Xavier

by Miranda P. Charles

  Eve smiled, knowing Louie was hinting at getting his business in front of viewers. She did agree, though, that it was a glorious day, although she was feeling bleak from Louie’s words.

  Her attention was caught by a big photo shoot happening on the beach. They seemed to be packing up now—

  Her eyes widened. What on earth was Xavier doing here? Wasn’t he supposed to be in Perth?

  And who was that stunning woman in a jaw-dropping bikini smiling at him?

  Wait, was that Gloria Mendez? Darn, it was.

  “I have to go,” Louie said. “I have to pick up some supplies for tomorrow.”

  “Um, yes. Okay. Thank you, Louie.”

  “See you later.”

  Eve returned her gaze to the beach. Gloria had her hand on Xavier’s arm, laughing. Then they broke into a run, appearing to race on the sand.

  Eve placed a hand over her mouth in shock. Xavier hadn’t gone to Perth. He was right here in Sydney, at Shelly Park Beach, of all places. And he wasn’t with a male client. He was with a female top model.

  He’d lied to her. How long had Xavier been lying to her, and why?

  So you’d stop reporting about his family.

  She gasped.

  No, Xavier couldn’t have been using her. She would have known, wouldn’t she? At least felt that something was off?

  Then again, it had taken her ages to learn that her ex-boyfriend had been cheating on her.

  God, she didn’t want to believe it, but the proof was right in front of her. Xavier had lied. That couldn’t be denied.

  Anger and pain wrapped around Eve’s chest, constricting it and making it hard for her to breathe.

  She whipped out her phone and called Xavier. It went straight to voicemail. He’d probably turned it off to make it look like he was indeed on a plane to Perth.

  Well, he wasn’t getting away with this.

  She stomped towards the beach, anger holding back the tears from falling. She was about to call his name when Xavier suddenly looked her way.

  Xavier froze, then he said something to Gloria Mendez before jogging to Eve.

  Eve hurried back towards the spot where she and Louie had talked. Much as she wanted to confront Xavier right out in the open, she was a public face in a public place.

  “Eve,” Xavier said breathlessly, catching up to her. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing,” she said coldly, crossing her arms.

  Xavier simply stared at her, as if he couldn’t believe she was right in front of him.

  “Why did you lie? Give me one good reason why you lied.”

  “Babe,” Xavier murmured, looking lost for words.

  “You used me,” she said with venom.

  “No!”

  “Then what?”

  Xavier raked his hair, his eyes misting.

  “What? No explanation?” she asked after a long moment of silence.

  Xavier shook his head, downcast.

  Her throat closed up, tears threatening to spill. “You could have told me it was over before jumping into another woman’s arms.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Then what?” she asked with frustration. “Because it’s either that or you’re using me. Or both.”

  Xavier rubbed his face, exhaling harshly. “I’m not using you, Eve.”

  She waited for him to further deny that there was something going on with him and Gloria Mendez, but Xavier remained silent.

  “Damn you, Xavier,” she said, her voice low and laced with anger. “I don’t want to see your face ever again.”

  She stomped off. To her surprise, Xavier blocked her way.

  “How did you know I was here?” he asked.

  She glared at him. “Surprised I caught you with your pants down?”

  “Eve, please trust me,” he pleaded.

  Hot blood roared within Eve’s veins. How many times had she backed down from confronting her ex-boyfriend after he’d given her lines similar to that one? Not again!

  “For your information,” she hissed, “I was here to interview someone regarding your dad’s involvement in a property development scam. Turns out this is also the day I discover that you’re nothing but a scumbag. So what are you gonna do now, Xavier? Stop me from continuing my investigations?”

  Xavier opened his mouth to answer, but shut it and looked away.

  She turned on her heels and walked off. This time, Xavier didn’t follow.

  She got to her car, her eyes watery. As she locked the doors, a loud sob escaped her, and her heart twisted so tightly she felt her chest would burst.

  She’d been falling hard for Xavier, and he knew it. She knew he knew it.

  And she’d thought the feeling was mutual.

  She’d shared confidential things with him that she wouldn’t have shared with anyone, because she’d trusted him and had thought he and his family were being treated unfairly by some sections of the media.

  But were they? Could she have inadvertently helped Xavier and his parents cover up their illegal activities?

  She covered her face with her hands, wanting to give in to her grief.

  But she had to get out of here.

  She started the car to go home. She was too wrung out and exhausted to do anything else, even update Chester about her interview with Louie. She needed the rest of the day to sort herself out.

  Then, by tomorrow, she’d hopefully have pushed away her emotions so she could concentrate on doing her job well—without her good judgement being affected by her stupid heart.

  Her phone buzzed with a message. It was from Alex.

  Hey, Aaron found out about the Louie Finn call and I had to tell him you’re doing the interview. He wants you to come back to the studio to give him an update as soon as you’re done. Sorry you can’t go home yet. See you soon.

  Eve sighed. The last thing she wanted was to face Aaron, but what could she do?

  She advised Alex she’d be back within half an hour, then fixed her makeup before driving back to the studio.

  Aaron would certainly put pressure on her to get this story ready for Sunday, now that he’d learned about it. Well, perhaps it was a blessing she’d discovered Xavier’s cheating. Maybe there was something about Gerald Stirling she hadn’t wanted to see before. Clearly, she’d been blind about Xavier.

  Chapter 18

  Xavier watched Eve go into her car, then pulled out his phone to call Aidan.

  “Xavier,” Aidan answered.

  “We have a situation. I’ve been set up to come to Shelly Park Beach to work on a new client, then Eve was also here at the same time to interview someone regarding that property development scam my dad’s involved in.”

  “Tell me everything,” Aidan ordered.

  Xavier raked his hair as Eve drove off. His car was parked a few blocks away, so she’d be long gone by the time he got to it. “You’ve got to put a shadow on Eve, Aidan. She’s probably on her way home, if not back to the studio. I have to go back to my new client—Gloria Mendez and her manager, Mario Clint. They were the ones who got me to come here. I have to see what I can get out of them without being obvious that I know what’s going on.” He told Aidan what had happened as he hurried back to the beach.

  “We’ll start running checks on Gloria Mendez and Mario Clint. So Eve broke up with you?”

  “Yes,” he croaked.

  “Damn. She wouldn’t want to talk to you, then.”

  Xavier took a sharp breath. He’d only wanted to make her safer. Now he could have put her in more danger. How would they monitor her movements now?

  “We’ll keep you updated,” Aidan said. “I’ll get another IR to at least check that she’s home or at the studio. In the meantime, do your best with Gloria and Mario.”

  “I will.”

  Xavier hung up and composed himself.

  “Hey,” Gloria said. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That was Eve Marrin, wasn’t
it?” Mario asked.

  “Yes. I was supposed to meet her today for something she’s investigating, but I cancelled to be here.”

  “Ooh, she got a bit angry, huh?” Gloria said.

  “She looked quite upset,” Mario said.

  “She said I ruined her schedule and made her look bad to some people. I don’t know. Anyway, it’s my bad luck. Imagine her being here at the same time as me.”

  “Hey, that is strange,” Gloria said, eyes widening. “Maybe this is all meant to be, and it means something, because I also just got this photo shoot offer yesterday.”

  Mario rolled his eyes. “You and your everything-is-destiny, Gloria.”

  “Well, how do you explain it, then?”

  “Coincidence,” her manager said.

  Gloria shrugged. “You say coincidence when you can’t explain something. But there’s always a bigger picture we can’t normally see from the realm where we usually operate.”

  “She likes these kinds of discussion,” Mario said with sigh.

  Xavier smiled. “So who are you doing this shoot for?”

  “Confidential, I’m afraid,” Mario interjected. “The client wants to keep it under wraps until everything’s ready to be rolled out.”

  Gloria rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Mario. Xavier’s part of our team now.” She turned to Xavier. “It’s for a new bikini label called Noon.”

  Mario shook his head, looking at the sky. “Confidential.”

  “What’s Xavier gonna do? Create his own line of swimwear to compete with Noon? Besides, they’re paying me a lot of money to do this today. I’m sure they’d be happy to hear I’m already raving about them.”

  “Who owns the brand?” Xavier asked casually.

  “Kelly Noon. She’s a new designer, but obviously she’s very good. Look at these bikinis. Love ’em.”

  “Yeah, great,” Xavier agreed, not bothering to check the skimpy material Gloria was wearing. “She must be loaded to be able to afford you.”

  “I think Noon is being bankrolled by an investor. Do you know who it is, Mario?”

  “No. Not my job to pry for details they don’t willingly give out,” Mario said dryly.

  “Who approached you, then? The designer herself?”

  “Yep. She emailed Mario to say she needed this urgently to submit to a fashion magazine. Paid me very well for my troubles.”

  “So you haven’t met her in person?”

  “Not yet. I’m sure I will eventually.”

  Xavier nodded. There was no doubt this whole thing was a setup for Eve to discover him with Gloria.

  He gave Gloria some exercises to do on the sand, then excused himself to go to the bathroom. He updated Aidan and asked about Eve.

  “No idea where she is yet,” Aidan said. “We’re scanning the roads with the cameras and CCTVs we’re able to access, but we haven’t spotted her car yet.”

  “Damn it. I should have tried to follow her.”

  “No, you had to stay there and keep your cover intact. You also got valuable intel from Gloria and Mario. Lucky they’re happy to talk. But I won’t be surprised if the email request they received wasn’t from the designer, but from someone pretending to be her.”

  “Yeah,” Xavier said distractedly, worried sick about Eve. Where was she right now? This was one of those times when he wished Eve had the Find My Friends app activated on her phone. But she wouldn’t have agreed to it, and he’d wanted to respect her privacy as much as he possibly could, despite everything else.

  “Go back to work, Xavier. Check back in fifteen,” Aidan said before hanging up.

  Xavier shut his eyes. Eve would be fine. She had to be.

  He trudged back to the beach and tried to focus on his session with Gloria. Fortunately, Gloria was enthusiastic enough about her workout to make up for his own lack of interest.

  Time slowed to a snail’s pace for Xavier, and it felt like eternity before fifteen minutes had passed. He gave Gloria a seven-minute break and rang up Aidan again.

  “Eve just arrived at the studio,” Aidan said.

  Xavier exhaled his relief.

  “Her case has been escalated to urgent, so we’ve pulled an IR from another assignment and she’s going to watch Eve today. You can take over again tomorrow. And I suggest you don’t visit your parents if it’s not your usual time to visit them. We want Barker to think everything’s going according to plan. That’s much safer for everyone.”

  “Right, thanks.”

  He stared out at the horizon, scared for Eve and his parents. Damn it, he couldn’t fucking do anything to keep them safe except stay away from them. How downright frustrating.

  “Xavier?”

  He glanced at Gloria.

  “This doesn’t seem to be a good time for you to work, is it?” she asked gently.

  “I’m so sorry, Gloria. No, it’s not a good time. There’s just so many things happening that I have to attend to. Please don’t worry about paying me for today. You can also cancel the contract and look for another trainer, if you like. Or if you don’t mind, I’ll call one of my guys and assign him to you.”

  Gloria looked at him in consternation. “You don’t want to work with me?”

  “I simply cannot give you the full attention you need and want. I’m really sorry. My guys are great at training people on the Obstacle X too.”

  “Maybe it means something,” Mario quipped.

  “Like what?” Gloria asked.

  “Like you shouldn’t take on that movie and do the stunts yourself. You’re risking your main livelihood of modelling if you have an accident.”

  Gloria pouted. “Okay, Xavier, can you ask one of your guys to contact Mario? I want to continue with this.”

  “Sure.”

  Mario shook his head.

  “I’m gonna head off now, guys. Thanks so much for understanding.” And he hurried away.

  “I can’t believe he’s the second trainer to give up on me. What’s going on?” he heard Gloria complain to Mario.

  Swiftly, Xavier turned around. “Gloria, who’s the first trainer who cancelled on you?”

  “Peter Sharp.”

  “Thank you.”

  Xavier had heard of the guy but had never met him. He rang Aidan on his way to his car with the new details.

  “Peter Sharp?” Aidan asked in surprise.

  “Yeah. What about him?”

  “He was found dead in a back alley of a nightclub last night.”

  Xavier faltered in his steps. “What happened?”

  “He was shot. Xavier, be careful. Barker seems to be building up to something here.”

  “Thanks.”

  Xavier walked to his car. Where would he go?

  He wanted to see Eve and make sure she was okay. He wanted to explain to her he hadn’t cheated on her, nor had he used her. He wanted to prove to her that he loved her.

  Yes, he was in love with her. Now he didn’t know if he’d ever have the chance to say that to her without Eve believing he was lying.

  Chapter 19

  Eve checked her face in the car’s rear-view mirror. Her eyes were slightly puffy, but there was nothing she could do about that. She powdered her nose and reapplied her lipstick before heading off into the studio.

  She didn’t want to be here right now, but she guessed it was better than being at home. At least there were people here who knew what was going on better than she did—like Aaron.

  The guy had been right. She hadn’t been suspicious enough of Xavier.

  Tears formed in her eyes once again, and she blinked repeatedly to ward them off. She wasn’t going to cry here. She was going to be the professional that she hadn’t been since she’d started going out with Xavier. She’d follow up the leads against Gerald Stirling and not let her heart get in the way.

  To think that she’d compromised her career for a scoundrel. Xavier could even be worse than that. He could truly be a cold-hearted criminal—even a murderer.

  “Hey, girl,”
Alex greeted her.

  She put on a smile. “Hi.”

  “How did the interview go?”

  “Good. This one seems to have legs.”

  “Glad it wasn’t a waste of your time.”

  “No, it wasn’t. Is Aaron in his office? I better go see him and get it over and done with.”

  “He’s having a meeting with some people. Unexpected. Do you think it might have something to do with his other show getting canned?”

  “I don’t know. I wonder if he wants me to wait.”

  “Don’t know. If I were you, I’d only wait about fifteen minutes or so. If he’s not done yet, just go home. I bet he’ll be in such a bad mood that you won’t want to speak to him anyway.”

  She made a face. “Yeah. I guess I might try to work on my story while I wait. Anyway, why are you still here? You’re not working overtime, are you?”

  Alex moved closer to her. “Just between you and me, I’m trying to make up some time in lieu. I don’t have any more leave, and I want to take Friday off to go on a long weekend somewhere with my boyfriend.”

  “Cool. Anyway, I’m gonna go work on my story.” Much as she enjoyed chatting with Alex, she wasn’t in the mood right now.

  She headed to the goldfish bowl to call Edward Johnson. Unfortunately, the man wasn’t answering. She left a message and hoped he’d call back soon.

  Then she called her dad.

  “Eve. How are you, darling?”

  “Good, thanks, Dad. You?”

  “Good. Busy.”

  “Oh, can you talk?”

  “Of course. Always have time for my daughter.”

  Eve smiled. “Hey, I was just wondering what happened to that property development scheme that your friend Scott had recommended to you.”

  “Oh, that. I’m so glad you talked me out of it. I’ve been hearing rumours that the development won’t be finished.”

  “What have you heard, exactly?”

  “Well, apparently, they’re running out of money and there won’t be enough to finish the project. Unfortunately for those who bought units, they’ll lose their investments. Even if someone else buys the project as is, no one’s likely to pay much for it.”