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"Good morning," she greeted me, her voice smooth, laced with something unreadable.
I didn't answer her immediately. Instead I let my eyes do the talking, searching for cracks in her carefully constructed sharade.
Something was different about her today—I could feel the tension hidden under her composed demeanor,a change in her expression, her face like that of a predator realizing that it has just been haunted.
"Did Gabriella say anything to her about what she saw", I did know Gabriella really well, we had a thing in the past that didn't really go the way she wanted. But I knew she never really got over me.
"You showed up early at work," I replied to her finally. She smiled, moving her head a little.
"So did you."
I took my time to study her response, it was quick, as if she was trying to change the subject. My gut has been whispering doubts to me about her since that sniper attack on me, but after last night it grew into something undeniable.
Gabriella's words to me last night had been filled with venom, but venom sometimes often carries the truth."Elena is hiding something from you, Xavier. You need to find out what it is." She had claimed.
I knew Gabriella for a long time as someone who wasn't the type to make accusations that carried no fact behind it. I needed to find out the real truth for myself.
"Is there anything on your mind, Elena?" I asked , keeping my voice steady and composed. She didn't move, but there it was— the hesitation in her eyes. It showed on her face for the briefest second before she covered it with a casual smile.
"You didn't tell me Gabriella was your Ex?"
I let a small smirk at my lips, a slow, deliberate movement meant to unease the tension between us already.
"Gabriella and I were a thing of the past, we… We never worked. "And you lied to my face about everything just to get into my pants." She shot back.
She was good. I'd give her that. But I have built my empire on knowing when people were trying to cover up their lies with something else. And right now, she was doing just that.
I leaned forward to her, bracing my elbows on the desk. " I never lied to you,Elena, I just felt that it wasn't that important to know about it."
She locked her eyes onto mine, holding my gaze, not stopping for even a second. " Not important?, oh ... .it wasn't important to you, but it was important to me Xavier."
Lies. It was all just nothing but Lies.
I exhaled slowly, watching her, feeling the weight of the silence linger between the both of us. She was waiting for me to let her go easily, to let her slip away from me before I dug deep into who she really is.
Not this time.
"There's nothing else we need to talk about anymore, what happened between us was a mistake. And it will remain that way." She shot back.
I leaned back, bringing out my phone to send a quick message before looking up at her. "Gabriella had some really interesting things to say about you."
I replied, shifting the conversation to something else, something.. that would show me what I really wanted to know.
"Oh, what interesting things did she tell you about me?"
I tapped my fingers slightly on the desk." Nothing you really need to worry about, just… a bitter rumor that's all."
She gave a light chuckle, but I could hear the fear and tension in it."And do you believe the bitter… rumors she said?"
"Not everything." I shot back, studying her closely. "But I trust my instincts."
She took a step forward, confidence dripping from her every movement, but I could see the screws turning in her head. She was calculating, trying to decide whether to challenge me or not.
"And what are those things your instincts are telling you right now?"
I stood up slowly, making my way round the desk, stopping just behind her. Close enough to watch the way her breath stopped when I leaned in to her, the way her shoulders tightened just a little.
"That you're hiding something from me,Elena."
She swallowed, but held her ground. "And what if I am?"
"Then I'll find out." I shot back, a slow smirk curling on my lips.
I let the words hang between us for a while, dismissing her with my eyes. She stopped for a moment, then turned, walking towards the door.
The second she was gone. I pulled out my phone again. I had to contact Dominic, he needed to do a job for me.
Xavier: I need you to look into someone. Texting him as I tapped my fingers against the desk, my mind still remembering the conversation I just had with Elena.
There was something off about her—there had always been—but tonight, it was more different, rather calculated. As if she was trying hard to control the story.
A few seconds later, Dominic's response came in, drifting me away from my thoughts.
Dominic: Find out about who, boss?
I waited for a moment, hesitating before typing back to reply to his message.
Xavier: Elena, My personal assistant.
I pause for a moment, before typing yet another message.
Dominic: What do I need to find about her, boss?
I exhaled slowly, staring at the screen for a short while. Dominic wasn't just my trusted man—he was the one I relied on when I needed answers no one could get for me. If something was hidden from me, he would find it.
After the attack on me, I didn't really trust anyone anymore, but Dominic and I had come a long way for me to ever suspect him of anything.
Xavier: I don't trust her. I need you to find out whether that's even her real name, what her background is, her family, her past. Every single thing you can get your hands on about her.
Dominic: You don't trust her, you think something is fishy about her?
Xavier: I don't know, but I just need to confirm every doubt about her in my mind.
I leaned back in my chair, running a hand over my jaw. My instincts had been screaming at me from the moment I met Elena.
I had overlooked it at first, attracted to her by the way she carried herself— she was smart,confident, mysterious. But now, the pieces were not adding up.
Xavier: Dig into everything. Background, family, connections. I want to know who she really is, where she came from, and what she's hiding.
Dominic: Understood boss, is there anything specific I should start with?
I hesitated a moment before replying back to Dominic.
Xavier: Start with her last name. Voss. I have a feeling that that might not really be her last name, that it's all a lie.
After a long pause that seemed to be like forever, Dominic's response came in.
Dominic: you got it boss, I'll find everything and report back to you.
I held my phone, still looking at the messages, a tightness in my chest about finding out something that could make me hate her forever.
"What if Elena Voss didn't exist, if she was someone else infiltrating my life for a purpose or mission."
But whoever she really was… she walked into my life for a mission. And I was going to do everything to stop her and find out why.
I put my phone down on the desk, still looking at the door. I had given Elena every chance to tell me the truth. If she was never going to come clean to me, I had to take matters into my own hands.
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Hours had gone by, I knew Dominic was efficient and ruthless in his work. When he called me minutes ago, I already knew from the tone of his voice that he had something big to reveal to me.
"You're going to want to hear this in person," he said.
I barely waited for him to walk into my office before demanding what he needed to tell me, "What did you find?"
Dominic handed me a file, his expression intense, bitter."She has been lying to you since the day she walked into this place."
I opened it, my eyes scanning the documents,the photos, the records, everything. And then— that was when I saw it.
Not Elena Voss.
Elena Carter.
My pulse hammered in my ears. Carter… that name was a ghost I had buried in my past. A buried corpse that was suddenly finding its way back to the surface.
My jaw clenched as memories from the past resurfaced—the gang wars, the bloodshed, the rivalry that had nearly destroyed everything I worked my whole life to build.
"Lucas Carter." Her father. One of the greatest Arch enemies I ever had to witness in my life.
Elena wasn't just a woman hiding secrets, she was the daughter of the man who had once tried to tear my whole world apart.
And she had walked right into my life, right into my bed, without me ever knowing anything.
Rage ran through my veins, mixing with something dangerous, she betrayed me. I had trusted her— let her in more than I ever let anyone in my life.
And now?
Now, she would have to pay for lying to me and betraying me.
I set the file down carefully, my movements slow, controlled. I looked up at Dominic, my voice, low, dangerous.
"She played me."
Dominic nodded. "What do you want me to do about her boss?
I exhaled sharply, my mind already drifting through different ways, different strategies to make her pay. This has changed everything.
I leaned back, letting the anger inside me settle into something much colder.More calculated and wicked,
"We do nothing for now, we just wait." I said, a smirk forming over my lips.
"Let's see how long she thinks she can keep up the lie."
When she least expects it, I would surely strike, then she would know exactly who she was going up against this whole time.