Skylar didn't speak the entire ride back.
He kept his gaze fixed out the window, watching the city blur past like nothing had changed—like he wasn't carrying something heavy he couldn't name.
When the car finally dropped him near his apartment building, he got out quickly, not looking back once.
But even as he climbed the stairs to his place, that uneasy feeling stayed.
Like he was being watched.
Back at Alexander Smith's penthouse, the atmosphere was completely different.
Quiet. Controlled. Mechanical.
Alexander stood by the large glass window, phone pressed to his ear. Below him, the city stretched out like a living map of things he already owned—or could influence.
"I want everything on him," he said calmly.
A pause on the other end.
"Skylar. Full background. Friends. Family. Work history. Anything relevant."
Another pause.
"And his ex."
His voice didn't change, but something sharpened in it—just slightly.
"I want to know why they broke up."
Hours later, a folder was placed on the table in front of him.
The investigator didn't speak much. People usually didn't around Alexander unless necessary.
Alexander opened it slowly.
Skylar's photo stared back at him—smiling in some older image, softer than the version he'd seen last night.
He flipped the page.
Relationship history.
Four years.
Alexander's eyes paused there longer than necessary.
Then he kept reading.
Arguments. Distance. Emotional neglect. Patterns of control that built slowly over time. No dramatic ending—just exhaustion. A breakup that had hollowed out more than it had exploded.
Then the ex's background.
A young man who had moved on quickly. Too quickly, according to the notes. Already seen with someone else within weeks. Rumors of cheating circled in vague, unconfirmed lines.
Alexander's jaw tightened slightly.
Not anger exactly.
Something colder.
Understanding.
He closed the folder halfway, tapping his finger once against it.
"So that's what he's carrying," he said quietly.
The investigator shifted. "There's more. His ex seems to still—"
"Enough," Alexander cut in.
Silence.
Alexander leaned back slightly, eyes distant now.
Skylar hadn't just walked away from a relationship.
He'd been worn down by it.
And now he was alone again—guarded, cautious, already expecting disappointment before it arrived.
Alexander's gaze dropped back to the folder.
Not pity.
Not sympathy.
Something more dangerous than both.
Interest.
Because people like Skylar didn't trust easily after that kind of ending.
And Alexander had never been good at letting things go once he'd decided he wanted them.