Page 101 of King of Ruin

He always came home.

That thought had become such a certainty over the past months that she never questioned it. Even when business kept him late into the night, he always returned. If an emergency forced him out of the country, he called her first. It had become such an ordinary part of their routine that she had never realized how much comfort she found in it.

Another half hour passed.

Without realizing it, she reached for her phone again, only to set it back down a moment later. The empty side of the bed remained perfectly untouched, the silence in the bedroom somehow feeling louder with every passing minute.

By the time midnight came and went, the uneasy feeling she'd been trying to ignore had settled heavily in the pit of her stomach.

Unable to wait any longer, she picked up her phone and called Benjamin.

The call connected almost immediately.

"Miss Foster."

"Benjamin..." Relief slipped into her voice before she could hide it. "Xavier hasn't come home yet. Is he still at the office?"

Silence answered her.

It lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough for something inside Elise to slowly sink.

"Ms. Foster..." Benjamin began carefully. "Didn't he tell you?"

A faint crease appeared between her brows.

"Tell me what?"

"He left for an overseas business trip immediately after the party. His private jet departed shortly afterward. From what I've been told, he'll be away for several days."

The room seemed to fall unnaturally still.

Elise sat frozen on the edge of the bed, the phone pressed tightly against her ear as Benjamin's words repeated themselves inside her mind.

He left.

Without telling her.

Her fingers tightened around the phone until her knuckles turned pale.

Xavier had never done that before.

No matter how urgent the business was or how suddenly he needed to leave the country, he had always come home first—or at the very least called her. She had never realized that she'd come to expect it.

Tonight, he hadn't done either.

The memory of him walking away from her on the yacht flashed through her mind, followed by the look in his eyes just before he disappeared into the crowd.

Swallowing against the tightness in her throat, Elise lowered her gaze to the wrinkled bedsheets gathered beneath her trembling fingers.

"...Do you know when he'll be back?" she asked quietly after a long silence. "Did he leave you an itinerary... or tell you how many days he'll be gone?"

Benjamin hesitated for a moment before answering, his voice as respectful as ever.

"I'm not sure, Miss Foster. Mr. Chen didn't tell me how long the trip would last. I'll be flying out to join him in about an hour, so once I arrive and know more about his schedule, I'll let you know."

"I understand."

Elise managed a faint reply before ending the call.