f i f t e e n

"Do I pay you guys to fuck around and waste my time?"

Xavier slammed his palms on the table causing everyone's eyes to widen. His loud commanding voice laced with anger echoed throughout the conference room.

"Fix this by Friday or you're all fired."

Before anyone could even have the courage to speak up, Xavier stood up and walked out of the conference room. He was having a terrible day—or week to be specific. Ever since Saturday, all he could think about was Aurora, but she seemed to be ignoring him.

He wanted to go find her directly, but the day after the gala, he had to urgently fly out to New York to resolve an issue at one of the many Knight Industry branches.

However, that didn't stop him.

He called and texted everyday, but she continued to ignore him. He wasn't sure what he did that was wrong—all he wanted was an answer. Out of frustration, he unleashed his anger on his employees. He was even more merciless and irritable as the days pass.

His arms were crossed as he stood glaring at the view outside his large window overseeing downtown LA. Xavier had come home from the short business trip the day before and had immediately wanted to head to Aurora's apartment to see her. However, because of the shitty weather, his flight had been delayed, causing him to land at midnight instead.

Of course, this further angered him, hence the mood he was currently in. It was as if his mood got worse and worse as the days pass—well, that was exactly what was happening.

It was evident in the way he was yelling at his employees left and right. The slightest mess up would end up in a firing. Everyone was terrified of being in his line of sight. Even Lucas couldn't save them from Xavier's wrath.

"Knock, knock."

"What?" Barked Xavier, turning around to shift his glare to the door at the culprit who dared disturb him.

"Is that the way you greet your little sister?" Maddie gave her older brother a questioning look as she stepped into his office.

Xavier grunted, taking a seat at his desk.

"Bad day."

His blunt response made Maddie snort. "I'm guessing with the bad mood that you're in, Rory still hasn't come by."

Xavier offered no response, causing Maddie to quietly chuckle under her breath.

"You know she didn't mean what she said Saturday night. It was a spur of a moment type of thing."

"And how would you know that?" Asked Xavier, pretending to be busy with the papers on his desk.

"Because she told me," Her admission caused Xavier's head to snap towards her.

"You talked to her?" Xavier's usual stone cold face was now filled with despair.

"Of course I talked to her. I slept over at her place last night," Maddie said in a 'duh' tone.

"How is she doing? What did you guys talk about? Why won't she answer my calls or texts?"

His sudden burst of questions caused Maddie shake her head and grin. "You've got it bad, big brother."

Xavier glared. "Are you not going to answer my questions?"

"What crawled up your ass?" Maddie sassed back as she gave her brother the infamous Knight glare to which he responded right back with the same glare. The two stubborn siblings refused to give up.

Xavier ran his fingers through his already unkempt hair, causing Maddie's resolve to soften at how frustrated and desperate her brother looked.

"Look, it's not easy for her to come to you first," Her statement caused his eyebrows to furrow. "What she said on Saturday was just her trying to protect herself."

"But I would never hurt her," Xavier's tone grew soft. He would never in a million years even think about hurting Aurora.

"I know, but," Maddie sighed. "People have hurt her before and it's like an endless battle with the demons inside of her. She's always thinking the worse about herself and constantly doubts herself."

Xavier gripped his desk tightly— his knuckles turning white. His voice came out menacingly. "Who?"

"I'm sorry," Maddie shook her head. "It's not my story to tell."

He closed his eyes to try to calm himself down. The way Aurora pushed him away made his heart clench. He wanted to be the one to protect her—the one to fix all her problems. He wanted to be there for her and help her fight her demons.

"What did Cynthia say to her?" Xavier asked the one question that he knew he would probably get the answer to.

"Oh," Maddie looked like she wanted to kill. "That fucking bitch-"

Maddie began to tell Xavier what Aurora had told her. The more he listened, the angrier he got. By the end, just like how Maddie reacted, Xavier was fuming.

"How dare she have the guts to go up to my girl to tell her to stay away?" Xavier angrily slammed his palms on his desk, causing Maddie to slightly jump in her seat.

Maddie's eyes were wide with shock as she stared at her furious brother. "You should've fired her ages ago."

"I'll take care of her," Xavier's tone held a promise in it.

Maddie nodded before giving her brother a teasing smile. "Your girl?"

His words had not slipped past her.

"Well, she will be if she even agrees to meet me," muttered Xavier, unclenching his fists.

"Just show up at her doorstep," suggested Maddie. "Look, Rory is literally the world's biggest over-thinker. She's also stubborn as fuck. So, she'll probably keep avoiding you until she thinks she's ready, which who knows when that will be. It's frustrating really. She's literally written paragraphs of what she wanted to text you but didn't have the actual guts to send them."

A soft smile formed on his face. "She did?"

"She wrote them all on her phone," Maddie shook her head. "What she wanted to text you was pretty entertaining though. But don't tell her I told you. She'll kill me."

The corners of Xavier's mouth lifted as he thought of how adorable Aurora's antics were. To think Aurora had been drafting what she wanted to text him made his heart swoon. Not that he'll ever admit it though.

"The only way you're going to get through her is if you show her that Cynthia's words meant nothing," continued Maddie as Xavier nodded.

"I will," promised Xavier.

"You must really like her." Maddie looked at the soft look her brother had on his face. It was an expression that he did not show often.

"Maybe a lot more than I realize."

"I'm surprised your feelings developed this quick," She added. "You usually have trouble letting people in."

He shrugged. "I've had feelings for her for a while."

A while was an understatement.

Maddie's eyebrow raised in confusion. "Didn't you just meet her a month ago?"

"Remember that day I picked you up on campus—right before spring break?"

"Yeah, it was during my senior year," She nodded. "What about it?"

"I bumped into her that day. It was just a short encounter and I didn't even know her name back then," admitted Xavier, clearing his throat as he looked away in embarrassment. "I looked for her for 4 years, but I never found her."

Maddie's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish. "To think I could've easily introduced you two..."

"Isn't it funny how she was literally under my nose the entire time?"

She shook her head. "Does she know?"

"She doesn't," replied Xavier, looking at his sister sheepishly. "It's quite embarrassing if you think about it. I mean, I waited for a girl whom I didn't even think I would ever see again."

"And here we thought you had a stone cold heart. Who knew my big brother could be this adorable," She grinned cheekily while Xavier grunted and rolled his eyes. "It just shows how true your feelings are for her. Thankfully, I won't have to worry about her getting hurt because I know she will be in good hands. Am I the only one who knows about your little crush?"

"It's not just a crush. This isn't third grade," muttered Xavier. "And I told Lucas-"

"What?" Maddie stood up abruptly, looking very offended. "Lucas knew?"

Whoops.

The door burst open and the devil himself came waltzing in with leisure. "Did someone say Lucas?"

Lucas' smile disappeared as his girlfriend turned to glare daggers at him. He gave her a sheepish smile, wondering what he did wrong this time. "Hey, baby. Lookin' hella gorgeous as always."

"Don't try to sweet talk your way out of this Lucas Reed," Lucas' eyes widened at her usage of his full name. He knew he was in big trouble this time. "You knew about Xavier bumping into Aurora all those years ago?"

"I didn't know it was Aurora!" Defended Lucas, throwing Xavier a pleading look.

"But you still never told me!" Maddie angrily stomped towards him. "That's it. You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Baby, wait-"

Maddie walked right past him, leaving the office without even sparing him a glance. Lucas gave Xavier an incredulous look.

"Women," Lucas groaned, throwing his arms up in the air. Letting out a dramatic sigh, Lucas began to trail and call after his girlfriend like a scolded puppy.

Xavier shook his head in slight amusement. But immediately, his mood turned foul when he thought back to their conversation. He angrily called Jackson into his office.

There was something he had to deal with.

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Xavier waltzed onto the eighteenth floor with a blank look on his face with Jackson trailing after him. His employees greeted him timidly as he passed by. He did not even spare them a glance.

Turning the corner, he walked into a small office, not bothering to even knock. Cynthia sat perched on the man's lap who had his hand on her ass under her skirt. A disgusted look overtook Xavier's face as he watched Cynthia and the manager scramble to break apart. He desperately wanted to wash his eyes with soap.

"M-Mr. K-Knight," stuttered Joseph. He was a balding man in his 50s, who had a wife and two kids. "W-what are you d-doing here?"

Ignoring him, his eyes zoned onto Cynthia. "You're fired."

Those two simple words caused her eyes to widen with shock.

"B-but-" Cynthia tearfully began to walk up to him, placing her hand on her chest. Her cheap perfume made his nose scrunch in distaste. "Xavier."

"Don't fucking touch me with your disgusting fingers," Xavier glared daggers, slapping her hand away. "You're fired. End of discussion."

"If this is about that bitch-" Before she could finish her sentence, he grabbed her shoulder, pushing her up against the wall harshly. His mother had taught him to never lay his hands on a woman, but Cynthia was threading on a very thin line.

He was furious.

"Don't you ever talk about her like that ever again," Xavier smirked as he watched her eyes widen with fear. "Don't you even get anywhere near her. You don't want to know what the consequences are if I ever find out you've gotten within 6 feet of her."

Joseph stood gaping at his boss as he held his mistress by the throat.

Without thinking, Joseph suddenly grabbed Xavier's shoulder and punched him across the face. Xavier stumbled back, not expecting the punch.

"Sir, are you alright?" Asked Jackson, as he stood in in front of Xavier, immediately alert. Xavier brought his hand up to touch his lip that was now bleeding. The wedding ring on Joseph's hand had cut his lip.

Xavier gestured for Jackson to stand down. He stalked towards Joseph murderously who was now trembling with fear, seemingly in shock at what he had just done. Just his glare alone made Joseph shrink with fear.

Xavier immediately raised his fist, landing two punches on Joseph's face.

Scoffing, Xavier watched as Joseph fell to the ground, crumbling in pain. Bending down, he grabbed Joseph's collar bringing his face close to his. "Idiotic move, Mr. Williams. I'll make sure your wife knows about your infidelity."

Joseph's eyes widen as he began to beg Xavier for mercy. Xavier tossed him to the side and stood up, dusting his hands off.

"If I ever see any of you step anywhere near my building, there will be consequences." Xavier threw the two one last glare before he made his way towards the door. "Jackson, I want them gone in 20 minutes."

"Yes sir."

"And call HR to find replacements."

With that, Xavier walked out the room with a blank look on his face. Curious eyes followed their boss who was now sporting a bleeding lip as he walked towards the elevator.

But he couldn't care less about the stares. All he was thinking about was Aurora and how he was finally going to make her his.

He was a man on a mission.

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Happy Friday! Finals are officially over and I am now officially on summer break^^ Yall know what this means? Hopefully, more frequent updates! I'm still trying to figure out my update schedule so please bear with me. I will for sure update on Fridays, but I'm deciding whether or not I should update more than once a week. I don't want to make promises that I may not be able to keep.

But on a more exciting note, 500 reads!! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and I really hope you are enjoying the story so far. There is more to come, so thank you for being patient with me. I also made another cover because I had nothing to do at 3am again and I don't know, I'm just having a lot of fun with all this. Anyways, I hope you have an amazing day and stay safe! Please let me know what you think and enjoy your Friday~ Happy summer!