Page 59 of Even Beneath the Stars

We share a silent moment of understanding, both conscious of Finn happily demolishing his breakfast beside me.

"More strawberries please!" He waves his plate.

"Coming right up, sugar." Candice reaches for the bowl, but freezes mid-motion, her eyes fixed on something behind me. "Oh, honey…"

I turn and my stomach drops. Xavier sidles in, looking three times worse than when I left him last night. His eye is almost completely swollen shut now, and angry purple-blue bruising spreads across his inflamed jaw and cheekbone like spilled ink.

"Xavy!" Finn's fork clatters to his plate. He scrambles off his stool and runs to his brother, wrapping his arms around Xavier's waist. "What happened to your face?"

Xavier winces at the impact but hugs Finn back with one arm. "It's nothing, buddy. Just got checked against the boards real hard at a game."

"But you're all purple and puffy!" Finn's bottom lip trembles as he stares up at Xavier's battered face. "I don't like hockey anymore. Hockey isbad!"

I watch Xavier attempt a reassuring smile, but it comes out more like a grimace. "Just an accident, Finny. I'm fine."

Candice swoops in, her hands gentle as she cups Xavier's face, brushing his hair back to get a better look. "Oh, sweetheart…" Her hands hover like she’s holding a broken masterpiece. "I'll get you ice."

Xavier pulls away. "It's fine." He heads straight for the coffee machine. Finn trails after him like a worried shadow, still clinging to his leg.

Time for a distraction. I walk over and take Finn's small hand in mine. "Hey, don't you want to show Xavier your special breakfast?"

"Oh yeah!" Finn's eyes light up and he tugs Xavier toward his plate. "Look! It's a T-Rex pancake! See his teeny-weeny arms?" He points out each feature with pride. "Candice made it just for me. You should get one too!"

Xavier cradles his coffee mug close to his chest, taking careful sips. "That's pretty cool, bud."

"What kind of dinosaur are you gonna get?" Finn bounces on his toes. "She can make a stegosaurus. Or a triceratops."

The tension in Xavier's shoulders eases slightly as Finn rambles on about dinosaurs, his earlier distress forgotten in the excitement of showing off his breakfast masterpiece.

"Here, honey." Candace slides a towel-wrapped ice pack across the counter to Xavier. "You'll need to—"

Her words die in her throat as heavy footsteps echo down the hall. A formidable-looking silver-haired man appears like a storm front rolling in, and the kitchen's warm atmosphere instantly crystallizes into something cold and brittle.

"Mr. Rockwell… good morning," Candice breathes, quickly wiping her hands on her apron.

He doesn't acknowledge her.

I know Barron Rockwell is in his early eighties, but he's definitely no frail old man. More like a seasoned powerhouse to be reckoned with. He's tall, well over six feet, with broad shoulders wrapped in an impeccably tailored charcoal suit. His steel-gray hair is immaculately styled, swept back from a face with sharp features that mirror Xavier's, but where Xavier's hold a hint of warmth, Barron's are carved from time-worn granite. And despite his age, he moves with the calculated precision of someone used to commanding every room he enters.

"Where is he?" his voice booms through the kitchen until his pale eyes lock on Xavier. The temperature in the room drops another ten degrees.

Xavier's hand tightens around the ice pack, his scraped knuckles whitening. Beside me, Finn shrinks into himself, pressing against my leg. I resist the urge to pull him behind me completely.

Barron strides into the kitchen, his polished shoes clicking against the marble floor. Denise hovers in his wake, her typically composed features pinched with worry as she clutches her tablet to her chest.

The kitchen feels like it's been vacuum-sealed, all the air sucked out in an instant. Xavier rises slowly, and I catch the subtle way he shifts, angling his body to keep Finn partially shielded behind him. My heart thuds against my ribs as Barron's cold gaze dissects his son.

His lip curls. "You look like someone auditioning for the role of 'forgettable thug' in a bad action film."

Xavier's throat works as he swallows, but he remains silent, his face carefully blank despite the ugly rainbow of bruises.

"Tell me, Xander, did it ever occur to you that your actions affect more than just yourself, or is self-awareness still a foreign concept to you?"

My eyes snap to Candice across the counter, stunned that Barron just got his own son's name wrong. I mean,what the actual hell?She meets my gaze, her lips pressed into a thin line.

This is next level… the kind of thing you can't make up, it's so sad.

Xavier's eyes drop for just a fraction of a second before lifting again, his expression wiped clean before any of us can catch his reaction to the name slip-up.

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