The rewritten contract lay between them, still unopened.
Daisy stared at the velvet box on the nightstand like it might explode. Not because she feared it no. But because it represented something more terrifying than submission: the truth.
She sat curled in the hotel robe, her knees drawn to her chest. Her body ached in all the familiar places, her lips swollen from the force of his kisses. Her thighs bore his fingerprints like sinful tattoos. But her heart was the most bruised part of all.
Xander moved with deliberate slowness, pouring her a glass of water. Not whiskey. Not wine. Just water. The mundane gesture landed harder than any of his prior dominance. He was trying. But trying wasn't trust.
"You haven't opened it," he said, voice low, watching her over the rim of his glass.
"No," she replied flatly.
"Why?"
She looked at him, really looked this time. Not the man who fucked her against a marble sink, but the one who watched her sleep like he feared she'd vanish. The one whose hands trembled just a little too long when he touched her last night.
"Because if I read it, and it's another set of rules, I might not walk away this time. And I need to know it's not just lust clouding everything."
Xander nodded slowly. "Fair."
He sat beside her, their shoulders brushing. She didn't lean into him, but she didn't move away either.
"I'm not here to rewrite rules just to keep you," he said. "I'm here to tear down the ones that hurt you."
She arched a brow. "So what? A single rule now? Is that the big twist?"
He hesitated. "Yes."
She blinked.
"One rule," he repeated. "No more secrets."
Daisy's breath caught. Because out of all the games they'd played, that one rule was the most dangerous.
Her voice dropped. "Then start with the file."
He stilled.
"The one I found in your drawer," she added. "The one you never meant for me to see."
Xander looked like a man caught between storm and surrender. He reached for his phone, unlocked it, and pulled up a photo. A scan of the document she'd stumbled across that night. Confidential. Stamped. Names redacted.
He handed it to her.
She hesitated, then took it.
Her fingers trembled as she scrolled.
It wasn't just about her.
It was about her father.
The payments.
The silence.
The deal struck between a desperate man and a powerful organization. And Xander's family right in the middle.
"You knew," she whispered.
"I suspected," he corrected. "I wasn't sure until I had proof."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't want to destroy the last good memory you had of him."
Her throat closed.
"I thought I was protecting you," he added. "But I see now secrets don't protect. They poison."
Daisy placed the phone down slowly, the weight of the revelation anchoring her.
"And your secrets?" she asked.
He didn't flinch. "Ask."
She turned toward him, eyes sharp. "Why me?"
His brow creased.
"Why make me your pet? Why not just pick someone who wouldn't fight back? Someone who wanted the money and nothing more?"
He smiled wry, tired, almost pained. "Because I didn't want obedience. I wanted fire."
She inhaled.
"From the moment I saw you in that interview room, eyes blazing, voice shaking but steady I knew you'd ruin me."
"You did it anyway."
"Yeah," he admitted. "I did."
A long silence passed between them.
Daisy reached for the velvet box.
Her fingers hovered over the clasp.
"I need one thing first," she said softly.
"Anything."
"Tell me about your mother."
His face turned to stone.
"I've seen the scar, Xander," she said, not unkindly. "The one on your back. The one you never talk about."
He stood too quickly, pacing the room like a caged animal.
Daisy waited.
"I was ten," he finally said, voice raw. "Dominic was twelve. She'd found out about something our father did. An affair. She wasn't sane even before that. But that night... she snapped."
Daisy's breath caught.
"She locked us in the wine cellar. Poured vodka down the vents. Lit a match."
"Oh my god."
"Dom broke the door open. Got me out first. Took the worst of the burns."
She stood, walked slowly to him, and took his hand.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because weakness gets punished," he whispered. "And I didn't want you to see me as broken."
"I don't," she said, pressing her forehead to his chest. "But I do see you as human now."
He swallowed hard.
"And Dominic?" she asked.
"He's my shadow. My backup. My shield. And sometimes my leash."
She nodded slowly. "I want to meet him."
"You will."
She stepped back. "Then let's start from scratch."
He tilted his head. "Meaning?"
"No contracts. No rules. Except one."
He arched a brow.
"No more secrets," she echoed. "From either of us."
He grinned slow, dangerous, boyish all at once.
"Can I seduce you now?"
She laughed, and it broke the tension like sunlight through stained glass.
"You're impossible."
"You're mine."
"Not yet."
He stepped closer, fingers brushing her cheek. "Then let me earn it."
She melted into him.
Their kiss was different this time. Gentle, searching, like two people learning each other again. Not master and pet. Not dominant and submissive.
Just man and woman.
Scarred.
Flawed.
Still choosing each other.