Chapter 4: A Glimpse in the Frame
1061 Words
✨ You can erase a name, but not the feeling it left behind. ✨
Reyes Holdings HQ | Monday Morning
The skyline of downtown Seattle glinted against a thin veil of fog as the Reyes Holdings tower loomed ahead, its mirrored glass exterior cold and pristine. From the back seat of a black SUV, Xander stared at his reflection in the window—sleek suit, neat tie, unreadable eyes.
He didn't recognize the man staring back at him.
"Sir?" his assistant prompted as they pulled up to the entrance.
Xander blinked, nodding once. "Let's get this over with."
Victor had insisted on today. "The sooner you step back in, the sooner you'll remember who you are." But Xander wasn't sure the memory loss had taken away who he was. It just left behind... a quiet, aching absence.
Something was missing. And it wasn't just the past—it was the pulse behind it.
Boardroom | Moments Later
"Mr. Reyes," said one of the senior VPs, standing awkwardly as Xander entered the boardroom. The tension around the table was palpable.
Xander gave a curt nod. "Let's not make this ceremonial. If I'm still your CEO, we move forward."
Victor smirked proudly from his seat near the head of the table. "You'll find the company has held steady. We've made no drastic changes."
"But they've all been waiting for your direction," chimed Clarisse, stepping into the room like she owned it. Her dress was sharp, her hair pulled back in a practiced sheen. She gave him a confident smile—too polished, too performative.
Xander looked at her like one might look at a stranger waving from an old photograph.
"Let's talk numbers," he said coolly, flipping through the reports. His mind honed in quickly—strategies, projections, weaknesses. It all came back instinctively.
But instinct couldn't silence the hollowness.
Victor's Office | Post-Meeting Debrief
"You did well," Victor said, handing him a glass of bourbon. "See? Nothing to worry about. You're already functioning at ninety percent."
"Functioning," Xander repeated dully. "Is that all you need from me? Function?"
Victor's tone sharpened. "I need you leading. And not chasing ghosts."
Xander turned away from him. "You mean her."
"I mean whatever flicker of emotion you think is real. She's nothing to you, son. She wasn't part of your life before—at least not in a way that mattered."
Xander's jaw flexed. "You sure about that?"
Victor sipped slowly. "I had the security team look into her after the incident. No record of employment here. No real connection. She's probably just another gold digger clinging to the idea of proximity."
Xander wanted to argue. But the silence in his own memory betrayed him.
Still, her eyes haunted him. Not the color. Not the face. But the weight in them. Like she'd once held the center of something he had since lost.
Reyes Holdings Lobby | Late Afternoon
Belle hadn't meant to be there. She just needed to return a company laptop from her consulting days—quietly, discreetly.
But fate was never quiet when it came to them.
She stepped out of the elevator, balancing the slim box in her arms, just as the doors across the lobby opened—and he walked in.
Xander. Towering. Composed. Beautiful in that untouchable way that broke her over and over.
Belle froze.
So did he.
Their eyes met. The air shifted.
Xander's brows pulled in ever so slightly. There was no name that came to his tongue. But something in his chest tightened. Like a drumbeat without rhythm.
She looked away first and walked past him, not saying a word.
He turned slowly to watch her go, something raw scratching beneath his ribs.
Elevator | A Breathless Silence
Xander stepped inside the elevator, heart pounding for no reason he could explain.
He caught the faintest trace of vanilla and jasmine—the same scent that lingered on the stairs of his dreams. The same he'd caught once in the hospital. He pressed the button for the top floor, but his eyes stayed locked on the closed elevator doors.
What was that?
Flashback: Branding War Room, One Year Ago
The conference room was chaos. Post-it notes on the glass walls, slides open on three different laptops, coffee cups everywhere.
Belle stood at the whiteboard, passionately circling words. "You don't need rebranding, Xander. You need redemption. Let them see the man behind the empire. The story behind the name."
Xander sat across from her, half-exhausted, half-mesmerized. "And what if they don't like the story?"
Belle gave him that soft, daring smile. "Then we rewrite it until they do."
He leaned forward, eyes locked on hers. "You always see more in me than I deserve."
She tapped her marker against his chest. "That's because you forget you're more than your past."
He caught her hand and held it. "You remind me. Every day."
Back to Present | Office Balcony
Xander stepped out onto the balcony, loosening his tie. The city stretched below, glittering and oblivious.
He should've felt powerful. He was back. In control. Leading.
But inside, something was off-kilter.
A phantom feeling. A memory without a name. A woman without a title... but one who carried his soul in her eyes.
He didn't know why it mattered.
He just knew it did.
Elsewhere | That Evening
Belle stood by the window in her friend's apartment, rocking Hope in her arms.
"He looked right through me," she whispered.
Her friend offered her tea, but Belle shook her head. "I should've never gone. It was foolish."
"But you didn't speak to him," the friend said gently. "Maybe it's better that way—for now."
Belle looked down at her daughter.
"I don't know how to be near him without breaking."
Hope gurgled softly, innocent of the weight her parents now carried in silence.
Closing Scene | Midnight at the Tower
Xander stood alone in the Reyes Holdings lobby, the night crew long gone. He'd come down for a file, but his feet carried him to the spot she'd stood.
He knelt and picked something off the marble floor. A small, dried flower petal—lavender.
A strange pang echoed in his chest.
"I know you," he whispered to no one.
Then walked away.
✨ Sometimes, the soul remembers what the mind cannot. ✨
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
- Writer
