I was returning from the kitchen with Bianca's oat milk coffee when Archie intercepted me in the hallway.
His eyes flicked toward the conference room, taking in the scene through the glass walls—Bianca's possessive posture as she leaned toward Xander, Xander's tense shoulders, the whole uncomfortable tableau that made my stomach churn.
Understanding crossed his face instantly.
"Ah," he said simply. "The ghost of girlfriends past."
“Wait, girlfriend? These two…”
Before I could finish, Archie took the coffee from my hands and set it on a passing assistant's tray. "Deliver that to the conference room, would you? Ms. Carter is taking her lunch break."
"Archie, I can't just…"
"Trust me." He guided me toward the elevator with a gentle hand on my back. "You don't want to be here for this reunion. And frankly, neither do I.
Archie put his arm around my waist, pulling me closer.
“Besides, won't you be tempted to spend more time with me?"
At first, I wasn't sure how to react. But when I looked over my shoulder and saw the same Xander and Bianca, thinking about how they used to be in a relationship...
I didn't resist and walked into the elevator with Archie.
He took me to a quiet restaurant a few blocks away—upscale but warm, all dark wood and soft lighting. The kind of place where conversations stayed private and no one from the office would stumble upon us.
We ordered, and Archie studied me with those perceptive hazel eyes.
"So," he said carefully, swirling his water glass, "are you going to tell me what's really going on between you and Xander? Because I've watched you two dance around each other for weeks. Should I be worried?"
I stiffened. "I don't know what you mean."
"Daphne." His voice was gentle but firm. "The tension between you two could power a small city. He watches you when he thinks no one's looking.” He leaned forward. “And I say you flinch every time he gets too close. I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous…”
I hesitated, my fingers tightening around my napkin.
I barely knew Archie—we'd shared a few conversations, a few laughs, one moment of kindness when he'd walked me to my car. But something about his openness, his complete lack of judgment, made me feel safe.
Maybe it was because he had no stake in this. Maybe it was because he was the first person to actually ask.
So I told him everything. The words poured out like water from a broken dam.
The night at the bar five years ago. The stranger who called himself Alex. The connection that felt too intense, too real to be just one night. The pregnancy I discovered alone, weeks after he'd vanished.
About Nina and Lisa.
Five years of raising two children by myself, wondering if their father even remembered I existed.
Archie listened without interruption, his expression shifting from surprise to understanding. When I finished, he sat back, letting out a low whistle. "Wow. That’s…”
“A disaster, I know.”
“I wanted to say that explains a lot." He was quiet for a moment, processing. "Those little girls, Nina and Lisa, they're his?"
I nodded, bracing myself for judgment. For the lecture about how I should have tried harder, pushed further, found some way to tell him sooner.
But Archie just shook his head slowly. "Five years. You raised them alone for five years." There was no accusation in his voice—only something that sounded almost like admiration. "That must have been incredibly hard."
The unexpected kindness made my eyes sting. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep my composure.
"You're not going to tell me I should have found a way to tell him sooner?"
"How could you?" Archie's voice hardened slightly. "The man constructed an entire false identity specifically so you couldn't find him. That's not on you, Daphne. That's on him."
He reached across the table and squeezed my hand, his grip warm and steady. "Thank you for trusting me with this. I know that couldn't have been easy. I won’t tell this to a soul."
I managed a weak smile. "I don't know why I told you. I barely know you."
"Sometimes it's easier to talk to someone outside the situation. Someone who can see it clearly." His thumb brushed across my knuckles absently. "And cares about you a lot."
I skipped a heartbeat, but decided to ignore it for a while, what his words did to me.
There was still unfinished business. “So… Will you tell me about Xander and Bianca now?”
Archie's expression shifted to something more complicated. He released my hand and leaned back, something thoughtful in his gaze.
"Right. The story about why Xander Hale became the man who lies about his name to beautiful strangers in bars. They have history—the kind that leaves scars, really."
He told me everything.
Young Xander, a scholarship student at business school, working two jobs just to afford textbooks while his classmates drove cars that cost more than his mother's house. A brilliant mind trapped in circumstances that should have held him back.
And then Bianca appeared—beautiful, charming, seemingly perfect Bianca, who noticed him when no one else did.
"He fell hard," Archie said. "The kind of desperate, all-consuming love that happens when you're young and don't know any better. He thought she was different. Thought she saw him for who he was, not what he didn't have."
"What happened?"
"Victor Ashford happened." Archie's voice turned bitter. "Old money, powerful family, everything Xander wasn't. Bianca put an eye on him while whispering promises to Xander about their future. The moment Victor proposed, she was gone. Left Xander with nothing but a note saying she 'needed security.'"
My chest tightened. I thought of Xander's face when he'd told me he had reasons for the fake name. The guilt that had flickered in his eyes.
"It broke something in him," Archie continued. "After Bianca, he probably decided money was the only thing that mattered. That people only want you for what you have, not who you are."
He met my eyes meaningfully. "Sound familiar? A man using a fake name, pretending to be ordinary, testing whether someone could want him without knowing about the billions?"
My anger wavered, replaced by reluctant understanding.
The night at the bar. Alex the construction worker. It wasn't about deceiving me—it was about protecting himself. About finding out if someone could see him the way Bianca never had.
"And you’ve told me everything that easily?" I asked quietly.
Archie shrugged, but his eyes stayed locked on mine. "We're business partners, not friends. I owe him no loyalty."
"That's not a real answer."
He was quiet for a moment. Then he leaned closer, his voice softening, his thumb brushing across my knuckles again.
"Maybe I think you deserve someone who's honest with you from the start," he said. "Someone who looks at you and sees exactly what's in front of them—a strong, incredible woman, who shows up every day ready to fight. And someone worthy enough to take care of the kids…"
The intensity in his gaze made my breath catch. "Archie..."
"I'm not asking for anything. Yet," he said quickly. "I just want you to know that you have options. That Xander Hale isn't the only man in the world capable of seeing how remarkable you are and taking care of you and your children."