Chapter 3 You orchestrated this, didn't you?

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened it again, hoping they were playing tricks on me, but sadly, they weren't.

Who is this man???

The cold air from the air-conditioning hit my body and I immediately realised I was naked, I gasped and dragged the duvet to cover myself.

“Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!”

Flashbacks from last night replayed in my head, as I stumbled back, I should be disappointed with myself, worried I just had s*x with a stranger, but the flashbacks made my body react in a different way.

“Fuck!” I cursed. 

And here I was thinking Dorian came back for me. So delusional.

I have to leave, and I have to leave now, before this gets more complicated than it already is.

I put on my clothes which had been carefully folded on the bedside table and tiptoed towards the door, my purse and heels in one hand as I twisted the door knob with the other….but it didn't budge.

I tried again and again, but the door was locked shut.

“I figured you would do that…..” a deep baritone voice sent vibrations down my spine , causing me to flinch, before turning to look at him. 

“I locked it last night when you fell asleep.”

He did what???

“I think it would be better for the two of us if you just let me leave and we'll pretend last night never happened,” I spoke firmly.

“That's not happening, Elara.”

I froze in place the moment he called my name.

How does he know my name?

This was an even bigger mess than I thought it was.

“I never told you my name…… Look, I don't know who you are or how you know me, but trust me, it's better for the both of us if you just let me leave.” 

“I'm a little offended you're not interested in knowing who I am,” he sat up on the side of the bed, he was shirtless so I could see the outline of his muscles and just how ripped his body was.

His face? dangerously gorgeous. Gray eyes that locked me in place, black air brushed hair, his eyes, nose, lips, jawline, every feature on his face and body was breathtaking.

Jesus, Elara. Focus!!!

“No offense but I don't think that's importa…” 

“My name's Axel,” he cut me off. “Axel Thorne,” he added.

I gasped, heart thumping against my chest.

“No, no, no….” I whispered, shaking my head repeatedly.

That name!

The same name that had shadowed my marriage like a ghost, whispered in arguments, lurking in Dorian’s silences. The man Dorian loathed so much he’d rather choke than say his name aloud.

Axel Thorne.

Dorian’s estranged brother who went to prison 10 years ago.

Dorian never talked about him, but from the little he told me, I knew Axel was highly dangerous. He wasn't the kind of person you wanted to get entangled with.

My stomach dropped so violently I thought I might be sick. 

If this is really him...the room tilted as I realised...I just had sex with my brother in-law. 

But something felt off, my encounter with him, it looked too spotless to be an accident.

Or maybe it wasn't, giving his history…..

“You orchestrated this, didn't you?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “This whole thing was your plan right?” I asked, even when I already knew the answer.

“I'd been following you before you got to Dorian's office yesterday, and I followed you here too, I didn't want to meet you in public so I came into your room, and waited till you showed up.” 

“And the sex?” 

“Now that….” he got up and picked up two glasses and a bottle of wine, “that wasn't supposed to happen.” 

“But it did,” I fired at him.

“And you loved it,” he countered. “You didn't let me stop even when you were already exhausted” he smirked, filling the two glasses with wine as he locked eyes with me.

What is he talking about?

“Dorian told me you were in prison and you weren't getting out anytime soon, and even if you did, you wouldn't be able to come back to the united states, so how are you sitting in front of me right now? And why were you following me yesterday, what do you want from me?” so many questions were flooding my mind and I needed to know what was going on.

“Take a seat,” he gestured for me to sit on the couch opposite the bed, but I didn't move.

“Answer me!” I demanded.

He exhaled slowly and got up from the bed, closing the distance between us until he was inches away. His height loomed over me, his presence so dominating, it felt like the air itself bent around him.

He offered me a glass of wine and spoke.

“Whatever Dorian told you about me isn't important right now. I need your help, Elara.” 

His cold and emotionless eyes became softer for a split second, but it quickly disappeared, and he continued speaking.

“I'll go into detail and tell you everything you want to know, and also why I approached you. But first I need to know the information is safe with you, I need to know I can trust you.” 

“Trust me? Just in case you didn't know, your reputation precedes you, I should be the one worried about trust,” I snickered.

He stretched out his palm towards me and I hesitated for a bit before placing my hand in his. He turned and led me to the couch, while he sat on the bed, opposite me.

He opened the drawer by the bed side table and brought out a document.

“Before we continue, I need you to sign an NDA, that way, everything that's happened between us over the last 24 hours and everything that's happening now will stay between us.” 

“So no one's going to find out I had sex with my Ex-husband's brother?” 

He nodded his head.

I let out a sigh of relief.

At least now I don't have to worry about anybody finding out about what happened last night. 

It's just an NDA, and I don't have any friends or people I talk to, who could I possibly want to tell about this.

“I’ll sign it.” I said. 

He smiled at me, a smile that felt like a mask, hiding something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

He flipped the document to the last page, before placing it on the table. 

“Can I at least read…….”

“Don't worry about that, it's just an NDA,” he interrupted.

He's right. It might have so many words written in it, but it all comes down to one thing, I don't talk and he doesn't either. And with that, I signed the document.

“What next?” I asked.

He stared at me for a couple seconds then started speaking.

“Dorian crossed me years ago….betrayed me, stole my place in the family. Everything that should’ve been mine, he claimed for himself. With my own mother at his side, he made sure I was cast out, never meant to return.”

I guess betrayal and stealing from those who love him is Dorian's thing.

“I need to show you something.” he said, scrolling on his phone for a couple seconds before handing it to me.

“That's a video of the building Dorian bought last night, my sources tells me he's ordered hundreds of rare stones and gems to be shipped into the country, he's starting a jewellery company….for his mistress.” 

I gripped the phone hard enough it could break, stealing my husband wasn't enough, now she was about to steal my dream. 

I've been designing jewelleries since I was a teen and it was my dream to one day start a jewellery company, but after my marriage to Dorian. He convinced me that I was a woman and he wouldn't want his wife to work.

 I gave up my dreams because I wanted to please him. 

And now he's taken my dreams and handed it to his mistress.

“You know how he got the funding to do all of this right?” Axel questioned.

Of course I know how, I gave it to him myself. 

“Elara, I need your help the same way you need mine. You're the only one who knows the in and outs of Dorian's life and business. I'll need all the information I can get from you. If we go after him together, we’ll destroy him. I’ve got everything you’ll need, resources, connections, power. Together, we’ll be unstoppable, and Dorian won’t even see it coming.” His voice came in a low dangerous whisper, like a genie promising everything I wanted, saying everything I needed to hear.

I hated Dorian, hated him for every lie, every betrayal, every way he made me feel powerless. I wanted him ruined, stripped of everything… and I’d do anything to make it happen.

I clenched my jaw, fists tightened in a ball.

There’s nothing I want more than to watch Dorian fall, to see him beg for mercy that will never come. And if an enemy of my enemy is my friend, then I guess that makes Axel my ally.

“I’m in,” I hissed, voice dripping with venom, “we end him together.” 

Axel nodded his head in approval. “We’ll take our honeymoon once the job is done.” He raised his glass of wine, eyes glinting.

“Honeymoon?” I repeated, furrowing my brows.

He smirked, “Elara, you signed a marriage contract, not an NDA.”