Chapter 78:When the Monster Knocks

Chapter 78: Chapter 78:When the Monster Knocks

"You have questions," he continued, the timber of his voice vibrating slightly through the frame. "A great many of them, I suspect. That is why I am here. I am not asking you to pretend that what happened in the hallway, didn’t happen, nor am I asking you to forget what you saw. I came because you deserve the truth, and I intend to give it to you."

He paused, allowing the silence to settle. "So please, open the door, and let’s talk."

A heavy silence settled over the landing. Zoey leaned close, her voice dropping to a harsh, desperate hiss. "It’s a tactical maneuver. They could be here to silence us. First, they isolate us, then they silence us—its a diversion tactics."

"A diversion for what?" Iris asked, her eyes never leaving the lock.

"I don’t know Iris!. That’s the point of a diversion. You’re supposed to not know."

Despite everything, Iris nearly rolled her eyes.

The fact that Zoey could still argue about military tactics while they were standing inside their apartment with a supernatural billionaire outside their door was almost impressive.

Before Iris could answer, Alexander’s voice came through the door again.

"I assure you, Miss Brooks, it is not," Alexander’s voice cut in smoothly, shattering any illusion that they could whisper past him.

Zoey’s mouth fell open. "He heard me again."

Alexander continued, his voice carrying easily through the closed door. "If my intentions were malicious, and if I truly wanted to harm you, you would already be dead."

Zoey’s grip on the baseball bat tightened until her forearms trembled.

Iris swallowed. There was no arrogance in Alexander’s voice. That was what made the statement worse.

He wasn’t bragging. He wasn’t trying to frighten them. He sounded almost as though he were presenting a simple fact neither of them could reasonably dispute.

"And before you convince yourself that I am standing out here orchestrating some elaborate scheme to silence you both, consider what you already know about me." Alexander added, a subtle, dry warmth touching his tone

There was something in his voice now. Not a threat....Simply a quiet reminder.

"If I truly wanted to harm either of you, you would not have heard me knock on the door first."

Zoey’s expression slowly changed from suspicion to horror. She looked at the door, then at Iris. Then back at the baseball bat in her hands.

Alexander continued. "And if I truly wanted to enter this apartment regardless of whether you opened the door, I can assure you that this front door would not be enough to stop me."

Iris stared at the brass handle. A cold spike of reality pierced through the lingering denial she had been desperately holding onto.

He wasn’t boasting. He was simply stating a physical fact about the world they now inhabited.

She had watched him move faster than human eyes could follow. She had watched him strike Jason with such effortless force that the larger man had been thrown across the room and into a wall.

She had seen Jason’s body fail to heal the way a werewolf’s should have. And Alexander had barely seemed to exert himself.

"Given what you saw of my capabilities today," Alexander said, his voice dropping into a register that brook no argument, "you understand that forcing my way inside would require very little effort on my part. But I have not done that. I am standing out here in the cold because I want you to make the choice to open the door, and to listen to what I have to say."

Zoey looked sideways at Iris, her usual sharp tongue momentarily paralyzed by the sheer, undeniable logic of the threat wrapped in quiet civility. Her shoulders slumped, the aggressive posture melting into reluctant resignation.

Iris slowly exhaled. "He has a point."

Zoey looked at her as though she had betrayed her. "You’re agreeing with him?"

"I’m being realistic. I told you what I saw him do to Jason." Iris glanced at the door. "If he really wanted to hurt us, I don’t think that door would be able to stop him. Also, if he wanted to hurt us, I don’t think he would be standing outside explaining himself."

Zoey hesitated.

"And if he really wanted to come inside regardless?" Iris looked at the baseball bat. She didn’t need to answer.

Zoey’s eyes dropped to it as well, the weapon suddenly looked ridiculously small.

She slowly lowered it. "Fine." Her shoulders sagged. "I hate that you’re right. Because now I’m starting to think the bat was mostly for emotional support."

Iris carefully released her grip on Zoey’s shirt. She looked toward the door. Her heart was beating hard again, but the fear wasn’t quite as overwhelming as before.

She stepped forward to open the door. Behind her, Zoey whispered, "If he does anything weird, I’m hitting him."

Iris glanced over her shoulder. "With what? Don’t tell me it’s still with that bat?"

Zoey stared at the bat for a second longer before slowly lowering it to the floor, letting it lean against the wall with a dull thud.

"Fine. But if he tries anything supernatural or weird, I’m aiming for the COO guy called Oliver. He sounds like he has a lower pain tolerance."

A faint, involuntary ghost of a smile touched the corner of Iris’s mouth. She took one final, grounding breath, her thumb pressing down on the thumb-turn of the lock. She could hear nothing beyond the door. Taking a slow breath, she unlocked it.

The metallic ..clack... of the mechanism sounded deafeningly loud in the confined space of the apartment.

Iris hesitated one last time before, with a steady hand, pulled the heavy door inward.

Alexander stood on the threshold, framed by the dim amber light of the front-door sconces.

For one brief second, Iris simply stared at him.

He was dressed in an immaculate, tailored, expensive three-piece suit that fitted his broad frame perfectly. Every detail of his appearance was polished and controlled, from the neatly arranged collar of his shirt to the understated watch around his wrist.

He looked exactly like the man she had come to associate with him..... unflinching control over chaos.

His dark hair was neatly brushed away from a face carved with sharp, aristocratic lines, and his striking blue eyes met hers with a calm, unreadable intensity. As if he hadn’t spent the afternoon revealing enough supernatural abilities to completely destroy everything she believed about the world.

His left hand rested casually inside his trouser pocket, and there was nothing visibly monstrous about him. No flash of red fire in his gaze, nothing that matched the creature she had seen at the university—just the quiet, composed exterior of a billionaire CEO who looked entirely out of place in a worn student apartment building.

And somehow, that made him more difficult to understand. If anything, Iris found herself more unsettled by the normality of him.

A monster was easier to fear when it looked like one. Alexander looked like a man, a dangerously attractive one. And that was somehow worse.

Standing half a step behind him was a man Iris had never seen before, but whom she guesses was Oliver Colt.

He was tall as well, broad-shouldered, and draped in the same quiet, understated tailoring that signaled high-tier corporate wealth, that seemed almost natural to anyone who worked closely with Alexander.

His brown hair was neatly styled, and he surveyed the interior of the apartment with cool, intelligent brown eyes before settling on Iris.

He looked remarkably human, but after the revelations of the past five hours, Iris didn’t trust skin-deep appearances anymore.

She had learned that apparently attractive men in expensive suits could possess enough strength to send someone flying across a university hallway.

For all she knew, every impeccably dressed man in Alexander’s orbit possessed the strength to tear a steel door off its hinges.

She glanced at him. What did he say his name was again? Oliver. Right....Oliver Colt.

The COO of Grant Enterprises.

If Alexander had trusted him enough to bring him here, then he probably wasn’t just another employee. And judging by his build alone, Iris couldn’t help wondering whether he was another werewolf, Probably. At this point, she was indeed beginning to assume every unusually attractive man in Alexander’s orbit had a supernatural secret

Alexander’s gaze remained fixed on her. "May I come in?"

Iris looked at him, for a moment, neither of them moved. The space between them felt charged with an invisible, static weight.

Then she glanced past him toward the surrounding outside, confirming the absence of any hidden threats. It was indeed just Alexander and Oliver. There was no army of supernatural creatures waiting around the corner to kill them. Before shifting her eyes back to the two men.

She let out a slow breath. Then she stepped aside. "Okay."

A faint smile touched the corners of Alexander’s mouth. "Thank you."

He stepped past her into the apartment, his presence immediately filling the modest space with an effortless, heavy gravity.

Oliver followed closely behind, his movements were controlled and almost unnaturally quiet.

When he passed Zoey, his eyes dropped to the baseball bat leaning against the wall, and he stopped.

For a moment, he simply stared at it, then he looked at Zoey, and Zoey looked back at him.

Neither said anything, and Oliver sighed. It was a long-suffering, almost amused sigh.

Zoey narrowed her eyes at him. "What?"

Oliver’s mouth twitched. "Nothing."

His gaze briefly returned to the bat. "Just reassuring to know we’re being welcomed."

Zoey folded her armsNeith a pout. "You have no idea what kind of day I’ve had."

Oliver looked as though he considered asking. Then apparently decided that preserving his sanity was the wiser choice.

"I believe that."

Iris watched the exchange, surprised by the faint normality of it. She had expected the room to feel like the beginning of some supernatural interrogation.

Instead, Oliver seemed almost amused, and Alexander, however, remained focused entirely on her.

Iris stayed near the doorway for another moment, watching them carefully. Once both men had entered, she looked outside one more time, checking the surroundings as though she expected something to emerge from the shadows. But nothing did. She finally pulled the door shut, the final click of the latch sealing them inside.

Standing in her small living room with the two most dangerous creatures she had ever encountered, Iris swallowed hard, turned around to face them, and wondered just how deep the rabbit hole went.