Chapter 36: The One She Couldn’t Lie To

Alexander stood by the door, his expression carved from stone. As if by habit, his gaze flicked to the security camera in the hallway.

Catherine didn’t know it yet, but the day she announced, at barely eighteen, that she was going to “live on her own,” Alexander had quietly bought this entire building.

Independence, yes. Unprotected? Never.

He checked the cameras regularly. Last night, she hadn’t come home.

She had lied to him.

And that wasn’t the worst of it.

The footage showed her returning the next morning, wearing the same clothes as the day before, escorted by none other than Maximilian. The same Maximilian she had tried to kill just days ago.

Alexander had three back-to-back cases and had assumed the man would be gone by the time he wrapped up court.

The cameras told a different story.

So here he was.

And now, he intended to find out exactly how far his sister was willing to lie.

—–

“My brother’s here,” Catherine whispered, her face draining of color as she turned to Maximilian.

Panic seized her before reason could catch up. She lunged for him, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him toward her bedroom.

To hide him. That was her first instinct.

Maximilian didn’t resist. He followed her without comment, without surprise, like he trusted her choice even when she didn’t.

But at the bedroom door, she stopped.

Her heart was pounding so hard it drowned out thought, yet one truth cut clean and sharp through the chaos.

She couldn’t lie to Alexander.

Not him. Never him. He wasn’t just her brother—he’d raised her, protected her, stood in where the world had failed. He was closer to a father than anything else.

She released Maximilian’s wrist and pressed her fingers to her forehead, breathing hard, torn.

Maximilian stepped closer and set his hands gently on her shoulders. “What should I do?” he asked quietly.

She looked up at him.

He was infuriatingly calm.

And for reasons she didn’t want to examine too closely, that calm steadied her more than annoyed her.

Right, panicking wouldn’t help. She needed to handle it.

“Sit on the couch,” she said, fast and firm. “Do not speak unless you’re spoken to. And don’t—” she clenched her jaw, then released it, “—don’t say a single word about wanting to marry me to my brother.”

The doorbell rang.

“Coming!” Catherine called out, even though she knew the apartment was soundproof and Alexander wouldn’t hear a thing.

She hurried to the door. Behind her, Maximilian crossed the living room in a few long strides and settled onto the couch, exactly as instructed.

Catherine smoothed her hair, squared her shoulders, and forced a smile into place before opening the door.

“Alexander!” she said brightly. “Come in.”

Alexander stepped inside, his usual trademark smile, the one reserved only for Catherine, curiously absent. His gaze landed directly on Maximilian, who lounged casually on the couch, tall, imposing, and infuriatingly composed.

Catherine bit her lip. That seven-foot-tall frame in a brown tweed coat, who was so out of place in her minimalist, modern apartment, was impossible to ignore.

“I met him yesterday,” she said with a practiced smile, buying herself time while she decided exactly how to spin this.

Alexander’s eyes didn’t leave Maximilian.

Maximilian rose smoothly, extending a hand. “Mr. Preston.”

Catherine’s stomach knotted. That polite gesture would have been charming anywhere else, but here, with Alexander, it was a provocation. She knew that look on her brother’s face. That deadly, “I want to disembowel the man who dared step into my sister’s space” look.

Quickly, she grabbed Alexander’s arm, redirecting him.

“My research got stolen,” she said firmly, hiding the nervous tremor in her voice. It was the perfect shield. His protective instincts would fire before anything else.

“Stolen?” Alexander’s piercing blue eyes snapped to hers. “Who dared?”

With his attention fully on her, Catherine linked her arm with his and led him to the kitchen. She spilled the story: Jonathan Vale and Ashley Renfield plotting to steal her research, ruin her career, and sell it to BioQuant. She watched Alexander’s jaw tighten, his arms folding across his chest like a steel trap.

“He came at the right time,” Catherine whispered, gesturing subtly to Maximilian. “Kind of saved me from… further embarrassment.”

Alexander’s gaze flicked toward Maximilian, who simply met it evenly, unnervingly calm.

This much happened, and you didn’t bother telling me? His expression demanded, silent but sharp, as Alexander turned his attention back at her.

“This only happened yesterday,” Catherine hurried on, trying to stay one step ahead. “He had already saved me, and there was a misunderstanding between us… so, I had lunch with him… and one thing led to another…”

She froze mid-sentence. Adult words, adult situations… but she couldn’t even bring herself to lie and tell her brother that she had spent the night with him.

Yes, she had spent the night, not in that way, but still…

In any normal family, she’d be allowed her agency at twenty-one. But this was Alexander. She could not let him think she was vulnerable—or worse, susceptible to… Maximilian.

And she refused to even say it as a lie that she had slept with Maximilian.

“Catherine, what happened?” Alexander’s voice was calm but edged with steel. “Do not lie to me.”

Her lips pressed together. She could feel the tension crawling up her chest, squeezing her heart. The next words could shatter everything.

“This bracelet!” she blurted, thrusting her wrist forward. “I’m stuck with him. Try it yourself—please, try and get it off. We’ve tried everything.”

Yes. Much easier to talk about cursed jewelry than confess her irrational attraction… or worse.

Alexander blinked, caught between disbelief and genuine concern, wondering briefly if he should cart her off to a mental health facility for her own safety.

But in the end… this was his sister. Quirks, obsessions, and all, he would listen.

He took the bracelet, turning it in his hands, inspecting it carefully.

“You can touch it fine,” Catherine said eagerly. “When he touched it… his hands blistered.”

Alexander raised a brow, his mouth parting slightly, but he said nothing.

He worked to undo the clasp.

And then…

A sharp pulse shot through his body. His brain felt squeezed.

Flashes he had never imagined…

He gasped, stumbling back slightly, gripping the counter for balance, letting go of the bracelet.

“Alexander!” she shouted, fear threading her voice.

Catherine grabbed her brother. Maximilian rushed to the kitchen too.

Catherine froze.

“Alexander?”

But he wasn’t answering. His eyes, wide and unblinking, held the weight of something profound, something that would change everything.

Alexander looked at Catherine in the eye after he composed himself.

“Wait outside for a minute. I need to talk to Maximilian,” he said.

Catherine’s heart skipped a beat.

What?

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