All Chapters of HIS SECRET BARGAIN : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

DamageThe car door slammed harder than it needed to.I sat in the passenger seat with my arms wrapped around myself and stared straight ahead. Xavier started the engine without a word. The Ridgewood house disappeared behind us in the side mirror. Neither of us spoke for the first ten minutes. The only sound was the low growl of the engine and the occasional click of the turn signal.My mind would not shut up.I kept seeing Lila’s face when she cried. I kept hearing Nathan’s voice when he asked what would be left when the anger burned out. I kept feeling the exact moment the four of us stopped being people and became wreckage.Xavier glanced at me once. “Breathe.”“Don’t.”“You’re spiraling.”“I said don’t.”He didn’t push again. He just drove. The city lights blurred past the window in long streaks of white and red. My hands were cold. My chest felt tight, like someone had wrapped wire around my ribs and kept pulling.By the time we reached the underground garage of his building I wa

The DistanceThe silence in the penthouse had weight.I stayed on my side of the bed that night. Xavier stayed on his. We didn’t touch. We didn’t speak more than necessary. The discovery from earlier sat between us like a third person who refused to leave the room.He had known for months.He had watched.He had waited until I was already breaking before he ever showed me the photos.Every time I closed my eyes I saw the timestamps on those files. Five months. Almost six. All that time I had been sleeping next to Nathan, believing the soft lies, while Xavier collected proof and calculated the perfect moment to step in.Morning came gray and quiet. I got up first. Showered. Dressed in my own clothes for once. When I walked into the kitchen Xavier was already there, black coffee in hand, watching me over the rim of the cup.“You’re still angry,” he said.“I’m past angry.”He set the cup down. “Then what are you?”“Tired of finding out pieces of you after the fact.”Xavier was quiet for

The DecisionThe words sat on my tongue and refused to move.Xavier stood in front of me, waiting. The penthouse felt too quiet. My phone had stopped buzzing, but the silence it left behind was worse. Nathan’s last messages were still there, unread. Lila’s quiet poison was still circulating outside these walls. And the man in front of me had just demanded an answer I wasn’t sure I knew how to give.“Decide,” he had said.I looked at him. At the cold gray eyes that rarely softened. At the mouth that had told me hard truths and kept softer ones locked away. At the hands that had ruined me for anyone else’s touch. Everything we had done sat between us, every night, every mark, every calculated move, every moment I had chosen to come back even after I knew better.My chest felt tight.“I hate that you waited,” I said. My voice came out rough. “I hate that you watched for months while I kept believing the lies. I hate that I found out in pieces instead of from your mouth.”Xavier didn’t mo

Lila’s Next MoveXavier still hadn’t come back from the study.I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the closed door. The message that had wiped the warmth from his face sat between us like a live wire. He had walked out without explanation. The new terms we had just agreed to felt thinner already.My phone buzzed in my hand.I looked down.Lila.I almost deleted it. Then I opened it.Lila: Can we talk? Just five minutes. No fighting. Please.I stared at the screen. Every instinct told me to ignore it. The last time she had reached out she had cried and threatened in the same breath. Soft first. Sharp second.Another message came in.Lila: I’m not calling to attack you. I swear. I just need to say something and then I’ll leave you alone.My thumb hovered. Xavier’s closed study door felt louder than it should have. The silence in the apartment pressed against my skin. Part of me wanted the distraction. Part of me already knew better.I typed back.Aria: Five minutes.The reply was

Caught BetweenThe folder was still on the table when I woke up.I had left it there on purpose. Closing it and putting it away would have felt like pretending the pages didn’t exist. The highlighted clause from my father’s trust sat in my mind like a bruise I kept pressing. Nathan hadn’t raised his voice. He hadn’t needed to. The calm legal language did the work for him.Xavier was already dressed when I came out of the bedroom. Black shirt. Sleeves rolled once. Coffee in hand. He watched me walk into the kitchen the same way he had watched me the night before, like he was measuring how much the documents had shifted something inside me.“You didn’t sleep,” he said.“I slept enough.”“You were awake at three. And at four. And again at five.”I poured coffee I didn’t want. “You keeping track now?”“Yes.”The single word landed hard. I set the pot down and turned to face him.“I have Nathan sending me paperwork that turns my father’s money into a weapon. I have Lila calling with soft w