I am beginning to think you don't even know who the father of your baby is

Xavier's pulse throbbed in his ears as he eased the bedroom door shut behind him, careful not to let the latch click. Cathleen's measured breathing filled the space he'd left, her chest rising and falling with the rhythm of undisturbed slumber. He hesitated, casting a shadow against the dim moonlight seeping through the curtains, before turning away.

His footsteps were ghosts on the plush carpet of the hallway, silent vows to return before dawn. The drive was a blur, and his mind was a whirring machine of possibilities, each darker than the last. When Xavier pulled into the driveway of his father's imposing estate, the sight of an unfamiliar car sparked a flare of alarm in his gut.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath, parking with a screech of tires that broke the stillness of night. His exit from the vehicle was swift—a predator's lunge toward uncertainty. It wasn't fear that propelled him—it was the need for control, for dominance over whatever chaos awaited within the walls that h