Two Little Secrets From My Boss

Chapter 74

[POV Daphne]

It had been three days since I told Xander about the partnership with Archie, three days of careful politeness and avoided eye contact and conversations that never quite touched what mattered. But tonight, something was different.

I saw it the moment he walked into the living room—the way his shoulders lowered, the way his gaze broke from mine and then returned, altered. I recognized the expression immediately: resignation.

The air in the room felt heavier, charged with something long buried. He stood near the doorway like he wasn't sure whether to come closer or retreat entirely.

"We should talk," I said carefully. "Not the polite distance we've been maintaining."

"I agree," his voice was flat, stripped of its usual authority. "This situation has become untenable."

"Is that what you're calling it? Is our marriage untenable?" I felt heat rise in my chest.

"That's not what I said."

"You implied that," I stood from the couch, my hands clenching at my sides. "You've been walking around this apartment like a ghost for three days, barely looking at me. And now you want to talk about what's untenable?"

"You made a major decision without consulting me, with a man who has been trying to undermine me since the day we met," his voice rose, the control slipping. "How did you expect me to react?"

"To understand why I’m doing that!"

"By running to Archie Hankel?" The name came out like poison.

"I’m creating security that doesn't depend on you destroying everything!"

Xander's jaw tightened, and I saw something flash in his eyes—pain.

"You think I wanted this?" I continued, my voice shaking. "I did it because I had no other choice. Your past keeps coming back to tear us apart, and you won't even tell me what you're hiding!"

"There are things you don't understand—"

"Then help me understand!" I was shouting now, my composure completely shattered. "Every time I get close to the truth, someone intervenes. Someone protects the secrets. Someone coordinates attacks and withdraws investments. Who are they, Xander? What did you do that's so terrible it has to stay buried forever?"

"You don't know what you're asking."

"Honesty! I'm asking for the truth that you've been hiding!" My hands trembled at my sides. "Trust me the way you keep demanding I trust you!"

"Trust?" His voice cracked, finally losing its measured calm. "You just partnered with Archibald Hankel, Daphne! You made it clear that you expect everything I've built to collapse. That's not trust; that's insurance."

"It's survival!"

"It's abandonment!" The word exploded from him, raw and wounded. "You looked at our life, at everything we've created together, and decided it wasn't worth fighting for. You decided I wasn't worth fighting for!"

"That's not—"

"Don't lie to me, Daphne," his eyes burned into mine. "Don't stand there and tell me that partnering wasn't a statement. A message. A declaration that you've already given up on us."

"I haven't given up on anything! I'm trying to protect our daughters from the consequences!"

The confrontation sharpened, cutting through the air like a knife. We stood on opposite sides of the living room, breathing hard, years of accumulated tension finally breaking free of its restraints.

"Mommy? Daddy?" The small voice cut through everything.

Nina stood in the doorway, her dark eyes wide and uncertain. Lisa appeared behind her, clutching her stuffed unicorn, her lower lip trembling.

"Why are you yelling?" Nina asked, her voice smaller than I'd ever heard it.

My heart shattered. I crossed the room immediately, crouching down to their level, gathering them both against me.

"I'm sorry, babies. Mommy and Daddy were just having a grown-up conversation. We didn't mean to be so loud."

"Are you fighting?" Lisa's voice was barely a whisper.

"Sometimes grown-ups disagree about things," I said carefully, stroking her hair. "But that doesn't mean we don't love each other or you."

"Can you play with us?" Nina asked, her usual boldness returning. "We're having a tea party with the unicorns and they need more guests."

"That sounds wonderful, sweetheart," I forced a smile despite the tears threatening to spill. "But Mommy and Daddy need to finish talking first. Can you go back to your room and set everything up? We'll come join you in just a few minutes."

Nina considered this, her expression skeptical. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart."

Lisa tugged at my sleeve. "You won't yell anymore?"

"No more yelling," I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry we scared you, baby. That won't happen again."

The twins exchanged a look—that silent communication they'd shared since birth—and then nodded in unison. Nina took Lisa's hand and led her back down the hallway, casting one last uncertain glance over her shoulder before disappearing into their room.

I stayed crouched on the floor, my back to Xander, trying to steady my breathing. My hands still trembled from the confrontation, my heart still raced from the emotions I'd unleashed.

When I finally stood and turned, I found Xander watching me with an expression I'd never seen before. The anger had drained from his face, replaced by something rawer, more vulnerable.

I didn't move or speak. I was afraid that even a breath might shatter the moment.

Whatever he was about to say had cost him years of silence. I could see it in the set of his jaw, in the way his hands hung loose at his sides instead of clenching into fists. He'd been carrying something for so long that the weight of it had become invisible—just part of who he was, built into the architecture of his body and mind.

Now he was preparing to set it down, to show me what he'd been hiding beneath all that control, all that distance, all those secrets that had nearly destroyed us. Whatever he said next would change everything—our marriage, our family, our understanding of who he really was and what he'd done to become the man I'd married.

I braced myself, trying to calm the trembling that still ran through my limbs. The confrontation had left me raw, exposed, my defenses stripped away by the force of emotions I'd been suppressing for weeks.

Xander took a breath. His shoulders dropped another inch, surrendering the last of his resistance.

"There was a woman," he said quietly, his voice rough and unsteady. "She was obsessed with me, and then... a terrible thing happened. And no matter how much I've tried to convince myself over the years that it wasn't my fault, this ghost from the past is still with me."