possible.She stood on the opposite side of the car, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, her eyes fixed on the floor numbers as they climbed. She wouldn’t look at me, and she certainly wouldn’t acknowledge my presence. I could practically feel the hurt radiating off her in waves.I wanted to explain. I wanted to tell her that Vanessa being brought onto the legal team wasn’t my decision—it was the board’s idea, their way of adding “oversight” because they didn’t trust my judgment right now. Another move by Donnelly to undermine me. To surround me with people loyal to him instead of me which—I couldn’t really complain, could I?I did just prove him right by leaving an important board meeting because of Laura and I would do it over and over and over again.That’s how much I loved her now.That’s how much she
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
LAURA“Laura, please.” He reached for my arm and I jerked away. “You don’t understand what this will do to us, to Jennifer. She’s your sister—”“Foster sister, you mean.” I said coldly. “And she made it very clear that she wants nothing to do with me.”“Because you stole her life!” Alex’s voice ros
XAVIERI spent the next six hours making calls, pulling favors, and watching surveillance footage until my eyes burned. Laura stayed in the guest room, too shaken to talk, and I didn’t push her. She needed time to process, and honestly, I needed space to think.The only information I had was that
XAVIERI followed Laura back up to the penthouse, watching her shoulders tremble slightly with leftover tears she was trying to hide. The elevator ride was silent except for her occasional sniffles, and I found myself painfully aware of how uncomfortable I was with the whole situation.Emotions we







