ANMELDENELENAThe exhibition gallery on Rivington Street was tiny and packed with students,Julian stayed a step behind me the whole time, a quiet, steady presence in his green jacket. When someone bumped into my shoulder in the narrow aisle, he simply shifted his weight, putting his shoulder between the crowd and me so I had room to breathe."My grandfather took that one," Julian said, nodding toward a small square frame near the back corner."He gave it to me before I left for school," Julian said softly."I should go," I whispered, the air in the gallery suddenly feeling too hot to swallow. Julian didn't question it. He didn't look frustrated or ask why we were leaving after only fifteen minutes."Okay. Let's get out of here. Elena," Julian said, pulling his canvas collar up against the chill."Let me walk you home. It's late, and the trains are running slowly.""No," I said instantly. The word came out too fast, too defensive. I couldn't let him see the 12th Street building."The subway s
ELENAThree weeks passed, and the routine of the modern art school became my only shield.Every morning at seven, I left the luxury penthouse on 12th Street and walked the blocks to the campus. I kept my head down.I didn't ride in Dominic's black sedans, but I swiped his black card every Monday at the campus bookstore to buy fresh charcoal, premium turpentine, and heavy cotton canvases. I didn't care if the notifications hit his phone. It was the price he paid to keep me away from his son.In the studio, I stayed silent. Maya sat at the easel next to mine, her hands always covered in clay or plaster.She was loud, normal, and talked constantly about her roommates or her student loans. I just listened, nodding when necessary, using her chatter to drown out the memory of the penthouse.Julian was always there, too. Over those three weeks, he didn't demand anything from me. He was just a steady presence in a green canvas jacket. He would drop a cup of black coffee on my taboret without
ELENAI sat on the twin bed in my cramped dorm room. The cheap red wine was entirely gone, leaving a dull ache behind my eyes, but my mind was completely clear. Lately, I had been drinking more and more just to drown out the silence of this place.I picked up my phone and stared at the screen. I couldn't call Sophie. Not after the explosive fight in her dorm room, Sophie had told me to get out of her life for good. She had called me a liar, a slut, and accused me of seducing Sebastia…She thought I came to her campus just to steal him. She thought I had looked at his picture on her phone and planned the whole thing, when the truth was I didn't even know he worked at her school until he sat down at that café and put his hands on my face.I set the phone down on the mattress without dialing. The bridge between my sister and me was burned. She had demonized me over a man who didn't even know she existed,Two days later, the school routine started to work as my only distraction.I sat in
ELENAThe clock on the wall of Studio 3B read exactly eight in the morning. Twenty heavy wooden easels stood in scattered rows across the concrete floor.I stood in front of easel number twelve. My two cardboard boxes sat on the floor by my feet. I had carried them down the four flights of stairs from room 402 myself."You need help with those boards?"I turned my head. It was Maya. She was wearing her paint-stained denim overalls, her short blonde hair tied back. She held two cardboard cups of cheap coffee in her hands."No, thanks I’ll have it done myself " I said, lifting a large stretched linen canvas out of the crate. Maya walked over, handing me one of the blue cups."You look like you didn't sleep a single minute last night, Elena. Your eyes are completely bloodshot.""I was just thinking…. Is it usually so loud in here?," I said, taking the coffee. The paper cup was hot against my cold fingers."Yeah, the radiator in 402 rattles like a cage," Maya said, leaning her hip against
ELENAA half-empty bottle of cheap red wine sat on the floor by my mattress. The glass was on the floor beside it, tipped over onto its side. I was completely drunk. The room was spinning slightly every time I closed my eyes, but the alcohol hadn't done what I wanted it to do. It hadn't stopped my mind from running. It hadn't wiped out the memory of the penthouse.Instead, the heat from the wine had gone straight to my skin, making every single nerve ending feel raw and heavy. Between my thighs, a dull, persistent ache had been building for hours. My cunt was hungry.I lay flat on my back, my legs tangled in the rough white sheets of the twin bed. The air in the dorm room was hot and sticky, and my skin was damp with sweat. I had pulled off my dress hours ago. I was wearing only a thin, silk camisole that dug into my shoulders. Every time the fabric rubbed against my chest, a sharp wave of heat went straight to my cunt.I was horny. It was a miserable, desperate kind of ache that had
DOMINICThe penthouse was dead silent. I sat at the desk in my study, holding a glass of Hennessy. Down the hall, a door slammed. Sebastian was in the guest room. He was still wearing the tailored black suit jacket I gave him at the docks.I had my heir. He had signed the letterhead, and the papers were in my pocket.But my chest felt tight.I looked at the corner of the living room. Elena's desk was completely empty. The ledger was gone. Her pencils were gone.I pulled the encrypted phone from my vest pocket and dialed Viktor. He answered before the second ring."Speak, boss," Viktor said."Are you at the Fifth Avenue building?" I asked."Yes sir, my team is parked two blocks down from the student dorms. She went up to room 402 two hours ago. The courier already delivered the black envelope with the brass key and the art crate. She hasn't come back down.""Good," I said. I leaned back in my chair."Put a permanent detail on that corner. Two men, rotating every eight hours. I want dai
Dominic Mercer’s POVI watch Elena get into the car, hair wet and shiny as it soaks up my green shirt. The black SUV zooms off minutes later. “This has to stop, man…” I sigh and put a finger to my nose… The exact finger I had sticking up her pussy. “You can't fuck her.” ‘You can't fuck her…’ My b
Elena’s POV“Bestie…” Riley pulls out a pack of condoms and a bottle of lubricant. Every time she takes crazy things out of her supposedly small purse scares me. “That's your safe word.” She holds my arm for a moment and ensures our eyes lock as she speaks.‘Bestie.’ I rehearse, anxious. My heart
Dominic Mercer’s POV“Who… the fuck… is that daughter of a bitch?!” Kiera’s voice shows her level of restraint before she goes crazy like she’s always been. “Google?” “Now, you’ll not be sarcastic, babe.”“Tone, woman.” I grind my teeth, exercising just as much patience. My ears are already burni
Elena’s POV“Clock is ticking…” He’s so close that his strong barrel scent is the only thing I breathe in, and I’m battling the urge to drink him in. “My Lena.”I'm still fixated on his hard cock pressed to my back, on his scent… on him.And I’m not prepared when the tip of his fingers grazes my ea







