Chapter 4

Rielle swallowed, and quickly turned away from him. She clenched the side of her gown, and took in a deep breath. There's no way on earth she was attracted to a man she knew nothing about.

He doesn't even have a damn social media. There was nothing about his private life out there in the media. Just his name, and a multi-billion-dollar company.

No relatives. No age. Just name.

She chewed her inner gum, wondering what her next question would be.

"I don't bite," Xander said suddenly, as though reading her mind. His gaze remained fixed out the window, uninterested.

He couldn't tell why he ended her party so quickly. He doesn't mean to own her, but he hated how the men from her past fixed their whole attention on her.

"Could've fooled me," she muttered under her breath.

The car rolled through the darkened city, its silence was far too intimate for strangers. The air between them was not warm, nor cold. It was just sharp. Like a blade resting against their skin, without cutting yet.

"What do you do when you're not buying companies or playing shadow puppet with politicians?" she asked.

Xander didn't answer.

She glanced at him, annoyed. "You said I could ask three questions." She haven't known him for two full days but he already managed to rile her up so badly.

He exhaled. "That was two."

Her mouth parted, baffled. "That counts?"

He didn't respond.

Rielle let out a tight laugh and sank deeper into her seat. "Of course it does."

Outside, streetlights blurred past the window. Inside, the car was too still. Too heavy. Rielle kind of missed the city. Especially when she saw some spots she once visited when life gets so hard.

Like a closed ice cream shop.

She toyed with the hem of her gown. "You don't talk much, do you?"

"That's not a question."

"God." She shut her eyes briefly, trying to calm herself. "You're exhausting."

Still, no reaction.

And yet… something about his silence wasn't cruel. It wasn't even cold. She felt like his company was far better than a chatty friend.

After a moment, she straightened and looked at him again. "Why did you choose me?"

That made him turn. Not randomly, but slow and controlled.

His eyes, those dark, unreadable eyes met hers. There was not a flicker of emotion. Not even curiosity.

However, he looked at her. Really looked.

Rielle couldn't breathe under his very intense gaze. She almost shifted on her seat, but swallowed repeatedly to stand her ground.

She wasn't sure he would answer. Part of her hoped he wouldn't. But when he did, it wasn't what she expected.

"You asked the right question," he said.

Then he turned away again.

That was it? That was the answer?

She blinked. "Seriously?"

No reply.

Rielle stared at him, her mind racing. What did that even mean? The right question? Why did that sound like the beginning of something she couldn't control?

The car pulled to a stop in front of an unfamiliar building. Sleek. Secluded. No signs. No indication of what it was.

Xander stepped out without a word. The door remained open for her.

She hesitated. Then stepped out too.

A man in a black suit held the door to the building. Rielle walked in with Xander behind her. The silence stretched again, yet somehow, it no longer suffocated her.

She wasn't sure if that scared her more than the space she walked into. A single elevator at the end of the hall opened as they approached it.

She turned to him. "Where are we?"

He pressed the button, and the doors closed. And as expected, there was no answer.

"Of course!" she mumbled under her breath.

When they finally stepped into a silent luxurious apartment, Xander turned to her, and handed her the keys.

"You'll leave here from now on. You can leave, if you want. Also, you can do whatever you want from tomorrow," he informed, his voice low and rough.

Rielle accepted the keys, but didn't move. Her gaze stayed locked on him, sharp and searching.

Months ago, she wouldn't have been this confident to look at a man this way. A man? Man, she wouldn't even raise her face to a child. Now she would.

"This isn't some kind of trophy cage, is it?" she asked flatly.

Xander's face remained unreadable. "I don't keep things I don't value."

"Yet you didn't say I was valuable," she snapped.

His silence answered louder than any words could.

She hated how it made her feel. Like she was both burning and freezing at once. She didn't want his attention. She wanted control. She wanted answers. But all she ever got from him were puzzles dipped in silence.

She looked around the penthouse. Floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the city, dark marble counters, velvet furnishings, and books that looked like they hadn't been touched in years. Sleek. Expensive. Silent. Just like him.

"You sure know how to isolate people in luxury," she muttered.

Xander didn't answer. He was already turning to leave.

She called after him. "Wait. So that's it? You pick me up like a stray, drop me here like a secret, and what… disappear again?"

Xander paused at the door. "You asked your three questions."

"You didn't answer them."

His voice was calm. Dangerous in its quietness. "I did."

Rielle stepped forward, no longer bothering to hide her annoyance at the whole cheese game. When he vanished six months ago, she had questions but believed he'd answer them when she saw him again. Yet now that he's here, he refused to answer any of her questions.

"You don't get to play god with my life. You don't get to pull strings and vanish."

He turned when those words left her lips. Slow and deliberate. Then he crossed the space between them. She didn't back down.

"You walked into that gala," he said. "Not to be seen. To haunt."

His voice was lower now. Closer as he leaned towards her. He was so tall, so he towered over her.

"You think I ended your night because I wanted to control you?" He tilted his head, studying her like a blade beneath glass. "No. I ended it because if I hadn't, someone else would have ended."

The words landed like a slap.

Rielle's lips parted. "What the hell does that mean?"

Xander didn't answer.

Instead, he leaned in just enough for her to feel the air shift between them. "You want the truth?" he asked.

Rielle nodded, barely.

"Then don't ask for answers you're not ready to hear."

He stood straight and walked away before she would recover. And with that, he was gone.

The door shut behind him with finality.

Rielle stood there, keys in hand, and her heart racing like a war drum in her chest. She looked around the apartment again.