19. Xavier
I woke before dawn.
Kim was still asleep beside me, her face soft in the gray light, one hand tucked beneath her cheek. I watched her breathe for a moment, memorizing the peace in her expression, the way her lashes fanned against her skin.
Today would change everything. Or destroy it. Possibly both.
I pressed a kiss to her cheek, so light she didn't stir, and slipped out of bed like a thief, which, considering I was about to con a con man, felt appropriately ironic.
My clothes were scattered across her floor from the night before, but I gathered them quietly and let myself out without waking her or Zoe.
The drive to my apartment took twenty minutes. The city was just beginning to wake, delivery trucks rumbling down empty streets, the first joggers appearing in Central Park. I parked in my building's garage and took the elevator up, my mind running through the plan one more time.
Get Cole talking. Let him gloat. Record everything.
Simple. Clean. The kind of plan that sounded brilliant at 2 AM and increasingly suicidal in the light of day.
But it was the only plan I had, so.
I showered quickly and stood in front of my closet, water still dripping down my back. For the first time in my life, I didn't grab whatever was closest. I chose deliberately. Charcoal suit, perfectly tailored. White shirt, crisp and unwrinkled.
The tie Sebastian had given me last Christmas, the one I'd shoved in a drawer because it felt too serious, too corporate, too much like admitting I wanted to be taken seriously.
I knotted it now with steady hands. Or mostly steady. Close enough
The silk slid through my fingers, loop over loop, the motions automatic from years of reluctant practice. I pulled it tight, adjusted the length, and studied my reflection in the mirror.
The man looking back at me wasn't the Xavier who stumbled home at dawn with lipstick on his collar.
Wasn't the Xavier who treated business meetings like inconveniences to be charmed through.
Wasn't the Xavier everyone expected, the spare, the screwup, the one they wrote off before he even opened his mouth.
This man had something to fight for. Someone to protect.
Two someones, actually. Three, if you counted me.
Which I was finally starting to do.
I shrugged into my jacket. Adjusted the lapels. Shot my cuffs like I'd seen Sebastian do a thousand times.
Ready for war.
Or at least ready to fake it convincingly.
The drive to Dubois Industries felt different today.
The familiar streets, the towering glass building, the underground parking garage—all of it charged with new significance.
I wasn't coasting anymore. Wasn't playing at being useful.
This was real, and it mattered, and I was going to see it through.
My office was quiet when I arrived. Early still, most of the floor was empty. I sat behind my desk and waited, watching the city wake up through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sun crept higher, painting the skyline gold and orange.
Footsteps in the hallway. I looked up.
Kim walked onto the floor, her hair pulled back in its usual practical ponytail, her gray blouse crisp and professional. She moved to her desk with that efficient grace I'd come to love, setting down her bag, adjusting her monitor, every motion deliberate.
Then she looked at me through the glass wall of my office.
I nodded.
She nodded back.
We waited.
The minutes crawled past. I pretended to review documents, shuffling papers I didn't see, my ears straining for the elevator's ding. Sebastian was somewhere in the building, phone ready, positioned where he could hear everything. Gerald was standing by with the legal team.
All the pieces were in place. All we needed was Cole to play his part.
The intercom crackled.
"Mr. Dubois?" Kim's voice was perfectly professional. "Mr. Cole Matthews is here to see you."
I looked through the glass. Cole stood at Kim's desk, his back to me, wearing another of his impeccable suits. Even from here, I could see his posture—confident, relaxed, the stance of a man who thought he'd already won.
He said something to Kim. I couldn't hear the words, but I saw her spine stiffen. Saw her jaw tighten almost imperceptibly. Cole's shoulders shook with what must have been laughter, and when he turned toward my office, he was grinning.
That grin made me want to put my fist through his face again. Twice. Maybe three times, just to be thorough.
Instead, I leaned back in my chair and arranged my features into something neutral. Bored, even. The mask I'd spent thirty years perfecting, the one that said nothing matters, especially not me.
Funny how useful that mask was turning out to be.
Cole pushed through my office door without knocking.
"Xavier." He settled into the chair across from my desk, crossing one ankle over his knee, making himself comfortable. "I have to admit, I was surprised when you reached out. You weren't exactly hospitable the last time we saw each other."
He touched his lip, where a faint bruise still lingered from my fist.
I ignored the bait. "What did you say to Kim?"
Cole's grin widened. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Yes. I would." I held his gaze, keeping my voice steady. "Because I'm the one who's going to be taking care of her now. I'm going to be a father to Zoe."
Something flickered in Cole's eyes. Amusement, maybe. Or contempt.
"A father to Zoe," he repeated. "How touching. And how exactly do you plan to manage that when you won't be able to afford to provide for them soon enough?" He tilted his head, studying me like I was a particularly slow child. "Do you even know anything about being a father?"
"I definitely know more than you." The words came out harder than I intended. "Seeing as you completely abandoned your responsibilities."
"Ouch." Cole pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. "You wound me, Xavier."
"It's the truth, isn't it? You're a coward."
The grin faltered. Just for a second, something cold flashed across Cole's face before the mask slid back into place.
"I didn't abandon my responsibilities," he said, his voice silky. "I have none. Kim was just a toy to me. Something to pass the time." He examined his fingernails, deliberately casual. "And that child? Please. I'm not even sure it's mine."
I was on my feet before I knew I was moving. My fists clenched at my sides, every muscle in my body screaming to finish what I'd started in Kim's hallway.
Part of me, the smart part, the part running the con, screamed to stay calm. The rest of me didn't give a damn.
“Say that one more time,” I heard myself growl, “and I'll—”
"And what?" Cole looked up at me, utterly unruffled. "You'll hit me again? Come on, Xavier. You should be smarter than that. Do you really want to add a lawsuit to your current problems?" He laughed, a sound like glass breaking. "But then, you never were the sharpest tool in the shed, were you?"
I didn't respond. Just stood there, fists shaking, jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached.
Cole's laugh deepened. "Tell me the truth. You never saw this coming, did you? Not for a second."
Silence. I couldn't trust my voice.
"That's rich." Cole leaned back, savoring the moment.
"Business 101, Xavier. Don't ever sign a contract without reading it.
I added that clause after our lawyers had finished their review.
Swapping in a different copy was child's play.
" His eyes glittered with malicious delight.
"You were such a mess that day. Running after Kim like a lovesick puppy.
You had no idea you weren't signing the contract your secretary had prepared. "
He laughed again, shaking his head.
"Damn. I knew you were stupid, but not that stupid. You didn't even bother to read it. Didn't take your lawyer's advice." He wagged a finger at me. "Always take your lawyer's advice, Xavier. Lesson learned."
I let the silence stretch. Let him sit there, gloating, savoring his victory.
Then I smiled.
Cole's expression flickered. The first crack in his confidence.
I straightened my jacket. Adjusted my cuffs. Settled back into my chair with deliberate calm.
"And what advice," I said slowly, "would your lawyer give you if he heard everything you just said?"
Cole's grin froze. His eyes narrowed, darting around my office—to the corners, the bookshelves, the desk. Looking for something. A camera. A recording device.
"What are you playing at, Dubois?"
I kept my face neutral. Bored.
"Playing?" I tilted my head. "I'm not playing anything. Just making conversation."
But something had shifted in Cole's posture. The lazy confidence was gone, replaced by a coiled tension. He leaned forward, studying me with new intensity.
"You're too calm," he said slowly. "You were ready to hit me thirty seconds ago, and now you're sitting there like you've won something." His jaw tightened. "What did you do?"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
I kept my smile in place, barely, but my pulse was climbing. He was sharper than I'd given him credit for. Which, considering I'd given him credit for approximately nothing, wasn't saying much.
But still. Another few seconds and he'd figure it out, demand to search the room, call the whole thing off—
The office door opened.
Sebastian stepped inside, phone in hand. His face was carved from stone, but his eyes burned with cold fury.
"Think again."
Cole was on his feet instantly, his chair clattering backward. "What the hell is this?"
Sebastian held up the phone. Pressed play.
Cole's own voice filled the room, tinny but unmistakable, "I added that clause after our lawyers had finished their review. Swapping in a different copy was child's play..."
"No." Cole lunged.
He moved faster than I expected, crossing the space between them in two strides, his hand shooting out to grab the phone. Sebastian pulled back, but Cole's fingers caught his wrist, wrenching his arm down—
I was already moving.