Page 49 of The Billionaire's Masquerade Ball

“I still haven’t found your mystery woman yet,” she said, not looking at him.

Xander swallowed. He wanted to tell her to stop looking. He wanted to say that he didn’t care about any other woman. His hands knotted in the towel. She looked up at him, her eyes so vivid and blue, the color of summer sky—warm and bright.

“If you don’t find her—” he started, but Cynder interrupted him, walking quickly away as she called back to him.

“I know my job here depends on it. I won’t let you down.”

Xander stood in the hallway trying to collect his thoughts and steady his breathing before he headed to the shower. He wanted to call after her, to bring her back so he could tell her that he wouldn’t be let down if she didn’t find the woman in the mask. He no longer cared at all.

“Wyatt,” Xander called as he entered the office. “I’ve got two things for you. One—you and Cynder are going to be meeting with Olivia this afternoon. I won’t be there.”

“That’s interesting. Any reason?”

“Cynder had an idea that this might put a stop to the games Olivia’s been playing. If I don’t show up, that is. She’s out for a bit, but I’m sure she can fill you in when she gets back.”

“Sounds … fun. What’s the second thing?”

“I want you to track down a couple of lawyers and check into the validity of a will.”

“Wow. We’re having quite an interesting day. Whose lawyer?”

“Gail, from Looking Glass. She married Cynder’s father a little over a year ago. Before he died, they apparently changed the will and cut Cynder out, leaving Gail in charge of Looking Glass. I want to make sure that actually happened.”

Wyatt’s mouth hung open. “Gail is Cynder’s stepmom? Patrick is her stepbrother? That’s messed up.”

“Indeed. I’m texting you the number of a private investigator I’ve used before. I’m not sure how much you can find out poking around, but do your best and use him as needed.”

“Will do. Question: Why didn’t you just use the private investigator to find the masked woman you have Cynder looking for?”

Xander stood still in the middle of the room and looked at Wyatt. “I didn’t really think about it. That’s a good idea,” he said, his voice flat.

“I could ask him for you while I’ve got him on the phone.”

Xander was in motion again, heading toward the bathroom at the back of his office to take a shower and get dressed again. “No, Wyatt. That won’t be necessary. It’s all under control.”

But as he closed himself inside the spacious bathroom, Xander felt more out of control than he could remember in years.

* * *

Cynder didn’t bring lunch to the cemetery this time. She told herself that since it was a Thursday, not a Friday, it was okay if she deviated from her weekly plan. She did carry a small bag with her from the store, but it wasn’t for her father.

The air was bitterly cold as she stood by his grave. It felt like years since she had been there, not less than a week. So much had happened in the space of five days.

“Hey, Pops,” she said, the wind ripping her voice away. She turned up the collar of her coat and bent her chin down. “It’s been quite a week. I, uh, lost Looking Glass. I mean, it’s still there. For now. But Gail fired me. Long story, but she’d been looking for a reason. I’ve got a new job, sort of, but I don’t think it’s going to last. I like my boss. Really like him. Not as a boss. And he’s super confusing. I thought maybe he liked me, but there’s another woman. Sort of … that’s a long story, too.”

Cynder’s eyes filled with tears. When they tracked down her face, they started warm, but turned cold as the air hit them.

“I wish things had been different. I wish I understood why you did what you did. Why Gail? Why give her the company? Was I … not enough?” She sniffed and wiped her nose with a tissue from her coat pocket. She couldn’t wear gloves with the splint on her hand and her fingers were freezing.

“Anyway, I miss you. You’d probably have some good advice for me right now. Though, honestly, I might have to second-guess it after some of the decisions you made this year. I hate that. I hate that this made me question you and question us. You’re supposed to have just good feelings about people who die, right? Like, I should just honor you and think about the good things.”

Cynder couldn’t continue out loud, because she was racked with sobs that made speaking too difficult. He couldn’t hear anyway, so she thought the last words she wanted to say since she couldn’t get them out.

You really hurt me, Daddy.

It was too cold to stand still for long, so feeling like her insides were shredding from sheer grief, she touched the top of his gravestone one more time and walked away. She crossed over to the graves where she had seen Xander the week before. The flowers he had left were wilted and dead, but the stuffed bear looked the same. Cynder quickly pulled out a small stuffed hippo she had found, also pink. She set it right next to the bear and then put the fresh flowers she brought next to the dead ones Xander had left. She thought about removing his, but decided to let them lie.

Cynder didn’t have words for them the way she did for her father. She wished she could ask someone who knew him about Xander. She wondered if anyone had known him well since Sarah or if he had closed everyone else off after losing her. Now that she knew Xander, she felt even more heavy with grief for him.

Looking at their headstones, Cynder felt a niggling thought working its way around her brain. She wanted to go—it was freezing and she had that meeting with Olivia. But something stopped her and she read and reread the words. They didn’t have Xander’s last name. Were they not married? But it was something more. She looked between them. Sarah and Ryder. Sarah Ryder.

The Foundation.

With a feeling of unease, Cynder remembered reading the story behind the foundation, about someone named Sarah Ryder. The pieces were falling into place.

Cynder began to run. She needed to get back on the L and get to his office before the meeting with Olivia. If her suspicion was right, she may have just figured out what Olivia had on the Foundation. No matter what came of her feelings for Xander and her job at Obsidian, she would not let some jealous reporter take the pain he guarded so closely and expose it to the world.

While waiting for the train, she called Wyatt. “Xander told you that we’re meeting with Olivia? Just you and me, right? Okay, I think I know what she’s up to and I need your help.”

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