Chapter 20
The water continued to fall over them, soaking them completely.
Without breaking eye contact, Xavier's hands slid to the hem of her dress.
He slowly drew the fabric upward over her waist, then higher, until it reached her shoulders.
Only then did he break the kiss long enough to lift the dress over her head before letting it fall carelessly onto the floor beside his discarded clothes.
"Xavier..."
Elise gasped, her hands instinctively pressing against his shoulders in an attempt to create some distance between them.
He didn't let her get far.
The moment she leaned back, he drew her right back against him, his hand settling firmly against the small of her back as he held her close beneath the stream of cold water.
"What are you doing? We broke up," she said again, her voice rising as the cold water streamed into her eyes, forcing her to blink. But he didn't seem to hear a single word. It was as though he had gone blind and deaf to everything around him, caring about nothing except kissing her.
She breathed heavily, struggling to catch her breath as he continued to take control, refusing to let her pull away.
Gradually, everything else faded into the background.
The sound of the water, the bathroom, the apartment—everything disappeared until all she could feel was him.
Her thoughts became a blur, making it impossible to think clearly. She could barely breathe.
But it still wasn't enough for him.
He wanted her to break.
He wanted her to see only him.
It was as though he had been possessed by something far stronger than reason.
The need to make her look at him, choose him, and feel only him burned through every vein in his body, so fiercely that he could no longer suppress it.
The emotions consuming him had grown too intense, too overwhelming, until all he wanted was to drown her in them and make her feel even a fraction of what he was feeling.
His hand reached lower as he roughly pushed her panties down.
The soaked fabric slid to her ankles before he lifted her by her hips, drawing her tightly against his body once more.
Without ever loosening his hold on her, he nudged the discarded fabric aside with his foot, refusing to let her slip away for even a second.
His hand remained firm around her hips, holding her close against him as he looked down at her.
Water dripped from his hair, tracing the sharp lines of his face, but his attention never left hers.
His other hand moved to her neck, not hurting her, but enough to keep her still as his eyes burned with anger and something far more desperate beneath it.
"Who was that man downstairs?" he demanded.
The way he said man made the word sound like an accusation, as though even the thought of someone else standing beside her was enough to tear something apart inside him.
Elise's breath caught.
"What are you talking about?" she whispered.
His jaw tightened, his gaze growing darker.
"That bastard," he said through clenched teeth. "Who the fuck was he?"
His voice rose with every question, the jealousy he had tried so hard to suppress finally breaking through.
“Why was he having dinner with you? Why were you with him? Why was he in your car?”
His breathing grew heavier as he searched her face, desperate for an answer she refused to give.
“Why was he saying he wanted to come home with you? Why was he telling you he loves you?” His jaw tightened, his frustration reaching its limit. “What the fuck is going on, Elise?”
The last words came out harsher than he intended, almost like a roar torn from somewhere deep inside him.
His entire body was rigid, every muscle tense as he stared at her. He looked furious, but beneath that anger was something far more vulnerable—fear. The fear that he had lost her. The fear that someone else had taken the place he still desperately wanted.
He needed her to tell him there was nothing between them.
He needed to hear that he had misunderstood.
But Elise only looked at him with a guarded expression, refusing to give him what he wanted.
“It’s none of your business,” she said quietly. “I already told you we’re over. As your ex-girlfriend, please don’t interfere in my life.”
The words stopped him cold.
Something dark flashed across his face.
Before she could finish, Xavier stepped closer, his hand gripping the back of her head as he pulled her attention back to him. His anger was no longer controlled; it was tangled with frustration, fear, and the unbearable thought of her moving on without him.
“Elise,” he said through clenched teeth, his voice low and dangerous. “Answer me.”
Her lips parted, and her eyes finally met his.
“M-my brother. His name is Logan.”
The words barely escaped her.
Xavier froze.
The anger disappeared from his face, replaced by complete shock.
***
Morning light slipped through the curtains, spreading across the bed before slowly reaching the two naked figures tangled together beneath the sheets.
Xavier still had Elise wrapped tightly in his arms, his hold firm around her waist. He hadn't let her go all night, and even now, he remained close, his attention fixed completely on her.
Elise shifted slightly beneath him, her breath catching when he pressed another kiss against her skin. The quiet sound she made seemed to pull him back to reality, and he finally lifted his head to look at her.
His eyes searched her face, his brows drawn together with a seriousness that immediately erased the softness between them. His hand tightened slightly around her waist as he studied her.
"Tell me the truth," he said, his voice low but firm. "And this time, I don't want any lies."
Elise looked at him silently.
"I don't want you hiding anything from me anymore," he continued, his gaze never leaving hers. "Tell me everything. What the hell is going on? Where did this brother of yours come from? And why were you so fucking hesitant to tell me about him?"
Her breath caught, but she remained quiet.
The hesitation in her expression only made his jaw tighten. He had spent too long feeling like there were pieces of her life that she kept locked away from him, and he refused to let her shut him out again.
"Elise," he said, his voice becoming more demanding. "Look at me. You're not getting out of this bed until you tell me everything."
For a moment, Elise remained silent, her eyes lowering as if she was fighting with herself over whether she should say anything at all. But the weight of everything she had kept buried for so long became too heavy, and eventually, she looked away before forcing the words out.
"Because I was adopted."
The confession left her lips so quietly that it was almost swallowed by the silence between them.
"My biological parents didn't want me." She lowered her gaze, forcing herself to keep speaking despite the ache tightening in her chest. "They abandoned me."
Xavier's expression shifted, the anger on his face faltering, but before he could say anything, Elise continued.
"When Logan turned sixteen, he found out I existed." A faint, bittersweet smile touched her lips before disappearing just as quickly. "He searched for me until he found me. He said he wanted me in his life... that he wanted us to have the sibling bond we'd been robbed of."
She finally looked back up at Xavier, her eyes calm despite the pain lingering within them.
"That's all there is to it.”
His brows furrowed, confusion and frustration mixing together.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice roughening. "What the hell is wrong with you, woman?"
He slowly shook his head, confusion etched across his face.
"Being adopted isn't something you should've been afraid to tell me." His brows drew together as he searched her eyes. "Do you really think that would've changed anything between us?"
Something inside Elise finally snapped.
For the first time, she stopped holding herself together. The patience she had carried for years, the silence she had forced herself into, finally cracked.
"You don't understand," she said, her voice trembling as she looked directly into his eyes. Tears gathered at the corners of her own. "You don't know what my life was like."
Her breathing became uneven.
"And you didn't need much time to leave me either, did you?"
Her voice cracked slightly, but she held his gaze.
"Do you know what that felt like?" she whispered. "To finally let someone into my life, to believe that maybe I had found someone who would be with me... only to hear him say over and over again that it’s just an arrangement he doesn’t want?"
Her voice rose as the emotions she had buried finally spilled out.
"You were going to leave me too."
Xavier went still.
"I was never going to tell you about my past because I knew you were temporary. I knew that one day you would realize you didn’t want me anymore and replace me with someone better. You would walk away, just like everyone else."
Her eyes burned with tears as she whispered the words that hurt her the most.
"And that's exactly what happened, didn't it? I was right. "
The moment the words left her mouth, something dark flashed across Xavier's face.
His jaw tightened, his eyes fixed on her as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped, his voice rough with disbelief. "When did you ever think that?"
He moved closer, his expression filled with frustration and pain.
"Why would you think I could just leave you?"
His voice lowered, but every word carried the weight of his emotions.
"Elise... I was never going to leave you."
She looked at him, disbelief and hurt flashing across her face.
"But that's what you said, didn't you?" she whispered.
Her voice was quiet, but every word carried the weight of everything she had been holding inside.
"You reminded me again and again that you were going to leave me.
That this relationship wasn't real. That you weren't going to be in my life forever. "