Chapter 9 I don't think I can think straight

~009

Secrets in the Shadows

---

The café was small, tucked away on a quiet corner of Montmartre where ivy climbed the stone walls and the scent of roasted espresso drifted like a secret in the air.

Bella had chosen it on purpose-somewhere no LV employee would be caught dead in at 9 a.m. on a weekday. Too quaint. Too intimate. Too human.

She sat in the corner booth, stirring her tea long after the sugar had dissolved, heart pounding like a ticking clock.

He hadn't answered her message.

He hadn't even read it.

Maybe he wouldn't come.

Maybe he was smart enough to let this end before it started again.

Or maybe-

The door opened, and the breeze carried in a tall shadow and the scent of cologne that hit her like a memory.

Xavier.

He wore a black coat, no tie, a scarf loose at his collar like he had rushed but didn't want to show it. His eyes scanned the café, then locked on hers.

He crossed to her booth without hesitation.

No words.

Just that quiet gravity.

When he sat, the tension grew thick enough to cut with a knife.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," Bella said.

"I said I'd always listen if you needed to talk," he replied.

She looked down at her tea, then back at him. "Someone left a note at my door."

His brows lifted, barely.

"It said... you ruin everything you touch."

Xavier stilled.

The silence between them grew louder.

She watched him. "Is it true?"

He leaned back slightly, eyes on hers. "Depends who you ask."

"I'm asking you."

Xavier folded his hands in front of him, elbows resting lightly on the table. For a moment, he looked almost tired. Human.

"There's truth in it," he admitted. "I've built something most people only dream of. But it came with sacrifices."

Bella's chest tightened. "People you hurt?"

"Yes. And some I couldn't save."

He looked away.

Bella's fingers curled around her mug. "Do you think you'll ruin me too?"

That made him pause.

When his gaze returned to her, it was raw. "That's the one thing I'm trying not to do."

She studied him, unsure whether to believe him or walk away.

"I don't know what's happening between us," she whispered.

"Neither do I."

"But I can't think straight when I'm near you."

A small, tragic smile played on his lips. "Then we're both lost."

---

Outside the café, the sky had grown darker. Rain clouds rolled across the horizon, heavy and bruised.

They walked in silence for a few blocks, their coats brushing, their hands dangerously close. Xavier hadn't offered his car. Bella hadn't asked for it. This wasn't a ride. It was a reckoning.

When they reached the quiet street beside the Seine, she finally said, "Who left the note?"

"I don't know," Xavier replied.

"But you have enemies."

"I have critics," he corrected. "And bitter ex-associates. And yes... one or two ghosts."

She stopped walking.

"Was one of them a woman?"

Xavier didn't speak for a beat.

Then, "Yes."

Bella swallowed hard. "Camille?"

His jaw clenched. "No. She'd be bolder than a note. And less clever."

Bella half-laughed. "So you have been with her."

He didn't deny it.

And somehow, that was worse than if he'd lied.

"Don't," she said, turning away. "Don't follow me."

But he did. Of course he did.

"Bella-"

"I'm not mad you have a past," she said. "I'm mad that I'm starting to feel like I'm just part of a pattern. A long line of women who thought they were different."

"You are different."

She spun to face him. "Then prove it. Walk away. Let me build something without your shadow hanging over every achievement I make."

Xavier looked like she'd slapped him.

"I can't do that," he said softly. "Not because I want to control you. But because I can't stop needing to know you."

Bella's throat tightened.

"Then you're no different from anyone else," she said. "You just hide it better."

She turned and walked away again.

This time, he let her go.

---

That night, Xavier stood in his penthouse, staring out the window as the rain began to fall.

He didn't pour himself a drink.

He didn't call anyone.

He simply stood, silent, alone.

And remembered something he hadn't told her-a name he hadn't spoken in years.

Someone who once trusted him.

Someone who tried to love him.

Someone he couldn't protect.

Someone who had also warned him:

> You ruin everything you touch.

---

Back in her apartment, Bella stared at her phone.

She wanted to cry. Or scream. Or punch a pillow. But all she could do was sit in the dark and feel the storm inside her chest match the one outside her windows.

And then her phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

One image.

A blurry photo taken from a distance-Bella walking with Xavier beside the Seine.

Underneath it, a message:

> I warned you. Now the rest of them will know.

Her blood ran cold.

Who was watching her?