It was past midnight.
The house was silent except for the distant tapping of rain on glass.
Daisy stood alone in the command office, her robe clutched tight around her chest, heart slamming against her ribs. Xander was in the war room, handling security briefings. She had minutes. Maybe seconds.
She stared at the desk drawer.
The left one.
The voice message echoed in her head:
"Check the left drawer of his office desk. You'll find the real truth about your father's death."
With trembling fingers, she pulled it open.
At first, all she saw were pens and folders.
Then a false bottom.
Her breath caught.
She slipped her nails beneath the edge and pried it up.
Inside was a manila envelope labeled in bold red marker:
"MAYFIELD FILE – CLASSIFIED – DO NOT RELEASE."
Her father's name.
And behind it, a photo.
A surveillance still.
Her father.
Sitting with Dominic.
Alive.
Dated just one month before his supposed "death."
"What the hell" she whispered.
More photos. Secret bank transfers. A forged death certificate. A sealed letter.
And another flash drive.
Her entire body trembled.
She barely heard the door open behind her.
"What are you doing?"
Xander's voice, low. Cold.
She froze.
Slowly, she turned to face him.
"I..." she tried.
But the envelope was still in her hand.
His eyes locked on it.
His face turned to stone.
"You went through my drawer," he said, stepping inside, shutting the door behind him.
"You lied to me."
"I protected you."
"No," she said, raising the papers, "you manipulated me. You knew something. You've known all along."
"I was trying to shield you from the things that would destroy you."
"I deserve to know the truth, Xander!"
His expression broke for the briefest moment pain, guilt, rage flickering all at once.
Then, slowly, he walked up to her.
His hand curled around hers, not to hurt her but to lower the folder.
"You want truth?" he rasped. "I've lived in lies so long, I forgot what truth feels like."
She stared at him.
Wet. Angry. Betrayed.
But underneath it all was the same desire. The same maddening, addictive pull.
His hands were on her before she could think.
She didn't stop him.
He kissed her like a man drowning, crushing her to him. Papers fell to the floor as he backed her against the desk.
"I hate you," she gasped.
"Liar."
"I should run."
"Then why are you still here?"
She moaned as he lifted her onto the desk, spreading her thighs with his knee.
"You don't get to use sex to distract me," she whispered breathlessly.
His voice was rough against her ear. "It's not a distraction. It's a confession."
Then he pulled open her robe and sank to his knees between her legs.
Daisy cried out as his tongue found her, hot and desperate, her hips rolling forward into his mouth.
She tried to grab his hair, tried to steady herself but his strength was relentless, his tongue sinful.
"Oh, God, Xander!"
He didn't stop.
Didn't let her fall apart alone.
He devoured her.
Owned her.
Broke her in half.
She shattered against his tongue, gasping his name like a prayer and a curse.
When he stood again, she was breathless, undone.
But he wasn't finished.
He undid his belt slowly watching her eyes widen.
"You still want the truth?" he growled, lifting her off the desk and slamming her back against the wall.
"I'll give you something honest."
Then he thrust inside her.
She cried out again, this time from the force, from the fire that tore through her.
They moved together like war and worship, his mouth never far from hers, her nails digging into his back.
He filled her completely.
Again.
And again.
Until the only truth that mattered was how perfectly they fit.
Afterward, when their bodies were tangled on the leather couch, and their breaths slowed, Daisy turned to him.
"You still haven't answered me," she whispered. "Why was my father meeting with your brother?"
Xander stared at the ceiling.
Then finally…
"Because they were planning to take me down together."
Silence.
She turned to him slowly, stunned.
"My father betrayed you?"
"Yes," he said quietly. "But I forgave him."
"Why?"
He looked at her then vulnerable in a way he never allowed.
"Because he told me something before he disappeared."
"What?"
His voice cracked.
"That if I ever hurt you he'd come back and kill me himself."
The next morning, Daisy finally opened the sealed letter in the folder.
It was handwritten.
From her father.
"If you're reading this, it means you've discovered everything I kept hidden. The truth is, I faked my death for your protection. And Xander may be the only person who can keep you alive now."
"But if he ever shows you this letter, know that he's risking everything his empire, his life, his heart."
"Protect him too, Daisy. He's more broken than he lets on."
She dropped the letter, hands shaking.
And for the first time since entering Xander's world, She wasn't sure who needed saving more.
Her or him.