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I pressed my fingers to my face. A drop of the substance trickled onto my lips, and it wasn’t until I tasted its salty grief that I realized what it was.
A tear.
CHAPTER41
Xavier
My family hadn’t called mepequeño torofor nothing.
Last night, I’d stayed outside Sloane’s apartment until her neighbor came home and threatened to call the cops. Normally, that wouldn’t have deterred me—the worst they could do was charge me with loitering—but Sloane wasn’t going to change her mind and throw herself into my arms the same day we broke up.
I needed a new strategy.
I spent the entire train ride to DC that morning agonizing over it. Sloane said she didn’t love me, but her reaction hadn’t been that of someone who didn’t care. I’d never seen her so distraught, and as much as it killed me to know she was hurting, her pain was a good thing. It meant she feltsomething; if she didn’t, she would’ve simply dismissed me the way she had Mark.
Ironically, the stronger her feelings, the more likely she was to shut down and pull away. Sloane was afraid of getting hurt again, but no amount of reassurances on my part could convince her she wouldn’t get hurt somewhere down the line thanks to Fuckface Bentley. She had to come to that conclusion herself.
The question was, how could I get through to her?
Because there was no way in fucking hell I was taking our breakup at face value. Not when it looked like it’d destroyed Sloane as much as it had me.
Idon’t want you here.You love me, and I don’t feel the same toward you. Sogo!
A vise squeezed my chest. I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to wipe the image of Sloane’s tortured expression from my mind.
“Would you like another moment to daydream about frivolity, or can we commence our meeting?” A cold voice dragged me back to the present. It was as welcoming as a sea of cacti, but at least it successfully banished thoughts of my breakup—for now.
Alex Volkov observed me from the other side of his desk. He radiated displeasure, but he was here, which was a semi-good sign. “I had to postpone a family trip to the zoo to be here, so let’s make this quick,” he said. “You have ten minutes.”
I tried to imagine Alex pushing a stroller around the zoo, but the only way I could see him stepping foot in the place was if he was magically transformed into one of those vicious jungle cats they kept in locked enclosures.
“Look on the bright side,” I said, attempting levity. “I’m sure the zoo will still be there in ten minutes unless the Smithsonianreallypissed someone off.”
He stared at me, expressionless, but I could’ve sworn the temperature dropped thirty degrees.
Right. I forgot Alex possessed roughly the same amount of humor as a rock.
I gave him a quick overview of what happened with the fire. He knew all this already, but the recap provided an opportunity to gauge his reaction in person.
He’d been oddly calm about the destruction of one of his most valuable properties. Granted, he wasn’t exactly an emotive person, but I’d expectedsomething. A strong rebuke, a sniper across from my townhouse…hell, even a frown.
He didn’t give me any of that.
“I see,” he said after I finished. The bitter residue of guilt lingered in my mouth, but it vaporized at his next words. “I looked into it. The fire wasn’t the result of a freak electrical accident. It was sabotage.”
Sabotage.The word detonated like an atomic bomb. Shockwaves rippled through the room, and I stared at Alex, sure he was joking if it weren’t for the fact he didn’t joke. Ever. “What are you talking about?”
“My team investigated the fire since I can’t trust those insurance idiots to produce a single ounce of competence,” Alex said. “The wiring was old, but it didn’t explode by itself. Someone gave it a hand.”
“There was no one in there except me, Vuk, Willow, and the construction crew,” I said. “The crew members were thoroughly vetted by Harper.”
“No, it wouldn’t have been one of them. Whoever did it snuck in before the workers arrived, shaved off the insulation on the remaining good wires, and repositioned them to maximize their chances of exposure.”
Christ. It was like I’d gone to sleep and woke up in the middle of a Nate Reynolds movie. “Your team managed to ascertain all that from a burned-down vault?”
Alex’s smile didn’t contain a single trace of warmth. “I hire the best.”
If he was worried about the saboteur targeting another one of his buildings, he didn’t show it.
