The air around them thickened, electric with tension. Lydia froze, the letter still trembling in her hand. She could feel Jaden's gaze burning through her — sharp, unreadable, dangerous.
"Jaden…" she started, her voice barely above a whisper.
He took a slow step forward, his polished shoes echoing softly against the marble floor. "I asked a question," he said quietly. "What are you doing in my study?"
Her fingers clenched around the envelope before slipping it behind her back. "I–I was just looking for you. You weren't answering your phone."
"Really?" His tone was low, controlled, but there was something dark underneath it — something she hadn't heard before. "And that required opening my drawers?"
Lydia swallowed hard. "I wasn't— I didn't mean to—"
"Don't lie to me."
The words were sharp, slicing through her excuse.
For a long moment, silence fell between them. She couldn't move, couldn't think. The man standing before her looked the same — the same dark suit, the same breathtaking eyes — but everything felt different.
"Who is Cassandra?" she finally asked, breaking the air like glass.
Jaden froze. His jaw tightened. The muscles in his face shifted ever so slightly — a flicker of something she couldn't name. Guilt? Anger? Fear?
"Where did you hear that name?" he asked quietly.
"From this." She pulled the letter from behind her, her voice shaking. "You kept it hidden. Why, Jaden? What are you not telling me?"
He looked at the paper in her hands as if it were a ghost come back to life. "You shouldn't have read that."
"I had to!" she snapped, her voice breaking. "You've been distant, cold, secretive — I don't even know who you are anymore!"
His eyes softened just a little, his voice dropping. "Lydia, please… not everything in my past is meant to be uncovered."
"Then how am I supposed to trust you?"
Jaden stepped closer, slow and deliberate, until he was inches away. His hand brushed her arm gently, his eyes locking onto hers. "Because I've already lost too much," he said, his voice low, heavy with something like pain. "And I won't lose you too."
Lydia wanted to believe him. She needed to. But the letter burned in her hand, and deep down she knew — whatever secret Jaden was hiding?... It was far from over.