Exposed to the CEO Behind the Mafia Mask (by Silver Spoon) novel Chapter 516

Chapter 516: Chapter 112 She Simply Left

Xavier’s POV

For weeks, I’d been grasping at shadows, trying desperately to understand where Ruby and I had gone wrong. Every day felt like navigating a minefield of family politics and underground dealings, never knowing what might trigger her next outburst. Her constant irritation hung between us like a wall I couldn’t breach, no matter how many late nights I spent away from Thorne family business trying to fix us.

The uncertainty had bled into my work as the family’s consigliere. I’d been operating on autopilot, barely registering the new assistant who had replaced Jude after Caleb relocated him to oversee our West Coast operations. There was something vaguely familiar about her movements through the Thorne compound’s executive offices—efficient, nearly invisible, yet somehow managing to organize the complex web of legal documents and territorial agreements perfectly. The family’s business continued smoothly, my desk remained pristine with contracts and municipal permits properly filed, but I’d hardly exchanged more than a few words with her.

I made a mental note to invite her for coffee at the compound’s private café. I always made it a point to know everyone who handled sensitive family matters, especially those with access to our legal operations. Jude had been exceptional at understanding the delicate balance between legitimate business and family interests, but when Caleb specifically requested him for the expansion into California’s port cities, I couldn’t refuse. Breaking in someone new to our particular way of conducting affairs required energy I simply didn’t possess these days.

Just as I was about to rise from my mahogany desk to locate my mysterious assistant, my secure phone rang. The voice on the other end—one of Ruby’s security detail assigned to our penthouse—sent ice through my veins. She was packing everything. All of it.

Before I could process this devastating information, Caleb pushed through my office door without his usual knock, confusion and concern etched across his face.

"Xavier, why did Ruby submit her resignation from the family’s cultural foundation?"

My stomach dropped to my Italian leather shoes. "When I figure that out, I’ll let you know."

I snatched my keys to the Aston Martin and bolted from the compound, racing through the city’s controlled intersections where our influence kept traffic flowing smoothly. When I pulled up to our building, a black sedan waited at the curb—not one of ours. Ruby stood beside it, handing the driver her final piece of luggage. When she spotted me, she froze, guilt flashing across the face that had captivated me for years.

"I’m not even worthy of a goodbye?" I kept my voice steady despite the earthquake happening inside my chest, despite the way my world was cracking along fault lines I hadn’t seen coming.

Ruby’s eyes softened with something that looked dangerously like pity. "Xavier, don’t make this harder than it needs to be."

"Harder? No, Ruby, I’m offering you the dignity you deserve." I gestured toward our building, toward the life we’d built together in the penthouse that overlooked the city we helped run from the shadows. "Let’s go upstairs and talk."

"There’s nothing to discuss, Xavier! I’m leaving." Her voice carried an edge of desperation, as if every second in my presence was torture she could no longer endure.

"Really? Don’t you think I at least deserve to know why? Was I that impossible to live with?" I wasn’t trying to change her mind—some part of me, the part trained to read people and situations, already knew it was over—but I needed answers. I needed something to hold onto when the emptiness came calling.

"Xavier, it’s not like that. Listen, I’m sorry, but..." She hesitated, her gaze drifting past my shoulder toward the city skyline where the Thorne family’s legitimate businesses rose like monuments to our carefully constructed empire. "This life isn’t working for me anymore. It hasn’t been working for months, and you know it."

"You don’t love me." Not a question. A realization that crashed through me like a freight train carrying concrete and rebar.

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