Page 7 of King of Ruin

But Maverick ignored it completely.

His eyes swept around the room once more, making sure he had everyone's attention before casually dropping the news.

"Xavier's getting married."

Chapter 2

For a split second, the room fell completely silent. Even the music filtering faintly through the walls seemed to disappear as Cassian, Elias, and Lucius all turned to Xavier at the exact same moment, their expressions frozen somewhere between disbelief and surprise.

Within seconds, the quiet VIP lounge erupted into overlapping voices as disbelief spread across the room.

"Are you serious?"

"You're getting married?"

"What the fuck is going on?"

The questions came from every direction at once, each man looking at Xavier as though Maverick had just announced something completely impossible. Elias nearly set his glass down too hard on the table, the sharp clink of crystal against marble drawing attention to the disbelief written all over his face.

Even Lucius, who rarely allowed his emotions to show, paused with his drink halfway to his lips, his calm expression briefly replaced by genuine surprise.

For several seconds, Xavier remained silent, his expression unreadable. He slowly rotated the whiskey glass between his fingers before setting it down on the table. The irritation inhis eyes was obvious, especially at the fact that Maverick had casually exposed something he had clearly intended to keep private.

"It's nothing serious," Xavier finally said, leaning back against the sofa with practiced calm. "I'm not getting married."

Maverick immediately let out a short, disbelieving laugh.

The reaction earned everyone's attention again.

He picked up his glass from the table and took a slow drink, his eyes never leaving Xavier over the rim. After swallowing, he lowered the glass and shook his head, as though he couldn't believe the man sitting across from him was actually trying to deny it.

"You're not getting married?"

There was a faint trace of amusement in his voice.

Maverick leaned back into the couch, one arm resting casually along the backrest while he looked around the room.

"Let me understand this correctly. She has been living in your house for an entire year. She's a director at your company, which means she spends nearly every day working beside you. You see her at the office, you see her outside of work, and when the day ends, she goes home with you."

His gaze returned to Xavier, one brow lifting.

"But somehow, that's not serious?"

Xavier's eyes narrowed slightly.

But Maverick only smiled, completely unaffected.

"From where I'm standing, it looks like you're already living like a married man."

The room went quiet again.

Elias exchanged a look with Cassian, both of them clearly processing the information. Cassian leaned back slowly, a slow grin beginning to appear on his face as he looked between Xavier and Maverick.

"So..." he said, dragging the word out with obvious interest, "who exactly is this woman?"

Xavier's expression darkened immediately, and the slight change was enough to confirm to everyone in the room that Maverick had not been exaggerating.

"Wait a damn minute."