POV Norah
I should’ve seen the similarities.
The sharp jawline. The same piercing eyes, though Chris’s were warmer and Xander’s were colder. The way they both carried themselves, proud and unyielding.
But still, when the word left their mouths, I felt the ground tilt under me.
“Brother.”
My heart stopped and my mouth fell open.
“Wait— what?” I whispered, my voice barely working.
“Oh shit…” Fiona breathed beside me, gripping my arm. Her eyes darted between the two men like she was watching a car crash in slow motion. “Holy shit.”
And shit indeed.
Xander’s glare moved from Chris to me, then back to him. His voice was low, dangerous. “What the hell are you doing with her?”
Chris raised an eyebrow, cool and careless. “The real question is—how do you know her?”
“She’s mine,” Xander snapped. His words hit me like a blade to the chest.
Chris gave a short laugh, shaking his head. “Yours? She doesn’t look like she belongs to you. She looks free.”
My breath caught in my throat, but neither of them looked at me.
“You don’t know anything about her,” Xander growled, stepping closer.
Chris smirked. “Oh, I know enough. I know you’re suffocating. Controlling. That’s why Alaina ran away from you a week before the damn wedding day. Because you’re too much, Xander. Always too much.”
The words were like gasoline on fire. Xander’s jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscle twitch. “Don’t you dare bring her into this.”
“Why not? It’s the truth,” Chris shot back. His voice was sharp, mocking. “You hover, you suffocate, and in the end, you lose. That’s what you’re good at—losing.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Xander snarled, his voice shaking with rage.
But Chris wasn’t finished. His smile turned cruel. “And me? I don’t lose. I take. That’s why I’m going to inherit the company, not you.”
Xander let out a dark laugh, bitter and deep. “You? Inherit the company? You wish. Grandmother won’t hand anything to a playboy who spends his nights drinking and his days wasting away.”
Chris’s smirk faltered for a second, but then he straightened, lifting his chin.
“At least I live. At least I know how to breathe without chains. You? You’re nothing but a machine. Cold and empty. That’s why no one stays with you.”
I flinched at the cruelty, but Xander didn’t even blink. He just stepped closer until they were almost chest to chest.
“You think you’ve got it all figured out? You think you’ll get the company? You’re not the heir until you prove yourself. And you haven’t.”
“I don’t need to prove myself,” Chris shot back. “Because you can’t hold your position forever. You don’t have what it takes. You don’t even have an heir.”
The silence that followed was deafening. My heart thundered in my chest.
Fiona’s nails dug into my arm as she whispered, “Oh my God…”
Xander’s lips curved into a smile then, slow and cutting, a smile that made my stomach twist. “You think I don’t?”
Chris narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. You don’t. You’re all power and no legacy. That’s why I’ll take over.”
And then it happened.
Xander reached into his coat pocket and I could feel how my stomach dropped, how my blood turned to ice.
He pulled something out, something small and devastatingly familiar.
The pregnancy test box.
“No,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Xander…”
He turned it over in his hand like it was a crown. Then, his eyes cut to Chris, sharp as a blade. His voice was steady, low, and merciless.
“Yes, I do. Norah is pregnant. With my child.”
The words shattered the air.
Fiona gasped. Chris froze, his smirk collapsing into shock.
And me? My knees felt like they might give out under me as every eye turned on me, waiting for me to confirm or deny the truth I hadn’t even had time to share.