2025-08-01 17:56:14
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Back When It Burned
The drive to the other side of town lasted five hours. Xavier looked at Amber in the passenger seat, she had dozed off somewhere between his rant about a new business idea. But he didn’t mind, he’d kept talking anyway.He could have asked someone else to drive them, but he wanted this quiet. This secrecy. His staff were too new to trust, and Amber… she was the only one who had earned it.He turned into the parking lot and killed the engine. Then leaned over and gave her a gentle nudge.She stirred, stretched lazily in her seat. “Are we there already?” she asked, yawning, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You slept well? Have you been overworking yourself at the café again? I’ve told you to leave that job. I have more than enough now. I could set you up with something. You know that, right?”Amber smiled, still half-asleep. “I know. I’ve never doubted it. But can we talk about that later, please?” She glanced out the tinted window. “Wait—where are we?” “A shelter home. For boys.”
A Chapter I Need To Revisit
Xavier sat in his study, surrounded by documents, his mind barely keeping up. The week had been long with endless meetings, calls, errands and the weight of his new reality was finally sinking in. Waking up with a completely different net worth felt surreal at first, but now, it was just exhausting.The stress was catching up to him, and sleep had become a luxury. The old triggers were creeping back, ones that hadn’t surfaced since Amber took him in. But now that he was alone, in his own space, they returned.A knock on the door pulled him from his spiraling thoughts. He looked up, and there was Amber, standing in the doorway with a smile and a basket in hand, exactly what he thought it was. “Hey there, Mr. Too Busy,” Amber said from the doorway, a teasing smile playing on her lips. “Can I come in?”Xavier looked up, surprised but relieved to see her. He stood and walked toward her. “Since when do you knock before barging into my office?” “You looked focused. I didn’t want to inte
Cracks in His Empire
Back in Boston, inside the towering glass walls of Antonio DeLuca’s multimillion-dollar company, all hell had broken loose.The deal with a major investor was supposed to be closed by noon. Everything had been in place with months of planning, numbers vetted, contracts reviewed, handshakes exchanged. But in the span of fifteen minutes, the entire thing had collapsed.Antonio’s voice tore through the thirteenth floor. “Who the hell do they think they are?!”His office was in chaos. A chair lay on it’s side, papers everywhere, a vase in pieces by the wall.The tech team stood stiff near the doorway, too scared to blink. While his assistant, Jeffrey, struggled to keep up with him. “Sir, I’ve contacted his secretary and…” “I don’t give a damn about his secretary! That man sat in this room three days ago smiling in my face, smiling! And now he pulls out without warning?” Antonio swept his arm across the table again, knocking over his glass of whiskey he had abandoned earlier. “Find out
His Shocking Return
It had been six months since Xavier last stepped into Golden Oven. The smell hadn’t changed, yeast, sugar, and the faint, bitter noise of overworked machines. He walked in sharper than the last time, cleaner, calmer, and $200 million richer. But even that couldn’t erase the memory of his first day here. The humiliation still clung like flour on an apron.He spotted Tomi first, his cheekbones were still aggressive, and his ego hadn’t shrunk one bit. “Well, well, look who the dough dragged in,” he said, folding his arms, flour dust trailing off his apron. “You came back to spill another 30 bucks’ worth of ingredients, or you're just missing the broom closet where you were kept last time?”Xavier smiled faintly. “Good to see you too, Tomi.”Tomi smirked as Xavier stepped in, dressed in a sleek navy-blue suit that didn’t belong anywhere near flour or grease. Leaning against the counter with his arms crossed and apron dusted in flour, Tomi sized him up like he was inspecting day-old brea
The Ticket in the Pocket
The sound of distant traffic hummed through the cracked window. Xavier sat on the hotel bed, a half-empty glass of water in his hand, his eyes distant. His duffel bag lay on the floor, clothes spilling out from where he’d dumped them earlier.He reached for his leather jacket, the one he hadn’t worn in weeks and shook it out, ready to fold it properly. A piece of paper slipped from the inner pocket and floated to the floor.Xavier paused and then bent down and picked it up. It was a lottery ticket, his brow creased as he turned it over. “Power Jackpot,” it read. The draw date was three days ago.He stood frozen for a moment. “How the hell did this get in here?”Just then, Amber stepped in, carrying grocery bags. “I got us more food,” she said lightly. “Are you sure you don’t want to step out? You’ve been in this room for days. A little sunlight won’t kill you.”He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he raised the ticket slowly. “Did you put this in my jacket?”Amber blinked.
Help Comes at a Cost
“He’s gone.”Those two words hit Xavier like a sledgehammer to the chest. “No, it cannot be,” he muttered. “No. Say something else. Say he’s in a coma. Say he’s…say you made a mistake. What do you mean he's gone?”The doctor shook his head gently, but firmly. “I’m sorry.”Xavier stared at him, breathing unevenly. Then he laughed. It was a dry, disbelieving sound. “You’re joking, right? You have to be joking. Chris is strong. You said we just needed to wait. You said...” His voice cracked.Amber, standing behind him, covered her mouth. Her knees wobbled, but she stood still, frozen, staring at the doctor like her mind refused to translate what she’d just heard. “He didn’t make it,” the doctor said quietly. “The tumour ruptured. The bullet and the blood loss, it triggered everything we were trying to contain.”Xavier stumbled back a step. “You should’ve done the damn surgery earlier!” “We couldn’t. You need to understand that his body wasn’t stable enough.” “Don’t give me t
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