The air in the penthouse was too quiet.
Siena stood by the kitchen counter, her hands curled around a mug of tea she hadn't touched in ten minutes. The warmth had long seeped out of it, just like the ease between her and Alexander.
He'd left early that morning for the office without waking her.
No goodbye.
No soft touch on the shoulder.
Just… gone.
It wasn't like him. At least, not the version of him she'd gotten used to these past weeks.
And the worst part was, she couldn't decide if he was avoiding her—or protecting her.
From what?
She didn't know.
But the name of that city Mila mentioned—the one Alexander refused to talk about—lingered like smoke she couldn't clear from her lungs.
Whatever happened there, it still lived inside him.
Still shaped the man she was trying to understand.
---
By midday, Siena gave up pretending to be okay with the silence. She grabbed her phone, tapped his contact, and called.
No answer.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Her heart thudded a little faster now—not from panic, but from frustration.
She didn't need him to spill every detail of his past.
She just needed honesty.
---
Two hours later, her phone finally lit up.
Alexander: "I'll be home late. Don't wait up."
No explanation.
No softness.
Siena stared at the message like it was a stranger speaking through his name.
She didn't reply.
She wouldn't beg him to talk to her.
But she also wouldn't sit in silence waiting for him to figure himself out.
So, she got dressed, tied her hair back, and called for a car.
She needed to clear her head.
She needed answers.
And if Alexander wasn't ready to give them, maybe someone else would.
---
Siena walked into a quiet café in the north end of the city, the kind of place where high-profile names went to be nobodies for a few hours. She found Mila already seated in the corner, dressed in a crisp jacket and gold hoops, looking like she'd been waiting.
"I thought you might come," Mila said without looking up.
"Tell me what happened," Siena said, skipping pleasantries. "All of it. No vague warnings this time."
Mila raised an eyebrow. "Why should I help you?"
"Because I think a part of you still cares what happens to him."
She sighed. "You're not wrong."
Mila sipped her drink, then leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Three years ago, Alexander was in Veran—a neutral city in the middle of a major financial transition. His company was part of a corporate merger. High stakes. Lots of politics."
"What happened?"
"There was a scandal," Mila said bluntly. "A whistleblower accused Knight Enterprises of pushing out a local business using underhanded deals—bribes, price fixing, backdoor threats."
Siena frowned. "That doesn't sound like him."
"Maybe not now. But back then, Alexander wasn't just ruthless. He was desperate. His father had just stepped down. He was being watched, judged, doubted."
"And was it true?"
Mila hesitated.
"That's the part no one knows. The company denied everything. The whistleblower disappeared. And Alexander came back… different."
Siena's stomach twisted. "Disappeared?"
"Gone. No trace. Nobody. No trail. Just gone."
That chill returned to her spine.
"Are you saying Alexander was involved?"
"I'm saying no one asked questions after that. And he never talked about it. Not to me. Not to anyone."
Siena sat back, stunned. "Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because he's trying with you," Mila said softly. "More than he ever did with me. And if he's finally letting someone in… then maybe he's ready to face it."
---
When Siena returned to the penthouse that night, Alexander still wasn't back.
She waited in the living room, lights off, curled up in the corner of the couch with the skyline flickering through the windows.
It was almost midnight when the elevator dinged.
His footsteps were quiet but sure. And when he turned the corner and saw her waiting, he stopped.
"You're still up."
She nodded.
He set his coat down and loosened his tie, his eyes scanning her face.
"You want to ask again, don't you?"
"Yes."
He didn't sit.
He didn't come closer.
He just stood there like a man deciding whether to run or confess.
"I lost a piece of myself there," he said finally. "In Veran."
Siena stayed silent, letting him speak.
"I was twenty-seven. Full control of the company. My father had just stepped down, but people were still whispering that I wasn't ready. So, I overcompensated. I took risks. Ignored warnings. Trusted the wrong people."
He exhaled.
"There was a deal on the table—a merger that would give us dominance in a growing market. But there was a local business standing in the way. A startup run by a man named Dael."
Siena watched his eyes darken as he said the name.
"Dael claimed we threatened him. He said we tried to buy him out, then sabotaged him when he refused. I didn't believe him. I thought he was trying to manipulate the media. But then… he vanished."
Siena's throat tightened. "And you think you had something to do with it?"
"I don't know," Alexander admitted, voice low. "I didn't sign off on anything illegal. But I didn't ask enough questions either. I let others handle the mess. I turned a blind eye because I wanted to win."
He looked at her now.
"I've lived with that guilt for three years. Not because I'm sure I caused it—but because I'm not sure I didn't."
Siena stood, walking toward him. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because powerful men don't get to make mistakes without consequences. I buried it. And I kept moving."
"And now?"
He reached for her hand, fingers brushing gently.
"Now… I'm tired of carrying it alone."
---
They didn't speak again for a while.
Siena leaned into him, head against his chest, and for the first time in days, his arms wrapped around her with no hesitation.
No walls.
Just honesty.
And grief.
And healing.
---
Later that night, when they lay in bed, Siena spoke softly in the dark.
"I don't care what happened before me, Alexander. I just care that you're not hiding from me now."
His voice was quiet. "I don't want to lose you."
"Then stop pushing me away."
A beat passed.
Then, "Okay."
It was one word.
But it meant everything.